Thames Water put £410 million into digitalization in FY 2025/26, about 17% of the £2,369 million it reported across four investment themes. In the same year, annual average leakage rose from 569.1 Ml/d to 573.7 Ml/d.
More sensors, sharper detection
The company tripled its acoustic sensor estate to 70,000 units and says its leak detection accuracy rose to 65%, from 35% in FY 2024/25. Smart meters have flagged more than 103,000 customer-side leaks, and about 1.4 million have been installed since November 2015.
Even the installation count for the year is unsettled. The results presentation gives 245,261 smart meters; the sustainability report gives 270,117 in one place and 270,392 in another.
Detection is not repair
Total bursts rose 38% in FY 2025/26 and trunk main bursts rose 77%. On the regulatory measure, a three-year rolling average, leakage was 15.1% below the 2019/20 baseline against a target of 21.3%, a shortfall of 6.2 percentage points.
Thames Water's stated ambition is to replace 200–250 km of pipes a year by the end of AMP8. Until renewal reaches that pace, better detection mainly reveals more work for crews.
The stakes for supply
Demand-side savings carry extra weight because new supply is distant. White Horse Reservoir, planned to provide up to 271 Ml/d in drought, is due to operate by 2040, and a hosepipe ban took effect on July 23, 2026.
The report examines whether the digital estate can direct mains renewal, how the financing affects that, and what the roadmap to 2040 requires. The full report, Water Utility of the Future: Thames Water, is available for USD 499 at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/reports/water-utility-of-the-future-thames-water. For a free overview, read the Thames Water Utility Snapshot at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/utilities/thames-water.