Water UK

Government policy, expressed by law, is that, in many cases, domestic customers can choose to be metered or not. The precedence of customer choice limits a water company's ability to adapt its metering policies to its environments. This increases the cost of metering and limits its effectiveness as a tool of water conservation.

Water UK holds the view that the government should use the exception provided by law for areas where water is relatively scarce to permit a sustainable implementation of metering. The environment and customers would both benefit from such a policy.

Within the current policy framework and where water companies have discretion, the decision to promote meter installation depends on a range of factors:

 • scarcity of water resources
 • contribution to the supply-demand balance
 • affordability issues
 • cost and ease of installation
 • type of meter.

Companies forecast future meter penetration by anticipating customers' actions and on the basis of their metering policies, which reflect the factors above. Companies submit metering forecasts to Ofwat as part of their Asset Management Plans and to the Environment Agency as part of their Water Resource Plans.

Water meters - resources briefing paper

Bruce Horton, Policy Adviser, 020 7344 1817

Jeanne Golay, Economic Regulation Adviser, 020 7344 1808