MOSL CEO, Sarah McMath, sets out the programme of work to define the approach to sharing granular consumption data from smart meter rollouts for business customers and MOSL's role.
"In March this year, with support from trading parties and MOSL, the Strategic Panel published its National Metering Strategy for the business water market.
Within its first week, the strategy became one of the most viewed and well-received documents published on the MOSL website and has since been downloaded almost 3,000 times. This demonstrates that there are gaps in current metering processes and smart metering plans and a desire from the market to work towards a common, consistent and effective approach to rolling out smart meters.
I was pleased that the strategy was referenced in water companies’ draft PR24 business plans and that it is being considered by Ofwat in its response. Both MOSL and the Strategic Panel have made further recommendations to Ofwat on the changes we think are needed in the final determinations to ensure that smart meter rollouts don’t just focus on the easy-to-replace, easy-to-read meters. We have also asked for clarity on the proportion of business customer smart meters that are included in the planned 10.3 million meters that must be rolled out in the next five years.
Whatever we see in the final determinations (due 19 December), it’s clear that the acceleration of smart meters from April 2025 will have a significant impact on the market. It will impact processes, systems, settlement and tariffs, and hopefully deliver benefits in terms of water-saving opportunities and tailored services to customers.
But getting meters into the ground is just the first step. What is critical is the data that these meters will provide – timely, granular and accurate consumption data. Making sure this data is accessible benefits everyone. Water companies can use the data to identify and tackle leakage and develop innovative tariffs. Retailers can use the data to work with business customers to reduce their consumption and tailor services based on different customer and sector usage. Customers can use the data to better understand their water usage and work to reduce it and their bills.
So, what’s the challenge?
The challenge is, that there is currently no defined method for making this data available in a consistent or standardised format. This means that every water company is developing their own data standards, processes or portals to share this data which adds complexity for retailers and a lack of clarity for customers.
The Metering Strategy sets out the need for all market participants to adopt the common data format for granular consumption to make it easier for retailers to share, analyse and aggregate data across different wholesaler regions. Furthermore, it asked water companies to adopt a standard approach to sharing consumption data.
Since its publication, MOSL has been working with the Metering Committee (a Strategic Panel Committee) to determine the best approach for the market in terms of data sharing. The options being presented as part of the Strategic Business Case include:
- Organic growth – Wholesalers store customer data in their systems and develop individual data-sharing processes, with ‘light touch’ governance as necessary
- Data hub – a single, central data ‘hub’ in which all consumption data is held and shared with the relevant parties
- Peer-to-peer sharing – data is shared based on an agreed set of rules (i.e. a ‘trust framework’ similar to mobile banking).
Currently, the development of a central data hub has been identified as the preferred option. A centralised hub will standardise the data across water companies’ portfolios, act as a single source of truth for granular consumption data and enable quick and efficient access of data.
MOSL has been leading the work with the Metering Committee to define the approach based on:
- The requirement of a data sharing mechanism being set out in the National Metering Strategy
- The requirement for water companies to agree on common standards relating to the data collected from smart meters to ensure data interoperability across the sector (PR24 draft determinations)
- The request from Defra for MOSL to establish a data sharing mechanism for the market to share market data in a transparent, consistent and accessible manner.
It’s important to stress that MOSL leading this work does not mean MOSL will own any future mechanism or any proposed hub. Without understanding the full requirements and scope of the mechanism, we cannot know who is best placed to own the development or running of a solution.
As with all work MOSL undertakes, we will apply the ‘best or only’ test to challenge whether we are the best placed or the only ones able to lead on the central hub (as a market system) and any subsequent continuous operation of systems or processes.
The data sharing mechanism must be developed – there is no argument about that. The benefits (as I’ve mentioned above) will be wide ranging, including to MOSL. From our position as market operator and the operator of central market systems, it is essential that we protect and manage those systems which are critical to the functioning of the market. The introduction of smart metering and its data, could, if such a solution isn’t developed, put a massive strain on the central system (CMOS) and harm operational processes, such as running settlement.
System resilience is one of the programmes identified within our three-year strategy and is high on our corporate risk register. Supporting the market to develop a data sharing hub, therefore, mitigates risk and supports wider benefits, such as the secure and standardised accessibility of consumption data.
As the Strategic Business Case progresses through the approval stage with the Strategic Panel, my teams will be continuing to engage trading parties in what an appropriate solution looks like. Then, and only then, will we know who is best placed to develop it."
