SÃO PAULO, 11 Feb (Reuters) – Sabesp started this Wednesday a project in partnership with Vivo, with an estimated investment of R$3.8 billion, to replace 4.4 million water meters with smart models in the cities of São Paulo and São José dos Campos.
The new meters will make it possible to monitor water use every hour by customers, directly through the Sabesp app, making it easier to identify possible internal leaks and issuing high consumption alerts via WhatsApp, app or email. In addition, they will also have an anti-theft alarm system, which is activated in the event of an attempt to tamper with the meter.
‘The exchange of water meters for smart models represents a structural advance in the way Sabesp manages water and relates to its customers. In a scenario of prolonged droughts, technology allows us to act more precisely, reduce losses and offer consumers total transparency about consumption’, said the executive director of Customers and Technology at Sabesp, Denis Maia.
Opportunity with security!
The company said, in a note, that customers will receive notices about changing their meter on their invoices, detailing the period of execution of services in the region in which they reside, at no additional cost.
‘By installing and connecting millions of smart water meters to our network and integrating technologies such as AI, IoT and management systems, Vivo enables a more efficient, sustainable and data-driven operation, contributing to the modernization of urban infrastructure, the improvement of essential services and the application of technology to benefit people’, stated Vivo’s B2B vice-president, Débora Bortolasi.
Sabesp’s expectation is that São José dos Campos will have 100% of properties with digital measurement this year, while, for the capital of São Paulo, the forecast is until 2029.
(By Igor Sodré)
