Customer and Demand Intelligence

Severn Trent Water Utility of the Future: Water Prosumers and Distributed Demand Management

TL;DR: Severn Trent is recasting customers as water prosumers by scaling smart metering, smart water butts, and on‑site reuse, turning demand into a controllable variable that strengthens system resilience as climate pressures and population growth increase.

The relationship between utilities and customers is shifting from passive consumption to active, distributed participation in how water systems perform. Demand is no longer treated as a fixed requirement but as a lever that can be shaped by data, incentives, and local storage and reuse. For Severn Trent, this change is central to managing rising climate and growth pressures without relying solely on new centralised supply schemes. The company’s water prosumer strategy shows how household and business behaviours can be integrated into core system planning rather than left at the margins.

Executive Summary Severn Trent is operationalising the water prosumer concept through an integrated demand management and decentralised infrastructure programme that combines Advanced Metering Infrastructure, automated customer insights, and local capture and reuse assets. Smart meters feed hourly consumption data into digital engagement tools such as My Smart Tracker, enabling customers to spot leaks and adjust behaviour, while monitored smart water butts and greywater systems reduce inflows to sewers and lower mains demand. The utility has set clear targets for expanding smart metering toward around one million installations by 2030 and uses drought performance, including avoiding Temporary Use Bans through campaigns that cut consumption by several percent, as a key metric under UK resilience and water resources planning requirements.

From fixed demand to active water prosumers

Severn Trent’s system spans water sources, treatment works, strategic transfers, distribution networks, and customer‑side plumbing, with demand historically treated as an exogenous driver of capacity needs. As climate variability and population growth increase, this assumption constrains resilience and raises cost and carbon implications of new supply schemes. By reframing customers as water prosumers, the utility integrates household and business behaviour into system logic, using digital tools and decentralised assets to adjust peak and total demand, detect losses, and shift how and when water is used.

Several drivers underpin this shift: regulatory expectations to reduce per‑capita consumption, protect supplies during droughts, and manage leakage; customer appetite for transparency on bills; and the wider move toward smart infrastructure across energy and transport. Advanced Metering Infrastructure and associated portals give customers real‑time insight into usage, making invisible flows visible and enabling targeted campaigns that can be ramped up during stress events. At the same time, local capture and reuse help lower demand on central networks, providing headroom for growth without proportionate increases in abstraction or treatment.

Governance embeds these changes within long‑term water resources plans and drought plans that specify levels of service and how demand will be managed before restrictions are introduced. Key thresholds include maximum acceptable frequencies for Temporary Use Bans, targets for leakage and per‑capita consumption, and performance of high‑use sectors. Trade‑offs arise between upfront investment in metering, digital platforms, and smart infrastructure, privacy and data considerations for customers, and the benefits of avoided capital expenditure on large new supply schemes and emergency restrictions during dry years.

How Severn Trent enables water prosumers in practice

Severn Trent’s water prosumer model is built around three main pillars: smart metering, decentralised capture, and on‑site reuse. Advanced Metering Infrastructure is being rolled out across the region, with a goal of reaching around one million smart meters by 2030, providing hourly consumption data to both the utility and customers. Through My Smart Tracker and similar tools, households receive leak alerts, usage comparisons, and personalised tips, enabling them to reduce wastage and shift patterns ahead of or during droughts. In the 2022 drought, targeted demand management campaigns leveraging these insights helped cut water use by about six percent, avoiding the need for a Temporary Use Ban.

Decentralised capture is being scaled via monitored smart water butts, with around 8,000 units installed across 10 communities. These devices store rainfall from roofs and manage releases based on forecast weather and network conditions, taking pressure off sewers during storms while providing households with a local non‑potable supply for gardens or outdoor cleaning. In parallel, Severn Trent is working with high‑use business customers to install greywater systems and other on‑site recycling schemes that treat and reuse water within facilities, contributing to an estimated reduction of around 4 Ml/d in mains demand in parts of the East Midlands. Together, these measures demonstrate how distributed participation can deliver system‑level resilience benefits.

1,000,000 Severn Trent is targeting around one million smart meter installations by 2030, turning near real‑time usage data into the core channel for customer‑side demand management and leak reduction.

By 2030, Severn Trent aims to have roughly one million customers on smart meters, enabling near real‑time engagement on water use, leaks, and drought response.

Take-Out

Severn Trent’s strategy shows that treating customers as water prosumers—backed by smart metering, digital engagement, and decentralised assets—can turn demand into a controllable, resilient part of the system rather than a fixed constraint. For other utilities, the key insight is that investing in data, behavioural tools, and local capture and reuse can defer expensive new supplies while building community ownership of water security.

Expert Follow-Up Questions

How is the water prosumer model delivered by Severn Trent?

The water prosumer model is delivered by Severn Trent by combining Advanced Metering Infrastructure, customer‑facing digital tools, and decentralised assets that give households and businesses direct influence over their water use. Smart meters supply hourly data into platforms such as My Smart Tracker, where customers can see usage trends, receive leak alerts, and respond to targeted campaigns during dry periods, turning individual actions into a system‑level resilience resource.

How is drought and demand risk managed by Severn Trent?

Drought and demand risk is managed by Severn Trent through long‑term water resources planning that treats demand management as a first‑line response alongside supply schemes. During events like the 2022 drought, coordinated campaigns using smart meter data, digital messaging, and community engagement achieved around a six percent reduction in consumption, helping the company avoid imposing a Temporary Use Ban while maintaining service levels and protecting raw water stocks.

How are smart meters and digital engagement integrated by Severn Trent?

Smart meters and digital engagement are integrated by Severn Trent through a platform that links meter data, analytics, and customer communications in near real‑time. As smart meter coverage grows toward one million devices, the utility can segment customers, identify abnormal use or leaks, and push tailored advice or alerts, while customers can log in to track daily consumption, compare with similar households, and see the impact of conservation actions on their bills.

How are smart water butts and greywater systems deployed by Severn Trent?

Smart water butts and greywater systems are deployed by Severn Trent as decentralised infrastructure that complements central networks. Around 8,000 monitored smart butts have been installed across 10 communities to capture rainfall at source and manage releases ahead of storms, while partnerships with high‑use businesses support on‑site greywater recycling that has already reduced mains demand by several megalitres per day in parts of the East Midlands.

How is regional economic value delivered by Severn Trent’s water prosumer programme?

Regional economic value is delivered by Severn Trent’s water prosumer programme through avoided capital expenditure, enhanced drought security, and customer bill benefits from reduced wastage. Smart metering, smart butts, and on‑site reuse projects create local installation and maintenance work, lower the likelihood of disruptive restrictions during dry periods, and help businesses manage water as a strategic input, improving their resilience and competitiveness in water‑stressed years.

Deep Dive: Water Utility of the Future Severn Trent

The Water Utility of the Future Severn Trent report examines how smart metering, digital engagement, smart water butts, and business‑side reuse are being integrated into core planning to turn customers into water prosumers and to strengthen long‑term water security across the Midlands.

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Analysis by Our Future Water Intelligence • Robert C. Brears