Smart Meter Rollout Underway for North East England

UK utility Northumbrian Water is partnering with engineering firm United Infrastructure on a major smart water-meter rollout across the North East of England. The three-year contract (with an option to extend by five years) will see around 750,000 smart meters installed as part of Northumbrian Water’s aim to have a fully smart-meter portfolio by 2035.

The project will deploy end-to-end services including planning, scheduling, installation, integration of IT systems, and meter networking by United Infrastructure. It builds on the two companies’ long-standing cooperation—the engineering firm has supported Northumbrian Water’s network since 2005.

Connectivity for the meters will be provided by Connexin, using a LoRaWAN® low-power wide-area network to securely transmit consumption data without relying on customers’ Wi-Fi or electricity.

Smart meters will provide near-real-time data on usage to help households manage consumption and reduce bills, while assisting the utility in faster detection of leaks and service disruptions. So far, no public disclosure of the contract’s financial value has been made.