Vacant premises with internal water meters remain a persistent challenge across the non-household water market.

Across regions including Yorkshire and Southern, more than 1,000 premises are estimated to have internal meters that cannot be accessed because the property is recorded as vacant. These jobs often follow the same pattern: no key holder, no access, no read and no clear route to resolution.

For water retailers and wholesalers, this creates a wider operational problem.

The main difficulty is that responsibility is split.

Retailers need accurate internal meter reads to support billing, data quality and read performance. Wholesalers may need to inspect or exchange the meter as part of the smart meter rollout. However, neither party has traditionally owned the full access process.

Formal access has also been expensive and slow to secure. As a result, many cases are returned for repeat visits, even though another standard appointment is unlikely to produce a different outcome.

For retailers, inaccessible internal meters can directly affect read percentages and increase exposure to penalties.

Without access, it may also be difficult to confirm whether the premises are genuinely vacant, whether water is still being consumed or whether the market record is accurate.

A successful visit could identify:

• Unrecorded consumption
• An occupier or change of tenancy
• Incorrect vacancy status
• Leakage or continuous flow
• Outdated or estimated meter data

Until access is secured, these cases remain unresolved and continue to generate avoidable administration and repeat field activity.

Vacant internal meters also create challenges for wholesalers delivering smart meter rollout programmes.

These sites can be deprioritised in favour of easier installations. While this may improve short-term completion rates, it leaves a growing number of complex properties outside the rollout.

That could become increasingly important as the industry works towards Ofwat AMI targets.

There is also a water leakage detection risk. A leak within a vacant property may continue unnoticed because there is no occupier present to report it. In water-stressed areas, this makes inaccessible internal meters more than a data issue.

The MOSL MIF Warrant project has created a new route forward.

Accredited third parties can now apply for and execute Warrants of Entry directly, reducing the access barrier that previously made these cases difficult or uneconomic to pursue.

The greatest benefit comes from using that access to resolve several outcomes in one visit.

Taking a meter read alone may still leave the property requiring another appointment for an inspection or smart meter exchange. A coordinated visit avoids repeating the same process.

The MOSL MIF Warrant project has created a new route forward.

Accredited third parties can now apply for and execute Warrants of Entry directly, reducing the access barrier that previously made these cases difficult or uneconomic to pursue.

The greatest benefit comes from using that access to resolve several outcomes in one visit.

Taking a meter read alone may still leave the property requiring another appointment for an inspection or smart meter exchange. A coordinated visit avoids repeating the same process.

Occutrace has developed an approach that combines Warrant of Entry access with smart meter installation or meter exchange during the same visit.

Once a property has been confirmed as vacant and the internal meter remains inaccessible, Occutrace can manage the warrant process and complete the required field activity when access is secured.

The visit may include:

• Obtaining an accurate meter read
• Confirming occupancy or vacancy
• Inspecting the existing meter
• Identifying potential leakage
• Installing or exchanging the smart meter
• Capturing evidence for market updates

This turns one access event into a complete resolution rather than another temporary outcome.

This approach extends capabilities Occutrace already delivers.

Occutrace is WIRSAE accredited for disconnection and meter exchanges up to 40mm, supported by ISO 9001, ISO 45001, Cyber Essentials and Achilles UVDB.

The quality, compliance and field delivery framework is therefore already in place.

Vacant internal meters should not be treated as routine failed reads.

They require a defined access and resolution pathway shared by retailers and wholesalers. A pilot batch can help establish the number of suitable cases, the proportion of meters successfully exchanged and the impact on read performance, data quality and smart meter rollout completion.

By combining accredited Warrant of Entry access with same-visit meter exchanges, the industry can move from repeated attempts to permanent, evidence-led resolution.