Sydney Water & DataCol Team Up For Water Meter Solution

Sydney Water and DataCol Team Up For a Great Water Meter Solution

Australia’s largest urban water supplier, Sydney Water has selected DataCol’s SevenX solution to read its 1.3 million water meters.

Christchurch, 12 August 2013. The new system allows meter readings to be submitted from the field via the mobile phone network and send the data straight to the billing system. This translates to greater productivity as meter readers do not need to go back to base to upload routes or download readings at the end of each day.

The system uses field devices that include GPS location and have the ability to capture images from the field, which can be very useful to show issues such as difficulty accessing a meter.

Sydney Water Manager for Customer Accounts and Billing, Colin Ridley said Sydney Water are pleased with DataCol’s meter technology. “The DataCol solution is robust, reliable and also cost effective. It will help us more easily move towards more automated meter reading in the future”.

CEO of DataCol, Bruce Franks said, “Sydney Water is constantly renewing its water infrastructure and making the right investments to support and facilitate the growth the city is going to experience in the future. They are bringing about significant updates to the infrastructure and were looking for a partner who could support them through this transition and we are happy to be their vendor of choice”.

Mr Franks said being entrusted with meter reads and billing data for a large operation such as Sydney Water is a big responsibility and has been made possible since SevenX is a proven solution that has been audited and tested to comply with the highest industry standards.

“In essence we will be processing billions of dollars’ worth of billing data and you want nothing but the best technology to ensure absolute accuracy with class-leading efficiency of operations. This is a mission critical system for Sydney Water and we’re proud of our partnership with them and the solution we’re delivering for the city”, concluded Mr Franks.

Sydney today is home to 4.6 million people and the number is expected to grow to 5.6 million by 2031 and will need half a million more houses, according to the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. With 1.9 million connections servicing 4.6 million people, over $AUD 2 Billion in annual revenues Sydney Water is Australia’s largest urban water supplier.

DataCol, a New Zealand based company, brings with it years of experience in the water, gas, electricity and agricultural sectors and currently partners a number of city councils and water authorities across Australasia. Sydney Water selected DataCol on the basis of its track record and the proven efficiencies the SevenX solution brings to Sydney Water’s operations.

ABOUT DATACOL

DataCol is a Christchurch, New Zealand – based company that helps organisations, utilities and councils collect, manage and present meter consumption data. DataCol has a history of providing products and services that help utilities improve their metering, and now offers similar services in the primary processing sector to monitor water and other natural resource use.

Established in 1999, DataCol has over 200 employees and contractors and gained widespread recognition for its service commitment and levels of innovation. A fully owned subsidiary of New Zealand energy distribution company Electra with group turnover around $74 million and total assets of $261 million.

ENDS

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