Thames Water has gone out to tender for a fixed network meter reading service.
A Fixed Network System and associated water meters will enable the collection, management and transfer of meter data without a visit to or near a meter. Over the next 20 years Thames Water are expecting to install up to 3 million water meters on customer connections.
The system must be capable of providing fixed network data collection for defined geographic areas, meters capable of providing walk-by / drive-by data collection in Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) mode and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) mode, and separately a fixed network capability for individual customers (large users) outside of the defined geographic areas.
Thames Water want a system which is capable of reliably collecting accurate billing information and sufficient data to enable a range of customer facing and business benefits to be delivered, including the provision of consumption information to customers, meter consumption data to enable advanced tariffs and data for leakage identification.
A web service for secure customer access to all or part of the data may also be required, together with a process to transfer all the data to TWUL corporate systems.
The procurement process is organized in five separate Lots, with applicants able to apply for more than one. For three Lots, any agreement awarded would be for an initial duration of 6 years, with options to extend up to a maximum overall term of up to 16 years for reasons of technical compatibility. For the other two, any agreement awarded would be for an initial duration of 3 years, with options to extend up to a maximum overall term of up to 16 years.
Thames Water is envisaging a maximum number of two participants to the framework agreement. Deadline for requests to participate is 5th November.
As part of its progressive programme Thames Water is expecting to engage with approximately 65,000 individual households in 2014/15 and then approximately 125,000 for subsequent years.
Alongside the meter reading contract Thames is also intending to award a contract to a Field Based Customer Engagement (FBCE) service provider who will provide field marketing which may include mobile exhibitions, community workshops, displays and signage. The FBCE provider will also be responsible for customer home visits which may include delivering information packs, providing face to face answers to customer metering and billing queries, providing expert advice on water saving in the home which may include promoting the use of and fitting water saving devices.