Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure customers of Southern Water are able to install water efficiency measures in their meter chambers.

Southern Water is developing its next Water Resources Management Plan and its draft plan included the proposed to update water meters with smart meters across its customers by 2030 through an extensive replacement programme. The company plans to undertake 10,000 household water audits per year. The company is due to reconsult on its plan this summer. It will not be granted permission to finalise its plan until Defra are satisfied that it is appropriate, including assurance that the water efficiency programme is robust, sufficiently ambitious and enables customers to be efficient with the water they use.

Most water efficiency interventions by water companies are directed to water use within properties. Southern Water have not specified measures beyond smart metering that directly involve the meter chamber. Water meters are normally water company property and measures in the meter chamber would not usually be undertaken by customers.

Southern Water reported through its 2022/23 annual review that it had undertaken smart water meter trials in 1500 homes. The average water use across Southern Water households was 128 litres per person per day in 2022/23, in line with its forecasts and below the latest national average of 141. The Environment Agency and Defra track whether water companies are effectively reducing water consumption across household and business customers each year and escalate concerns where applicable.