Yorkshire-based IoT and smart technology provider Connexin has been awarded Yorkshire Water’s advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) framework contract, as part of Yorkshire Water’s strategic commitment to the roll-out of a smart water network throughout Yorkshire.
The new framework allows Connexin to provide smart water meters and to extend its LoRaWAN®network infrastructure coverage to improve service delivery for Yorkshire Water customers across the region. Yorkshire Water will benefit from near real-time data from across the water network for more accurate billing, better analysis of consumption patterns, and the speedy identification of leaks.
Through this framework inclusion, Yorkshire Water will continue to access Connexin’s expertise to guide it through the process of connecting underground water meters at scale, building on the extensive trials undertaken on behalf of Yorkshire Water by the strong Connexin-Itron partnership.
This requires stringent engineering and network standards to ensure reliable data transfer while maintaining a 15-year battery life in the Itron Aquadis+ meters. The already proven high-density network provided by Connexin not only ensures full network resilience but has proven to be the only way to ensure such a long-meter battery lifetime.
The first phase of the deployment, which Connexin has been awarded under the framework, includes the installation of around 30,000 Itron LoRaWAN® water meters across the Yorkshire region. Following this, larger planned rollout phases will launch in subsequent years. This significant win solidifies the strong and successful Connexin-Itron-Yorkshire Water tripartite relationship for a minimum of 15 years, truly cementing Connexin’s rightful place as the go-to end-to-end provider for smart water metering within the water utilities sector.
In 2022, Severn Trent Water chose Connexin to deploy the UK’s first large-scale roll-out of over 150,000 Itron smart water meters, including a LoRaWAN® network across Coventry and Warwickshire. Yorkshire Water will now benefit from the knowledge and understanding of successfully connecting below-ground meters with high SLAs from the Severn Trent Water rollout, including real-world experience of this ongoing deployment.
LoRaWAN® technology is ideally suited to connect smart water meters due to its low power and long range. Whilst this makes it relatively easy to engineer a network for water meters that are above ground, as is the case in many other countries, in the UK, water meters are underground which requires additional network engineering design experience to guarantee the service levels required. As the only LoRaWAN® network provider in the UK with this experience, it was a natural choice for Yorkshire Water to appoint Connexin as a framework partner.
Adam Smith, Manager of Smart Networks and Metering Transformation at Yorkshire Water said: “We are delighted to select Connexin as a framework partner for our exciting smart water initiative in Yorkshire.
“We have worked with Connexin extensively over the past year to validate the advantages of using LoRaWAN® technology to provide stable and reliable connectivity for our smart meters while ensuring a battery life in the meters of around 15 years.
“Being able to rely on Connexin’s proven expertise in this area gives us confidence that we can achieve our ambitions to deliver for our customers in the county.”
Dan Preece, Vice President of IoT at Connexin comments: “I am thrilled that Yorkshire Water has selected Connexin for the framework supplying the AMI water meter roll-out programme in the Yorkshire region, building on our existing successful relationship and working with us on our doorstep.
“Combined with the first large-scale IoT smart water roll-out that we are currently delivering for Severn Trent Water in the UK, this strengthens Connexin’s place as the UK’s leading LoRaWAN® network provider and water meter connectivity expert.”