Australian smart water meter company WaterGroup has inked a five-year partnership with Internet of Things (IoT) provider Thinxtra in a deal which will enable large water users to detect water leaks and avoid loss of millions of litres of water.
WaterGroup says the deal will also help water companies realise thousands of dollars in water savings each month.
The partnership will see WaterGroup’s IoT-based smart water meters connecting with the Thinxtra Sigfox Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN).
Thinxtra says the Sigfox network will cover 95% of the Australian population by the end of the year and currently covers 71%.
“Large users of water will benefit greatly from this network coverage as it provides a platform for our smart meter systems. They deliver not only automated meter readings but also valuable additional information on water use that helps our clients save water and money. In particular, undetected leaks wasting millions of litres of water which cost thousands of dollars will become a thing of the past,” says Guenter Hauber-Davidson, managing director of WaterGroup
{loadposition peter}“Our innovative smart water meter systems can detect leaks as soon as they occur at an hitherto unheard of price point. For example, one of our customers, Fairfield Council, is saving $4500 a month as a result of early leak detection. Another customer, Australian National University (ANU), found over $300,000 worth of savings within six weeks of our smart meter system being installed.
“Our smart water meter systems and solutions eliminate bill shock, the nasty surprise people get when they realise that their quarterly water bill has gone up enormously due to a costly leak or large unauthorised use.”
Announcement of the Thinxtra-WaterGroup partnership comes after WaterGroup spent 24 months researching and developing multiple LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) wireless technologies that the company says will work best with smart water metering devices.
“Sigfox technology became an obvious choice for use as a part of our smart water metering solution,” says Hauber-Davidson.
“In the past, the cost of connectivity was a constraint. Now, with the simple-to-use, large-scale and low-cost Sigfox network, monitoring their water use – and identify leaks – as finally within reach for any school, age care centre, shop, restaurant, car wash, or factory.”
Thinxtra chief executive Loic Barancourt said WaterGroup had been chosen as a partner “because it is one of the leading providers of systems and solutions to the smart water meter market in Australia with an excellent reputation of delivering tangible business outcomes to its enterprise and utility customers”.
“By joining forces with WaterGroup we will be combining their smarts in water meters with the benefits of Sigfox, the leading wireless technology for low cost and low power IoT applications.
"Thinxtra is becoming the low power wide area network of choice in Australasia for the Internet of Things. Thinxtra makes it simple and economical for objects to connect, thanks to the nationwide Sigfox networks we have already deployed and are operating.”