Smart move saves $1 million

Smart water meters have saved Unitywater customers more than $1 million on bills and 231 million litres of water over the last two years.

That's the same volume of water the Caboolture community uses in nearly two months.

Smart water meters can help identify hidden leaks, enabling Unitywater to quickly let customers know to have them repaired.  

“It demonstrates the huge benefits of this technology – that’s $1 million that otherwise would have been on those customers’ bills,” Unitywater Executive Manager Customer and Community Katherine Gee said.

“And it’s more than 1500 customers who have experienced a leak, which shows how common leaks can be and how important it is to check for them.”

Water saving

Ms Gee said the project, known as the Smart Meter Network, helped save customers money and had environmental advantages.

“As we adapt to changing weather patterns it’s more important than ever to look at the ways we use water, think about water security and ensure the sustainability and liveability of our region,” she said.

Kylie Bartholomew, who manages unit complex ‘Coco Mooloolaba’ had a major leak that Unitywater identified through a smart water meter.

The burst pipe was under a garden, and the complex spa was on automatic top-up, resulting in huge volumes of water being lost, almost the same amount of water used by the complex each day. Without detection, the water bill would have been more than $4000.

Ms Gee said the utility hoped to roll out smart water meters more broadly across the region.