Turning data into decisions: the SASI case study
Digitalisation does not simply mean installing new devices. It means changing the way a utility operator understands its network, makes decisions and provides a service to the public. This is the message conveyed by the project carried out by SASI, the operator of the Integrated Water Service in the province of Chieti (Abruzzo, Italy). This initiative demonstrates how smart metering can serve as the starting point for more efficient water resource management, capable of improving service quality, optimising operational processes and creating new opportunities for digital transformation.
Complexity before technology
To understand the value of the project, we must start with the context. SASI manages the water service in 87 municipalities in the province of Chieti, serving around 163,000 customers spread across an extremely diverse territory. Small mountain villages, low population density, a high number of holiday homes and a population that swells significantly during the tourist season make day-to-day management particularly challenging. Added to this is a vast infrastructure: nearly 8,000 kilometres of pipework, four water supply systems, 170 springs, over 500 reservoirs and 141 water treatment plants.
In such a scenario, even a seemingly simple task such as meter reading can become a costly and complex process. In fact, only a third of the meters are easily accessible, whilst the rest require specialised intervention or are completely inaccessible to operators. This situation makes it difficult to ensure accurate readings, comply with regulatory obligations and provide an increasingly timely service.
The PNRR as an opportunity to accelerate change
The opportunity to change approach arose thanks to PNRR (the national post-Covid recovery plan) funding earmarked for the districting and engineering of networks. As part of the project, SASI planned to replace 20,000 mechanical meters with smart meters, representing an investment of around 4 million euros. The aim, however, was not simply to replace the meters.
The real challenge lay in making consumption data immediately available, without disrupting billing cycles and without altering established business processes. For this reason, the project devoted an initial phase to designing the communication architecture and integrating it with existing systems, even before field installations began. Subsequently, with an average of around 470 replacements per week, the plan quickly reached full capacity.
Today, around 19,500 smart meters regularly transmit their data, which is captured by the company’s systems within a few days of installation and is immediately available for billing. Over 70,000 bills have already been issued using automatically recorded consumption figures.
Smart metering does not produce data; it produces knowledge
This was probably the most interesting point to emerge during the presentation: a smart meter is not simply an enhanced meter. It becomes a sensor distributed across the network, capable of providing continuous information on the behaviour of the infrastructure and consumption patterns.
For SASI, this has meant being able to quickly identify abnormal consumption patterns and alert residents to any leaks in private installations, anticipating situations that in the past would only have come to light months later. Smart meters have also made it possible to monitor parameters such as water temperature – particularly important in mountain communities to prevent frost damage – or to detect reverse flow, which can indicate technical faults or unauthorised use of the network.
The results are also significant in terms of measurement quality: in municipalities where the entire stock of meters has been replaced, SASI has recorded a correction of under-recording of consumption, which in some cases has reached 10 per cent, improving both the reliability of billing and the understanding of actual volumes distributed.
Technology works when it interacts with the entire organisation
These results are not solely down to the adoption of new devices. One of the key aspects of the project is, in fact, the ability to integrate data from the field with all the operator’s other systems. Terranova’s IoT platform, designed specifically for the utilities sector, has enabled the collection, standardisation and distribution of information from smart meters to the company’s billing systems, technical monitoring tools and operational processes. It is precisely this interoperability that transforms data into value.
A consumption reading is not merely a piece of isolated information, but becomes a useful tool for planning interventions, improving service quality, optimising maintenance and supporting increasingly timely decision-making. At the same time, the platform’s flexibility allows for the integration of new communication technologies, new devices and future digital services, whilst safeguarding existing investments.
From data to decision: the real challenge of digitalisation
The digitalisation of water networks is entering a new phase. Whilst in recent years the focus has been on data collection, today the real challenge lies in the ability to interpret that data and turn it into operational decisions. Information on the condition of meter batteries can be used to plan preventive maintenance. Temperature alerts make it possible to organise interventions before faults occur. Consumption analysis helps to improve billing, identify anomalous behaviour and provide citizens with useful information to encourage a more responsible use of water resources.
In this process, technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence and edge computing are essential tools for building a digital ecosystem capable of supporting the evolution of utilities.
A project that looks beyond smart metering
SASI’s experience shows that a smart meter is not the end point of digitalisation, but the first step in a much broader transformation. Every smart meter adds a new vantage point on the network. Every piece of data collected increases our understanding of the system. Every piece of information shared between platforms and processes makes the service more efficient, more resilient and better attuned to citizens’ needs. It is this ability to transform data into information and information into decisions that is driving the evolution of the water service today.
And it is precisely on this vision that projects such as the one carried out by SASI and Terranova are laying the foundations for the digital utilities of the future.
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