Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Study Methods
2.1. Literature Review
2.2. Expert Opinions
3. Enabling the Achievement of Benefits
3.1. Enabler#1—Automate Meter Reading using Advanced Meter Infrastructure
3.2. Enabler#2—Improve Demand and Revenue Forecasting through Advanced Data Analytics
3.3. Enabler#3—Establish Leak Alerting
3.4. Enabler#4—Establish a Detailed Customer Data Portal for Single and Complex Properties
3.5. Enabler#5—Offer Monthly Billing
3.6. Enabler#6—Establish Detailed Water Balancing of Permanent and Temporary DMAs
3.7. Enabler#7—Establish a Capability for Meter/Metering/End-Use Data Analytics
3.8. Enabler#8—Increase Knowledge of Customers and Assets
4. Business Benefits
4.1. Operational Cost Savings
4.1.1. Meter Reading
4.1.2. Financial Management
4.1.3. Utility Costs
4.1.4. Meters
4.1.5. Tariffs
4.2. Capital Cost Savings
4.2.1. Planning
4.2.2. Risk
4.3. New Knowledge
4.3.1. Customer Segments
4.3.2. New Algorithms
4.4. Benefit Catalogue—Business Benefits
5. Customer Benefits
5.1. Customer Service
5.1.1. Usage Cost
5.1.2. Complex Property/Multiunit Usage Reconciliation
5.1.3. New Services
5.1.4. New Products
5.1.5. Security
5.2. New Knowledge
5.2.1. Appliance Usage/End-Use
5.2.2. Benchmarking
5.3. Benefit Catalogue—Customer Benefits
6. Shared Benefits
6.1. Customer Interaction
6.1.1. Complaints
6.1.2. Customer Assistance Programs
6.1.3. Credit Management
6.1.4. Customer Interactions
6.1.5. Goodwill
6.2. Regulation/Compliance
6.2.1. Metering
6.2.2. Monitoring
6.3. Benefit Catalogue—Shared Benefits
7. Benefits Taxonomy and Enablers
8. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A. Profile of the Experts Interviewed
Expert | a 1 | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E13 2 | Water Efficiency | ||||||||||
E14 | • | R&D | |||||||||
E15 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
E17 | • | • | |||||||||
E18 | • | ||||||||||
E19 | • | • | |||||||||
E20 | • | ||||||||||
E22 | • | Water Efficiency, Asset Management | |||||||||
E24 | • | • | • | • | • | Integrated Water Management | |||||
E25 | • | ||||||||||
E26 | Management | ||||||||||
E27 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
E31 | • | • | Planning and Maintenance | ||||||||
E32 | • | ||||||||||
E33 | • | • | • | ||||||||
E35 | • | • | |||||||||
E36 | • | • | |||||||||
E37 | • | • | |||||||||
E38 | • | ||||||||||
E39 | • | • | • | ||||||||
E40 | • | ||||||||||
E41 | • | ||||||||||
E43 | • | • | |||||||||
E45 | • | Water Efficiency | |||||||||
E47 | • | • | |||||||||
E48 | • | ||||||||||
E49 | • | ||||||||||
E51 | • | • | Data Science | ||||||||
E55 | • | • | |||||||||
E58 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
E59 | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
E61 | • | ||||||||||
E63 | • | • | |||||||||
E64 | • | ||||||||||
E65 | • | ||||||||||
E66 | • | ||||||||||
E68 | • | Water Efficiency | |||||||||
E70 | • | • | |||||||||
E71 | • | • | • | ||||||||
E72 | • | • | • | Contract/Stakeholder Management | |||||||
E73 | • | Communications and Digital | |||||||||
E74 | • | • | • | ||||||||
E76 | • | ||||||||||
E79 | • | • | |||||||||
E80 | • | ||||||||||
E81 | • | • | |||||||||
E82 | • | • | |||||||||
E86 | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
E89 | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
E90 | • | • | |||||||||
E91 | • | • | |||||||||
E92 | • | • |
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Enabler | Water Industry Role(s) | References |
---|---|---|
1 | Automate meter reading using advanced meter infrastructure | [1,6,17,20,32] |
2 | Improve demand and revenue forecasting through advanced data analytics | [11] |
3 | Establish leak alerting | [20,23,33] |
4 | Establish a detailed customer data portal for single and complex properties | [5,6,23,34,35] |
5 | Offer monthly billing | [1,36] |
6 | Establish detailed water balancing of permanent and temporary DMAs | [23,35,37,38] |
7 | Establish a capability for meter/metering/end-use data analytics | [6,11,39] |
8 | Increase knowledge of customers and assets | [9,40,41] |
Category | Subcategory | Benefit | Enabler(s) 1 | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Operational Cost Savings | Meter Reading | Reduction in Meter Reader charges/Billing Costs | 1 | [1,6,11,13,16,20,21,22,52] |
Reduction in Special Meter Reads | 1 | [20,21,52] | ||
Reduction in Estimated Bills | 1 | [20,21,51,91] | ||
Reduction in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) incident costs | 1 | [16,22,32,70] | ||
Reduction in vehicle energy costs (GHG emissions) | 1 | [6,11,20] | ||
Reduction in billing and collection costs monthly billing is coupled with eBilling and direct debit collection | 5 | [1,52] (E17, E26, E38, E43, E58) 2 | ||
Financial Management | Improved revenue forecasting/recovery | 2 | [11,74,92] | |
Cash flow/reduced working capital from Monthly Billing | 5 | [21,54,55] | ||
Reduce residential nonrevenue water data errors/losses | 1 | [1,22,32,51] | ||
Reduce nonresidential nonrevenue water data errors/losses | 1 | [1,22,32,51] | ||
Reduce insurance claim incidents and costs from bursts and leaks | 6 | [56,57,58,59] | ||
Operational Cost Savings | Utility Costs | Reduction in wholesale cost of Water | 2 | [21,51,74] |
Reduction in network leaks and other NRW causes (e.g., bursts) | 6 | [6,13,16,21,52,91] | ||
Better peak water demand management | 2 | [1,13,74] | ||
Reduction in water pumping cost (GHG emissions) | 2 | [6,52,61,62,74] | ||
Reduction in water theft | 6, 7 | [6,11,16,51,62,63] | ||
Reduction in labour costs associated with leak detection | 6, 7 | [1,74] (E17, E36) | ||
Meters | Deferred meter replacement (through water conservation, targeted replacement) | 7 | [11,52] (E17, E25, E26, E31, E41, E70, E72, E80) | |
Tariffs | More flexible tariffs by industry | 2 | [6,10,16,37,52,70,90] | |
Load shifting (levelling) | 2,7 | [16] (E22, E27, E58, E59, E61) | ||
Improvement in customer service/satisfaction | 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 | [11] [E19, E22, E38, E59, E61] | ||
Capital Cost Savings | Planning | Improved Network Planning | 2 | [1,4,10,11,16,52,74,91] |
Deferred network augmentation | 2 | [1,10,11,16,31,36,52,71,74] | ||
Risk | Reduction in Risk premium/Working Capital Costs | 2 | [4,52] (E22, E27, E58, E59) | |
Increased value of asset (service connection) | 8 | [36,74] (E19, E59) | ||
New Knowledge | Customer Segments | Nonresidential customer property use | 7, 8 | [11,41,74] |
Tourism impacts for tourist region (Seasonal/event) | 7, 8 | [11,40,74] | ||
Understand Time-of-day use by residential customer segment | 7 | [10,11,12,16,74] | ||
New algorithms | Meter oversizing identifier | 7 | [10,41] (E25, E26, E41, E58) | |
Reduced uncertainty/reduced risk margin | 2 | [10,74] (E15, E22, E24, E58) | ||
Improved forecasting of sewer flows | 2 | [10] (E15, E26, E51, E59) | ||
Improved demand forecasting and revenue projection | 2 | [11,16,74] | ||
Diurnal curves for nonresidential customers by customer type | 7 | [11,23,41,74,93,94] | ||
Diurnal curves for high-rise building/multiunit properties | 7 | [11,74] (E13, E15, E27, E66, E71) | ||
Reverse modelling of household characteristics via demand pattern | 8 | [74] (E15, E22, E27, E51, E59, E66) |
Category | Subcategory | Benefit | Enabler(s) 1 | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Service | Usage Cost | Reduction in cost to customers due to leak alerting | 3 | [11,12,13,16,20,21,35,54,90,91] |
Reduction due to customer awareness/education | 4 | [5,11,12,13,15,16,52,90,91,92] | ||
Reduction due to bill prediction | 4 | [52,74] | ||
Reduction due to Monthly Billing | 5 | [20,81,92] | ||
Reduction in Insurance Claims | 3 | [56,98,99,100,114] | ||
Complex property/multiunit usage reconciliation | Faster and easier reconciliation of bills for properties with multiple accounts | 3, 4 | [85,100,103] | |
Identify plumbing irregularities in properties with complex plumbing | 3, 4 | [100,103] | ||
New Services | Customer selection of Billing Day | 5 | [52] (E14, E15, E19, E22, E27, E59) 2 | |
Evaporative cooler water use | 7 | [12,74,106,108] | ||
Nonresidential customer end-use data logging and analytics | 7 | [74] (E14, E15, E19) | ||
New products | Customised product offers | 8 | [11,74] (E14, E15, E19, E27, E59) | |
Disaggregation/Appliance End-use | 7 | [74,90] (E26, E27, E40, E76) | ||
Security | Increased security for home and business owners | 1 | [22] | |
Vacant property water use monitoring and alert | 4 | [6,20,74] | ||
New Knowledge | Appliance usage/End-Use | Integration of smart meters with “smart” appliances | 7 | [13,74,109] |
Appliance efficiency impact on total demand | 7 | [74,81] | ||
Benchmarking | Benchmarking water demand of evaporative coolers | 8 | [74,108,111] | |
Benchmarking customer segments | 8 | [41,74,93] |
Category | Subcategory | Benefit | Enabler(s) 1 | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Interaction | Complaints | Reduced Customer Billing Complaints | 3, 4, 5 | [1,6,20,21,22,92] |
Reduced external cost of Ombudsman referred complaints | 3, 4, 5 | [117,118,119,120,121,122,123] | ||
Reduced internal costs of Ombudsman referred complaints | 3, 4, 5 | [45,117,118,119,120,121,122,123] | ||
Improved outcomes from billing disputes | 3, 4, 5 | [20,21,92] | ||
Customer Assistance Programs | Reduced HULA (High Usage Leak Allowance) costs from concealed leaks | 3, 4, 5 | [21,70,95,96,124,125] | |
Reduced plumbing assistance cost | 3, 4, 5 | [134] (E17, E20, E27, E33, E35, E59, E82) 2 | ||
Reduced Government Assistance Grants | 3, 4, 5 | [130,132,134] | ||
Credit Management | Reduced supply restriction case costs | 3, 4, 5 | [45] (E22, E27, E33, E59, E63) | |
Reduced debt recovery/legal action case costs | 3, 4, 5 | [45] (E22, E27, E33, E59, E63) | ||
Customer Interactions | Reduction in Call Centre Calls | 4 | [1,20,24,52] | |
Enhanced communications | 4 | [1,8,71] | ||
Goodwill | Improvement of value of goodwill from information sharing | 3, 4, 5 | [1,23,35,136] (E17, E25, E41, E49, E80) | |
Improvement of value of goodwill from new products and services | 4, 8 | [23] (E14, E17, E35, E64, E81) | ||
Improvement of value of goodwill from customer recognition of operational efficiency and capital management | 2, 4, 6 | [35,36] (E14, E15, E35, E49, E64, E80, E81) | ||
Improvement of value of goodwill from more flexible tariffs | 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 | [11,20,92] | ||
Regulation/Compliance | Metering | Improved meter sizing for nonresidential customers | 7 | [10,41,85,86] |
Tighter meter performance/National Metering Institute (NMI) Compliance monitoring | 7 | [1,11] (E17, E27, E33, E72, E81) | ||
Meter failure analytics | 7 | [1,11,41,74] | ||
Meter silting detection (large meters) | 7 | [11,74] | ||
Detect revenue losses caused by declining or failed meter accuracy after break in main | 7 | [1,11,74] | ||
Monitoring | Automated regulation compliance monitoring | 7 | [10,12,13,16,52,74,90] | |
Water Quality: Reduction in audits required (targeted through SWM water quality testing) | 7 | [16,17,38,52] |
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Monks, I.; Stewart, R.A.; Sahin, O.; Keller, R. Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions. Water 2019, 11, 838. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040838
Monks I, Stewart RA, Sahin O, Keller R. Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions. Water. 2019; 11(4):838. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040838
Chicago/Turabian StyleMonks, Ian, Rodney A. Stewart, Oz Sahin, and Robert Keller. 2019. "Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions" Water 11, no. 4: 838. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040838
APA StyleMonks, I., Stewart, R. A., Sahin, O., & Keller, R. (2019). Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions. Water, 11(4), 838. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040838