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Water security is an issue across the world as communities face ageing infrastructure, population increases and climate change. The application of digital water metering (DWM) to properties has had a demonstrable impact on water savings at the property and network levels, on efficiencies within water utilities, as well as on improvements to customer satisfaction scores. Gathering and processing near-real-time water usage data is very important for both end-users and utilities, as well as demand and supply management planning. The potential contribution of DWM to the three pillars of water sustainability (environmental, economic development and social equity) is often overlooked. In Australia and other jurisdictions water utilities are facing up to the challenge of climate change. However, business cases promoting DWM are often unsuccessful because the benefit side falls short of the cost side. This study sought to identify possible DWM benefits not previously considered through an extensive review of academic and industry literature, and then to view those benefits through the lens of sustainability. The 77 identified benefits of DWM were catalogued and a taxonomy was created. The study elicited the opinions of experts, before quantifying them, thus identifying two distinct contexts of benefit value; subsequently, it surveyed the views of customers and developed a stochastic model of benefit value. The model, named DWM360, was applied to the project data of a large metropolitan water utility in Australia to model their DWM proposal for cost savings, contribution to sustainability and uplift in customer satisfaction. This paper presents a novel focus on how the benefits of DWM assist water sustainability. It considers differing social norms that impact consumer acceptance of changes in metering and water charges. The study will be of interest to researchers as well as practitioners looking to identify sustainability aspects of DWM.
Ian Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert J. Keller. Taxonomy and model for valuing the contribution of digital water meters to sustainability objectives. Journal of Environmental Management 2021, 293, 112846 .
AMA StyleIan Monks, Rodney A. Stewart, Oz Sahin, Robert J. Keller. Taxonomy and model for valuing the contribution of digital water meters to sustainability objectives. Journal of Environmental Management. 2021; 293 ():112846.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIan Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert J. Keller. 2021. "Taxonomy and model for valuing the contribution of digital water meters to sustainability objectives." Journal of Environmental Management 293, no. : 112846.
Research into the benefits of digital water metering (DWM) identified many benefits that were previously unrevealed in the literature. Many benefits are tangible and more easily quantified. Others, like a possible change in customer satisfaction (CS), are not. The objective of this study was to quantify any potential changes to CS from switching from conventional meters to DWM. The findings of a questionnaire survey of 178 customers determined a current average-CS score of 5.8 (0 (low) to 10 (high) scale); positive shifts in CS levels to individual DWM benefits of between 0.4 and 3.0; and, we demonstrated a prototype CS change prediction model that DWM implementation would derive a long-term CS step-change. The developed survey measurement items will benefit water utilities seeking to ascertain the benefits of DWM. The study will be of interest to researchers and water industry practitioners measuring CS and those developing business cases for DWM projects.
Ian Robert Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert J. Keller; Peter Prevos. Towards understanding the anticipated customer benefits of digital water metering. Urban Water Journal 2021, 18, 137 -150.
AMA StyleIan Robert Monks, Rodney A. Stewart, Oz Sahin, Robert J. Keller, Peter Prevos. Towards understanding the anticipated customer benefits of digital water metering. Urban Water Journal. 2021; 18 (3):137-150.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIan Robert Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert J. Keller; Peter Prevos. 2021. "Towards understanding the anticipated customer benefits of digital water metering." Urban Water Journal 18, no. 3: 137-150.
Business cases promoting the introduction of digital water metering (DWM) have, to date, focused on a limited number of benefits, especially water savings, metering costs, occupational health and safety (OHS), and deferral of capital works. An earlier study by the authors catalogued 75 possible benefits and developed a taxonomy based on a literature review, interviews and water industry reports. The objective of the present study was to elicit the opinions of Australian water industry experts on the benefits, then use the opinions to form probability distributions which, in future work, could be used to model the value of DWM benefits. The study findings have implications for researchers and practitioners seeking to accurately and stochastically model the benefits of DWM transformation programmes. Thematic analyses on the open ended responses scaled likelihood and estimated value of benefits into comparable units. We found 82% support for the benefits of DWM with only 6% disagreement and 12% non-commital; the savings value of cost of water benefits were predominately expected to range between 5% and 10% and much higher in some individual situations, while charges/operational costs benefits were predominately expected to range between 45% and 100%; and, moreover, we indicated how a risk-based range of project benefit could potentially be calculated. Opportunities for further investigations were identified.
Ian Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert Keller; Samantha Low Choy. Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits. Water 2020, 12, 1436 .
AMA StyleIan Monks, Rodney A. Stewart, Oz Sahin, Robert Keller, Samantha Low Choy. Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits. Water. 2020; 12 (5):1436.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIan Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert Keller; Samantha Low Choy. 2020. "Expert Opinion Valuation Method to Quantify Digital Water Metering Benefits." Water 12, no. 5: 1436.
Digital water meters can take Australian water utilities into the world of internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics. The potential is there for them to build more efficient processes, to enable new products and services to be offered, to defer expensive capital works, and for water conservation to be achieved. However, utilities are not mounting business cases with sufficient benefits to cover the project and operational costs. This study undertakes a literature review and interviews of industry experts in the search for unreported benefits that might be considered for inclusion in business cases. It identifies seventy-five possible benefits of which fifty-seven are classified as benefiting the water utility and forty are classified as benefiting customers (twenty-two benefit both). Many benefits may be difficult to monetize. Benefits to customers may have a small monetary benefit to the water utility but provide a significant benefit to customer satisfaction scores. However, for utilities to achieve these potential benefits, eight change enablers were identified as being required in their systems, processes, and resources. Of the seventy-five benefits, approximately half might be considered previously unreported. Finally, a taxonomy is presented into which the benefits are classified, and the enabling business changes for them to be realized are identified. Water utilities might consider the taxonomy, the benefits, and the changes required to enable the benefits when developing their business cases.
Ian Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert Keller. Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions. Water 2019, 11, 838 .
AMA StyleIan Monks, Rodney A. Stewart, Oz Sahin, Robert Keller. Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions. Water. 2019; 11 (4):838.
Chicago/Turabian StyleIan Monks; Rodney A. Stewart; Oz Sahin; Robert Keller. 2019. "Revealing Unreported Benefits of Digital Water Metering: Literature Review and Expert Opinions." Water 11, no. 4: 838.