GERMAN industrial giant Siemens has won a £5m contract to read water meters across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Over the three years of the deal with Southern Water Services, Siemens' staff will read water meters at 350,000 homes and businesses.

Siemens will continue to read meters at the same frequency as before: every six months at residential properties and most businesses. Customers will continue to receive bills from Southern Water.

Jon Crooke, water operations manager for Southern Water, said: "We chose to contract this work to Siemens because it is the UK's leading independent provider of metering services and has the expertise and experience to perform the work very well.

"We are sure that the blue Siemens logo on company uniforms and vans will soon become a familiar sight in the region."

All Siemens Energy Services staff will carry an identity card showing their name, employee number and a recent colour photo.

Their identity cards, uniforms and vans carry the company logo and their uniforms also carry the words "Siemens working in partnership with Southern Water" and a freephone number to confirm the meter reader is genuine.

Southern Water introduced a free meter option scheme in April 2000 as part of a push to conserve water.