In March 2026 Pidpa launched a joint tender with De Watergroep and Farys for a digital water meter framework with an estimated value of €198,619,000 and a duration of 299 months. Bids were due on 7 April 2026, and the award was pending as of November 2026.
Pidpa leads, De Watergroep participates
The 2026 tender was a negotiated procedure with a prior call for competition, with Pidpa as the contracting lead and De Watergroep and Farys as participating authorities. For suppliers, that means the route into a major De Watergroep technology purchase runs through another utility's procurement.
A rollout that slowed in 2025
De Watergroep installed 152,974 digital meters in 2024 but only 78,012 in 2025, bringing its total installed to 313,169. The drop followed the end of the Fluvius contract in April 2025 and a gradual start by three new contractors. Smart metering investment fell from €15.439 million in 2024 to €8.546 million in 2025.
A bigger joint target
On 19 October 2026 De Watergroep, Farys and Pidpa reported 1 million digital meters installed between them since early 2022, with 1.8 million still to go and most customers to be equipped by 2030. De Watergroep alone had 1,552,455 drinking water connections in 2025.
Two objectives side by side
Rolling out digital meters and reducing water loss are both among De Watergroep's stated strategic objectives. Its Infrastructure Leakage Index was 1.15 in 2025, against a target of 1.07 and a goal of 0.80 by end-2030, and only 278 of 400 planned flow sensors were live at the end of 2025.
Which other programmes are open or emerging, who already holds major work, how Waterunie Operator changes the buying route and where suppliers should focus first are set out in the full report. The full report, De Watergroep: Utility Account Brief, is available for USD 499. For a free overview, read the De Watergroep Utility Snapshot.