Smart meters expand sustainable horizons for smart cities

Similar to social norms around sustainability, smart cities as a concept have evolved and expanded. Organizations serving every community, from rural to urban and everything in between, care about efficiency, sustainability and the circular economy, said James McClelland, senior global director of utility industry marketing at SAP.

　“Whether it’s water, natural gas, electricity or other natural and energy resources, utility companies want to increase efficiency, reduce waste and lower carbon emissions to achieve a more sustainable environment,” McClelland said. “The real power of smart cities lies in data analytics from innovations like smart meters. By better understanding individual usage, utility providers can help customers make sustainable choices based on their household needs, collectively making the world a better place. Beautiful. ”

American Water is a good example, providing regulated and similarly regulated drinking water and wastewater services to approximately 14 million people in 24 states. Neeru Sharma, the company's senior director of business partnerships and delivery, said the company distills every major decision into two questions: How will it make our company more efficient? How will it positively change the customer experience?

Sharma introduced his company’s digitalization plans, which include a network of smart meters based on the Internet of Things (IoT). “We are a purpose-driven, customer-centric business,” says Sharma. "Our company's vision revolves around operating efficiently to deliver a superior customer experience and contribute to a sustainable society through better water management. Moving to a cloud-based platform is our first step in becoming an intelligent enterprise."

　Operational efficiency of IoT-based sensors

American water companies are at the forefront of the digitalization trend in the utility industry. A trend driven by consumer demographics and sustainability requirements.

Sharma equates technological innovation with her company’s business agility and resiliency. Headquartered in New Jersey, American Water is the largest and most geographically diversified publicly traded water and wastewater utility company in the United States.

American Water recently selected SAP Cloud for Energy to collect real and near real-time data from meters and SAP S/4HANA to connect the information to billing and other systems. Rather than relying on resource-intensive door-to-door service for monthly water meter readings in the past, sensor-based smart meters automatically collect water usage data more frequently, giving American Water a clearer picture of actual water usage for billing and planning purposes. Access to real-time and on-demand data will also flag potential issues, helping companies keep their instruments in optimal working order.

　“We don’t have to wait until the end of the month to get usage data,” Sharma said. “We can identify and manage meter reading issues, consumption patterns and potential leak patterns at scale in buildings and connect this directly to our billing system. As a water utility, leveraging our own resources is efficient and better Managing the distribution of water in our communities is very important to us. ”

　The analysis behind a sustainable business

Of course, sustainable water management does not mean reducing customer water use. In this case, it translates into analyzing and processing data from smart meters. For example, unnatural spikes in water usage that exceed typical usage rates may indicate a potential leak or meter failure.

　“You need a solution that provides up-to-date information, showing water usage trends on a daily basis,” says Sharma. "Analyzing this data, we can see if customers' consumption is in line with or exceeding historical norms. Having this on-demand data helps us perform proactive maintenance to prevent outages." and other technological innovations are credited with helping companies achieve their sustainability goals and build trusted relationships with customers.

"There are many steps involved in getting clean water from the source to the customer's tap," she said. “Technology is integral to providing visibility throughout the process of delivering high-quality, regulatory-compliant water to our customers. We want our customers to fully understand their water consumption toand what they can do for more sustainable communities. Data transparency is equally important in tracking our performance against ESG objectives. ”

　Smart communities are the future

As utilities strive to manage water resources, smart meters are a sign of things to come. , water is arguably the most limited and precious natural resource on earth, and leading utility providers are preparing for a major transformation. IDC analysts predict that by next year, more stringent regulations will be implemented. Environmental regulations will drive 30% of water companies to invest in integrated information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) data. By 2024, Forrester analysts say that 40% of energy providers will upgrade their core business logic from billing to Customer data and experience management, new product marketing tripled Efficiency, thereby improving customer experience, represents the dawn of the next generation of sustainable smart communities.