Consumer focused smart metering journeys

CCW wishes to appoint a market research agency to provide qualitative and potentially quantitative research services to:

Understand experiences of the household customer journey to smart metering for different household segments

Understand what an ideal journey would look like for different segments

Within the journey, consider the delivery of the smart metering process itself, including, but not limited to:

information provision (what, when and how)

and practical support for consumers such as help for low-income households

water saving advice

awareness of supply pipe responsibility

and water company leakage policies.

Explore awareness of the context in which universal metering schemes are currently happening, and identify what consumers see as legitimate reasons for rolling out smart metering programmes (e.g. water resources/environmental drought, cost of different ways of ensuring there is sufficient water for now and the long term)

At high-level gauge consumer sentiment to the potential to use variable tariffs to help manage water use at peak times of day and in the summer.

The research will mainly be with household water bill-payers in England and Wales, in areas which reflects a mix of water companies, and water resource contexts. For some research objectives it may be appropriate, where meaningful, to include future bill-payers.