KCC and MBC Smart Water Minutes 2nd May 2014.

Paul Qwirk made this Environmental Information Regulations request to South East Water
You only have a right in law to access information about the environment from this authority
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, South East Water should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear South East Water,

KCC and MBC Smart Water Minutes 2nd May 2014.

Please provide the minutes of the meeting with Kent county council and Maidstone
borough council on 2nd May 2014.

“KCC is also unable to explain why there were no minutes from SEW’s meeting of 2nd May 2014. You will need to direct this question to South East Water directly.”

Yours faithfully,

Paul Qwirk

South East Water

[1]South East Water 
Dear Customer,
                             
Thank you for contacting South East Water on 3rd March 2016.
This is an automated response. Please don’t reply to this email - for any
further enquiries, please send us an email through [2]Contact us or copy
this link into your web browser:
http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/contact-...
 
We will respond to your email as quickly as possible and will aim to do so
within 5 working days. If your email included a complaint, our
investigation may take a little longer but we will respond to you within
10 working days.
 
If you are notifying us of a change of address, you will receive a new
bill from us once your move has been completed, unless we contact you to
advise otherwise.

If your contact includes something you may feel is urgent please contact
us on 0333 000 1122. If you have requested a read-receipt for your email,
please note that our system does not send these but we will respond within
the timescales outlined above.
 
Regards
South East Water

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South East Water

Dear Mr Paul Qwirk

Subject: Environmental Information Regulations Request

 
Thank you for taking the time to email our Customer Service Department on
3rd March 2016 regarding your request.

I can confirm that I have passed your enquiry on to our Communications
Department to investigate.

A member of the team will respond to you with the information you have
requested

If you have any other queries, please contact us on 0333 000 11 22.

Kind regards

Claire Wadhams
Technical Customer Services Advisor

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South East Water

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Paul Qwirk

Subject: Environmental Information Regulations Request

I write further to your email received on 3rd March 2016 regarding your
request.

The South East of England has been classed by the Environment Agency as an
area of serious water stress. This means there is concern about the amount
of water available for the increasing population. According to the Met
Office, the South East of England gets 31 per cent less rainfall on
average than the rest of the UK.

The Environment Agency has designated the South East of England as being
under serious water stress because the region has the lowest amount of
water available per person; will experience some of the greatest pressures
for increasing demand in the future; will experience high population
growth; and will see some of the greatest impacts on future water
availability due to climate change.

South East Water’s metering programme is an important part of its long
term plan to manage water supplies. Water comes from rivers or deep,
natural chambers underground – called aquifers – which help store
rainwater. Winter rainfall is vital to keep rivers and aquifers
replenished so it is important to manage this vital resource.

Metering is a cost effective way of managing water — for the customer and
South East Water. Customers on a water meter tend to use around 10 per
cent less water than those who are not. Metering is a fairer way for
customers to pay for their water as they only pay for what they use.

For South East Water it means a delay introducing more expensive solutions
to provide the necessary water, thereby keeping bills as low as possible.
The metering programme is supported by the Government’s Department for
Environment Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency, the water
industry’s regulator Ofwat and the Energy Savings Trust.

As part of wider communications for the Customer Metering Programme ahead
of it reaching the Maidstone area, South East Water gave an informal
briefing to stakeholders on Friday 2 May 2014.

Those invited included elected members of Maidstone Borough Council, Kent
County Council and officers from both councils. Other organisations
invited were the Citizens Advice Bureau, local housing associations, Age
UK, Voluntary Action, Maidstone and Kent Savers Credit Union. The purpose
of the briefing was to give an overview of the metering programme and the
financial support available to customers. It was an informal briefing with
a presentation and opportunity for guests to ask questions. As such, it
was not necessary to record minutes. Attached is a copy of the
presentation given at the event.

South East Water installs Elster V210 water meters. These are traditional
meters fitted with an automatic meter reading (AMR) function. This allows
meter readers to collect the data without having to read the meter dial.
They do this by using a handheld unit which receives a radio signal from
the radio module on the meter. The only data collected is water usage.

The meters are normally located outside properties at the boundary of the
street and the radio modules do not emit a signal continuously or even at
frequent intervals.
The radio module is idle for most of the time and only transmits for a few
seconds when the meter is being read. This typically occurs once every six
months for domestic premises.

The radio module used is very low powered at 25 milliwatts and the signal
rapidly decreases with the distance travelled.
The average power of a wireless router used for transmitting broadband
around homes is around 300 milliwatts, 12 times that of our meters radio
modules, but routers transmit continuously. The average mobile phone emits
two watts which is 80 times more than the radio modules of the water
meters.

The radio modules on the water meters operate at a frequency of 868 Mhz
which is the same frequency as street light controller, some security
products and some car fobs. The meters’ radio modules only transmit data
when they are being read, usually twice a year.

More information about the South East Water’s Customer Metering Programme
is available at southeastwater.co.uk/meters

If you have any other queries, please contact us on 0333 000 11 22.

Kind regards

Claire Wadhams
Technical Customer Services Advisor

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Dear South East Water,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of South East Water's handling of my FOI request 'KCC and MBC Smart Water Minutes 2nd May 2014.'.

I asked for a copy of the minutes not a booklet.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/k...

Yours faithfully,

Paul Qwirk

South East Water

[1]South East Water 
Dear Customer,
                             
Thank you for contacting South East Water on 18th April 2016.
This is an automated response. Please don’t reply to this email - for any
further enquiries, please send us an email through [2]Contact us or copy
this link into your web browser:
http://www.southeastwater.co.uk/contact-...
 
We will respond to your email as quickly as possible and will aim to do so
within 5 working days. If your email included a complaint, our
investigation may take a little longer but we will respond to you within
10 working days.
 
If you are notifying us of a change of address, you will receive a new
bill from us once your move has been completed, unless we contact you to
advise otherwise.

If your contact includes something you may feel is urgent please contact
us on 0333 000 1122. If you have requested a read-receipt for your email,
please note that our system does not send these but we will respond within
the timescales outlined above.
 
Regards
South East Water

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South East Water

Dear Mr Qwirk,

Subject: Environmental Information Regulations Request 

Thank you for taking the time to email our Customer Service Department on
the 19th April 2016.

I can confirm i have passed this to our environmental department who will
be in touch shortly.

If you have any other queries, please contact us on 0333 000 11 22.

Kind regards

Rebecca Kirwan
Customer Services Advisor

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Gould, Caroline, South East Water

Dear Mr Qwirk

 

I write to set out South East Water’s response to your request for an
internal review of South East Water's handling of your EIR request 'KCC
and MBC Smart Water Minutes 2nd May 2014.

 

You requested a copy of the minutes from a meeting with Kent County
Council on 2^nd May 2014.

 

The meeting you refer to was part of South East Water’s communications for
its Customer Metering Programme which was due to be rolled out in the
Maidstone area. South East Water gave an informal briefing to stakeholders
on this date.

 

Those stakeholders invited included elected members of Maidstone Borough
Council, Kent County Council and officers from both councils as well as
the Citizens Advice Bureau, local housing associations, Age UK, Voluntary
Action and Maidstone and Kent Savers Union. The purpose of the briefing
was to give an overview of the metering programme and the financial
support available to customers. It was an informal briefing where South
East Water ran through a presentation and guests had an opportunity to ask
questions.

 

You have been informed already of this and you were provided with a copy
of the presentation from the meeting. There were no minutes or other
records kept therefore this is no other information that could have been
provided. I therefore consider that the original request was responded to
correctly.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of this internal review you can
apply, without charge, to the Information Commissioner, who will consider
whether South East Water has complied with its obligations under the
Environmental Information Regulations. You can find out how to do this and
more on the Information Commissioner’s website at: [1]www.ico.co.uk.
Complaints to the Information Commissioner can be made via the “report a
concern” section of the website.

 

Yours sincerely

_______________________________________________
Caroline Gould
Solicitor and Data Protection Officer
Legal, South East Water
Rocfort Road, Snodland, Kent, ME6 5AH
[2][email address] / [3]www.southeastwater.co.uk
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

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