System and method for utilizing district metering areas based on meter designations

A computer system executing instructions, stored in non-transient memory, for configuring a plurality of district metering areas within a utility supply network, comprising:

• a network control system configured to
• identify a plurality of flow measurement devices, wherein each flow measurement device is connected by a directional connection to at least one other flow measurement device and
• generate a flow based functional utility supply network representation modelling the utility supply network topology and stored in:
• the non-transient memory based on the directional connections between the flow measurement devices;
• and
• a district metering system configured to generate a plurality of district metering areas for the utility supply network representation, each district metering area including a subset of the plurality of flow measuring devices and including at least one flow measurement device designated as a supply meter, at least one flow measurement device designated as a demand meter, and at least one calculated flow measurement determined based on the flow measurements of the at least one supply meter and the at least one demand meter.