UAE: Smart Water Metres To Be Installed Across Northern Emirates Homes

Residents in the Northern Emirates will soon see smart water metres in every home, as Etihad Water and Electricity pushes ahead with a major plan to improve efficiency, cut leaks, and prepare for rising demand.

While half of the households in the Northern Emirates are already equipped with smart metres , the rest will be fitted within the next one year and a half, according to Thomas Spannring, chief financial officer at Etihad Water and Electricity.

“We have completed installing smart meters in 50 per cent of the homes in the Northern Emirates. The remaining 50 per cent will be done in the next one and a half years,” noted Spannring while speaking on the sidelines of WETEX at the World Trade Centre.

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The move is part of the company's effort to reduce what is known as non-revenue water - water that is produced but not billed due to leaks or inaccurate measurements. While most of the leakage come from old pipelines that have been in place for three decades, older mechanical metres have also caused errors in tracking usage.

Spannring said that while fixing the leakage will take a while, he reassured that they are working on it. "These pipelines are 30 years old. Replacing them will overcome the leakage part,” he said. "The other problem is metering inaccuracies - and that's where smart meters and digital meters make a real difference.”

Spannring added that by introducing digital systems, the company has already been able to cut these inefficiencies. "We were able to reduce overall non-revenue water by one third as it was not properly measured,” he said.

The shift to smart technology comes at a time when demand for water in the Northern Emirates is increasing. Consumption in 2024 and 2025 is growing at around 10 per cent year on year, which equals an extra 20 gallons of water every day.

“As we know, the boom of construction in Ras Al Khaimah and people moving there has led to an uptick in water consumption in the emirate,” said Spannring.

“The smart meters will not only help households monitor their own usage accurately but also give the utility a clearer picture of how and where water is being consumed. This is vital for long-term planning,” added Spannring.

Alongside the rollout of smart metres, Etihad Water and Electricity is expanding its desalination capacity. The utility currently produces 150 million gallons of water per day using reverse osmosis technology, which uses significantly less energy compared to traditional thermal desalination, making it a more sustainable solution.

“When you compare reverse osmosis to thermal desalination, it is significantly more energy efficient and is a big step in sustainability,” said Spannring.

Looking ahead, the company also plans to integrate artificial intelligence into its metering systems, which will further improve accuracy and efficiency.

“In the future, AI will be supported in metering, and we are currently working on it,” said Spannring.

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