Customers to save more on water bills after Sydney Water’s $2m smart meter program

Sydneysiders could save hundreds of dollars under a $2m Sydney Water initiative with its smart meter program targeting four key suburbs.

A Sydney Water contractor installing a smart meter at a residential property. Photo: Sydney Water

Some Sydneysiders could save hundreds of dollars under a $2m Sydney Water initiative with its smart meter program targeting four key suburbs.

The pilot program was designed to save customers water and money by identifying hidden leaks early has seen the average water bill reduced by $70 for residents of Bellevue Hill, Liverpool, Beecroft and Kenthurst, where 7500 smart meters have been installed.

According to Sydney Water’s website smart meters, also known as digital meters, provide “accurate, real-time data automatically and help identify costly hidden leaks early”.

The pilot program has saved 28,000L of water between April and November after Sydney Water made 313 early leak detections. A Sydney Water spokeswoman said about five per cent of its customers with the technology had leaks.

Sydney Water’s head of customer metering and accounts Jason Dagger said the program was a transformational project with smart meters using the same technology as a mobile phone to send data.

A Sydney Water smart meter.

“Residents with a smart meter are notified of any potential leak within their property via an SMS, phone call or email from Sydney Water informing them of the leak and offering support to fix it,” he said.

“This minimises the impact on their water bill, and as a result, we can already see significant customer savings.”

Beecroft resident Glynn Rogers saved $335 on his quarterly water bill after his smart meter detected a leak.

Mr Dagger said as summer approaches, Sydney Water was urging customers to be mindful of water waste and it was time to “start acting now”.

Beecroft resident Glynn Rogers has benefited from the smart meter roll out and within months of installation he received a text message from Sydney Water, alerting him to a potential leak with unusual water activity detected at his home.

Mr Rogers searched for the leak which was discovered in a rarely-used bathroom, wasting about a litre of water a minute.

Once repaired, Sydney Water estimates he saved $335 on his quarterly bill.

“I don’t keep a close eye on water bills and that’s the only other indication I would’ve had that there was a problem,” Mr Rogers said.

“Who knows how long it would’ve taken to be notice the leak … so it’s very useful to have this as a fairly quick means of detection of an issue.”

Heading into the new year, Sydney Water plans to expand the program across the city with 25,000 smart meters to be installed across homes.

Mr Dagger said smart meters will be installed in “every property within our area of operations” and once completed, it will be the largest rollout in Australia.

In deciding which suburbs will be chosen next for the rollout, the spokeswoman said “leaks and water network issues”, conditions of mechanical meters, and the cost of reading meters are all taken into account.

Smart meters have been a requirement for all high-rise residential developments since 2014, accounting for 140,000 across Sydney.