SBEAE

What SBEAE does

SBEAE, operating commercially as EAE, is a French family-owned water infrastructure services company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Plescop, Brittany. The company delivers four core service lines to water utility operators and local governments across France: water meter renewal and installation (classical and communicating meters with diameters from 15 to 100mm and beyond), annual water meter reading campaigns (pedestrian and radio reading plus post-maintenance for failed radio/tele-read meters), sanitation control inspections for both collective and non-collective systems, and network services including fire hydrant inspection and GPS geolocation of hydraulic infrastructure with digital mapping. Underlying technology is centered on radio relève and télé relève wireless meter reading systems alongside GPS-enabled mapping of meters, valves, branch connections, inspection chambers, and manhole covers.

The business operates as a field-services enterprise with approximately 250 employees on average, scaling to nearly 450 during peak meter reading season, deploying teams nationally across regions including Bretagne, Normandie, Pays de la Loire, Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie, Ile de France, and Hauts de France. Revenue is generated through professional services contracts and meter installation projects with public and private water utility managers, with anchor clients including Veolia, Suez, Saur, Agur, Aqualia, and Ocea, alongside a broad base of municipal and local government accounts. Pricing is quote-based and contracted directly; no public pricing or subscription models are disclosed. In October 2021, four territorial subsidiaries merged into the unified EAE entity, enabling national deployment from the original western France footprint.

Operationally, the company handled 394,000+ water meters and modules, 1,168,000+ meter readings, and 15,000+ sanitation controls per year, achieving €14.184 million in revenue in 2025. Distribution is exclusively direct via field service delivery to customer sites. The company has made sustainability-oriented investments through a partnership with KARRGREEN, financing three electric/BIOGNV energy hub stations (Ploermel, Pontivy, Moréac) with a stated objective of transitioning 20% of its vehicle fleet to electric by 2026. Leadership rests with Gérant Jean-Luc Douaran, and the company remains privately held with no disclosed external investors or parent entity.

Name

SBEAE

Legal name

SBEAE

Website

https://sbeae.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SBEAE (operating as EAE) is a French family-owned field services company founded in 2005 that provides water meter renewal, radio and pedestrian meter reading, sanitation control, and network infrastructure geolocation services to water utilities and local governments across France.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Water Utility Services

NAICS

Water Supply and Irrigation Systems (22131), Sewage Treatment Facilities (22132), Water, Sewage and Other Systems (2213)

SIC

Water Supply (4941), Sanitary Services (4950)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEUANAKAL

Field Operations & Repair Services (Emergency Response, Leak Repair, Crew Dispatch)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Water & Wastewater Utilities/Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction & Leak Detection

SECONDARYEUANAKAI

Commercial & Customer-Side Loss Management (Service Lines, Premise Leaks, Customer Programs)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Water & Wastewater Utilities/Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction & Leak Detection

SECONDARYEUANAKAJ

NRW Data Management & Water Balance (IWA Methodology, GIS/SCADA Integration, Digital Twins)

Energy, Utilities & Environment/Water & Wastewater Utilities/Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction & Leak Detection

SECONDARYBPAHAJAJ

Water, Wastewater & Stormwater Compliance

Business & Public Services/Professional Services (Legal, Accounting, Consulting)/Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) Consulting

Keywords

• Water meter services
• Sanitation inspection
• Meter reading
• Water infrastructure
• Utility field services

Headquarters

HQ city

Ploeren

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Water meter renewal and installation: Installation and replacement of water meters (classic and communicating meters) for utility companies. Services include cold/hot water meters, diameters from 15 to 100mm and beyond.
2. Water meter reading services: Annual meter reading campaigns including pedestrian reading and radio reading, as well as post-maintenance interventions for failed radio/tele-read meters.
3. Sanitation control services: Inspection and control of individual (non-collective) and collective sanitation installations for compliance and operational monitoring.
4. Network infrastructure services: Fire hydrant/hydrant inspections and GPS geolocation of hydraulic infrastructure for digital mapping of water networks.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

SBEAE (trading as EAE) provides professional field services for water and sanitation network operators across France. Its core offerings are water meter replacement (cold/hot meters, 15-100mm+, classical and communicating/radio meters), annual water meter reading campaigns (pedestrian and radio rel\u00e8ve) with post-maintenance interventions, sanitation control for collective and non-collective systems, and network services including fire hydrant inspection and GPS geolocation of hydraulic infrastructure.

Product overview

EAE provides a unified suite of water infrastructure management services organized around four core offerings: water meter replacement/renewal, water meter reading, sanitation control, and network services. The core portfolio includes Renouvellement compteurs d'eau (water meter replacement) and Relève de compteurs d'eau (water meter reading), both supporting classical, radio, and tele-reading meters. Complementary services include Contrôle d'assainissement (sanitation inspection for collective and non-collective systems) and Prestations réseaux (network services covering geolocation and fire hydrant control). The company operates nationally across France, deploying field teams for large-scale campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Renouvellement compteurs d'eau (Water Meter Replacement)

Named customers14 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• KARRGREENcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021EAE has invested in financing 3 KARRGREEN energy hub stations (electric/BIOGNV) in Ploermel (2021), Pontivy (2022), and Moréac (2023). KARRGREEN develops electric and bio-CNG fueling stations. This partnership supports EAE's commitment to transitioning 20% of its fleet to electric vehicles by 2026 and acquiring BIOGNV vehicles aligned with KARRGREEN station deployment.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Hydro-Assistance: French field-services specialist providing water meter installation, replacement, and radio-relevé campaigns for utilities and municipalities. Closest direct peer to EAE in service mix, customer base (water utilities and collectivités), and field-deployment model across France.
• RYB: French field-services company performing water and gas meter installation, replacement, and reading campaigns for utility operators. Directly competes with EAE on the same meter-renewal and radio/tele-relevé RFPs issued by Veolia, Suez, Saur, and local authorities.

Emerging players

• Birdz (Veolia subsidiary): Veolia-owned IoT smart-metering platform (formerly Multitel) deploying connected water meters and fixed-network remote reading. Overlaps with EAE on meter-reading data collection and is both a customer (per EAE's logo wall) and a long-term substitute for walk-by radio-relevé services.

Others

• Veolia Eau France: France's largest delegated water operator and EAE's flagship customer. Operates Birdz for smart metering and has internal field crews, making it both the principal revenue source and a structural substitute for EAE's meter services.
• Saur: One of France's three major delegated water utilities and an EAE customer; maintains in-house metering and SPANC capabilities that overlap with EAE's service offering, positioning Saur as both buyer and partial substitute.

Broad incumbents

• Diehl Metering: European smart-meter manufacturer with a strong water-meter portfolio (Hydrus) and radio/AMI solutions. Comparable as a meter-vendor incumbent whose product decisions affect the demand for EAE's radio-relevé post-maintenance and renewal services.
• Kamstrup: Danish manufacturer of smart water meters and AMI/radio-network solutions used by French utilities. Adjacent incumbent whose smart-meter technology roadmap (e.g., flowIQ, READy) defines the installed base EAE services and competes with manual reading at the network-architecture level.
• Itron: Global leader in water, electricity, and gas smart-metering hardware and managed services. Competes with EAE indirectly as both a meter supplier installed by EAE and a provider of fully managed AMI/reading services that bypass the need for third-party field-service vendors.
• Xylem (Sensus): Global water-technology major offering smart meters, AMI networks, and analytics through its Sensus brand. Comparable to EAE as both a meter-vendor incumbent whose installed base requires renewal/installation services and a substitute for EAE's manual reading campaigns.
• Sagemcom: European provider of smart-metering and IoT solutions for water, energy, and gas. Broad incumbent whose end-to-end AMI offerings compete with the combined meter-plus-services bundle EAE sells to French utilities.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sbeae

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SBEAE