Big brother?

My water meter must be a smart meter because I never have to provide a reading but the quarterly bills are all accurate.

Just wondering how they know without a smart meter.

I was phoned by the water company who said I had a leak, it was due to some building work I was having done.

I assume it shows up as excess water being used. Cannabis farms are sometimes detected this way also, I assume it flags up as more water being used than usual and being used continually.

We had no idea we had a slow leak in the kitchen but it is fixed now. The plumber assured us it would have been a miniscule leak, a pinprick in the copper pipe which the previous owners had set in concrete. It was discovered around the time our water meter was read.

So yesterday, six months on, the next water bill arrived and usage has dropped from 40 to 27 cubic metres and our direct debit has reduced by £10 per month!