Bglobal Plc said it has signed a new agreement to supply and install smart meters for British Gas Business during 2010. The contract value is anticipated at more than £12 million. In addition, the company said it will provide new data services, delivering recurring revenues of more than £1 million per annum. (more…)

The £8.1 billion rollout of smart meters in Britain could be knocked off course unless the Government and Ofgem, the energy regulator, act urgently to convince the public that the information provided by the meters will be held securely.

Fears that data on energy consumption could be misused by criminals, police or insurance companies have curtailed the compulsory introduction of the meters in the Netherlands, according to a report by Datamonitor, the market analyst.

Dutch consumer and privacy organisations were concerned that information relayed as frequently as every 15 minutes could allow employees of utility companies to see when properties were empty or when householders had bought expensive new gadgets.

Smart meters, which are due to be rolled out to the UK’s 26 million households by 2020, are fitted with information and communications technology so that they can send data and receive instructions. The intention is that they will transform the energy industry — enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy — but utilities have been frustrated at the delay to agreeing a common model and standards for use.

Now Datamonitor is warning that the introduction of smart metering will rival the creation of the internet as a telecommunications project and will stretch utility industry practices and processes to breaking point.

Alex Desbarres, senior renewables analyst at Datamonitor and co-author of the report, said: “The Government and the regulator have to decide what they want the programme to achieve and then they have to quickly establish a dialogue with consumer groups and the general public.

“The backlash against smart meters could be aggressive if the message that they will reduce energy consumption and help lower carbon emissions is not made clear. The Government also has to address these privacy and security issues. Many people do not like the idea of utility companies having a permanent window on their private life.

“What is the industry going to do with all this data? At the moment, they do not have the processes to manage it — and without significant new systems the data itself is worthless.”

A new communications centre will be created to receive and manage the data from the meters to make it easier for customers to switch suppliers.

According to Datamonitor’s report, the present trials of smart meters, which are being conducted with four of the leading suppliers, are throwing up potential problems, including issues about access to properties and the need for rewiring and repiping. Datamonitor says that all suppliers have had difficulty obtaining and installing the necessary equipment for trials, illustrating the relative immaturity of the technologies.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said that the privacy and security issues were being addressed: “Data protection and system security are crucial issues for the success of the rollout and operation of the smart metering and will be a vital part of the implementation work we will be doing. We will take a rigorous and systematic approach to assessing and managing these issues.”

A spokesman for Ofgem said: “Ofgem’s main concern is that the interests of consumers are protected when smart meters are introduced. Data protection and system security are crucial issues for consumers and we will take a rigorous and systematic approach to assessing and managing these issues. This will include stringent rules and safeguards.”

Energy UK, which represents the six main gas and electricity suppliers, said: “The industry has been working flat out to develop the smart metering programme since 2006 and continues to take on board lessons from other programmes around the world.”

The European Union said in 2006 that smart meters should be made mandatory, but voters in the Netherlands have vigorously opposed a compulsory rollout and succeeded in persuading politicians to vote against it.

Smart meters are expected to lead to the introduction of more variable price tariffs, based on time of day. It should be possible to charge consumers more at peak hours, which in turn would encourage many people to use electricity in periods of lower demand.

Flicking the switch

• The Department of Energy and Climate Change wants to see 47 million meters in 26 million properties by 2020

• Trials suggest that the £8.1 billion scheme may help people to save £28 a year

• Smart meters have a visual display allowing customers to see exactly how much electricity and gas they are using and relay the data to energy suppliers automatically

• Energy suppliers will be responsible for the roll-out of the meters at a cost of about £340 per household.

• UK homes add £33 a year to bills by leaving appliances on standby

Energy management solutions provider Bglobal Plc, on Tuesday reported a narrower loss for the first six months of fiscal 2010, driven primarily by a 116% growth in revenues.

The company also announced the promotion of Nick Kennedy to Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Kennedy was serving as the Finance Director at Bglobal Metering Ltd.  For the six-month period, total comprehensive loss was GBP 556.78 thousand or 0.75 pence per share, compared with a loss of GBP 2.02 million, or 3.18 per share, last year. Loss before taxation narrowed to GBP 666.79 thousand from GBP 2.02 million.

Revenues for the first half of the year reached GBP 5.82 million, up 116% from GBP 2.69 million in fiscal 2009, as contracts won by the group were converted into meter installations.

Operating loss narrowed to GBP 619.78 thousand from GBP 1.90 million in the year-ago period. Administration expenses declined year-over-year to GBP 2.57 million from GBP 2.61 million.

Gross margins improved to 33.5% from 26.3%, attributable to higher operational efficiency and the increase in meter installation rate. Gross profit for the quarter advanced to GBP 1.95 million from GBP 708.52 thousand.

Bglobal noted that during the first quarter of the year, smart meter installations was a little slower than expected chiefly because of the lack of resolution on meter asset finance for some of its smart meter service customers. After the problem got resolved on incorporation of new facilities, installation activity increased significantly.

The number of meter installations performed by the firm almost doubled year on year. Orders for smart meters from major customers surged 94% in the second quarter, when compared to the preceding quarter.
 
Service revenues went up to GBP 0.78 million from GBP 0.40 million, as the group’s accredited data collector and data aggregation improved from the prior-year period.

Looking forward, Tony Barnes, Chief Executive of Bglobal said, “With strong customer demand for our services, a steadily increasing order book and continuing efficiency gains being realised driving higher gross margins, we are confident that the Group is in a strong position to capitalise on the opportunity ahead.”

Every British home is to be issued with a smart meter which calculates how much gas or electricity is used each time an appliance is switched on.  Families will also know how much they are spending minute-by-minute.  Details will be announced by the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband this week.

Old-style meters will be ripped out and replaced with the gadgets, which can be programmed to turn appliances on and off to take advantage of off-peak rates.

Older-style electric meters will be phased out to make way for new ’smart’ meters
Fridges and freezers could be turned off at peak times to save power – but will automatically be switched back on if the temperature inside rises too high.

The utility companies will pay for the £7billion installation programme, though much of the cost is expected to be recouped later from customers. Mobile phone technology will be used to transmit information on each family’s energy consumption to a central ‘hub’.
The system, to be introduced over the next ten years, will allow power companies to read meters remotely and mean the end of estimated bills.

Energy suppliers will save billions by doing away with meter readers and call centre staff.

Ministers claim families will save money by seeing their costs on a daily basis and will be encouraged to cut back to reduce bills.  The announcement comes days before world leaders arrive in Copenhagen for a climate change summit.

The Government hopes to enhance Britain’s ‘green’ credentials by showing it is determined to cut energy consumption.

Ed Balls has told schools to cut their energy bills and share resources in order to save tens of millions of pounds of public money. The Schools Secretary said headteachers need to start planning to make savings now in order to protect teaching jobs and frontline services in the future amid growing pressures on the public purse. He announced proposals for a £12 million initiative to give schools hi-tech “smart meters” to cut their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.

The Government believe the meters and other energy efficiencies could save primary schools up to £700 a year each and secondaries up to £3,000 a year each on fuel bills alone.

Schools should also be negotiating better deals on computers, cleaning and catering contracts and other services, Mr Balls told the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) annual conference in Birmingham.

Headteachers should compare their expenditure to other schools and examine their staffing plans to see if changes can be made to ensure staff are used effectively.

Mr Balls also urged schools to consider partnering with other schools to share services. He told the conference that it is time for schools to have an “honest debate” about making the best use of resources.

Mr Balls said: “Together we have opened up opportunities for thousands more children and young people. I am committed to ensuring that this progress continues and that despite tougher times vital frontline services are maintained.

“Now more than ever we need to ensure we are getting real value for money from our investment. We will only achieve efficiency savings while at the same time continuing to improve school standards and raising levels of achievement by working together.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “If purchasing were organised at a strategic level through local authorities as formerly, it is possible it could result in some savings. Asking heads to get together with their colleagues in neighbouring schools to negotiate deals is probably not the best use of headship time.”

Catalyst recently presented at Microsoft on the topic of ‘IT can be easy being green’ This presentation was aimed at busineses and organisations interested in using technology to measure and reduce energ consumption.

 

The presentation contains information on: 

• Why environmental responsibility is becoming essential
• How to measure your energy consumption
• The use of smart meters
• Energy saving tips
• CRC guide

UK energy supplier first utility has today announced a partnership with Google that will see the company integrate its smart meter service with the search giant’s recently launched online PowerMeter tool.

First:utility, which operates as an independent provider of gas and electricity to business and domestic customers, is currently in the process of rolling out free smart meters to all its customers and already operates a service where users can track their energy use online with energy use data updated every half hour.

However, company chief executive Mark Daeche told BusinessGreen.com that the new partnership with Google would make it easier still for users to monitor their energy use by providing data through their iGoogle desktop display.

“By integrating the data from our smart meters with the PowerMeter application we will be able to make sure the information is right there in your face each day,” he said, adding that surveys have shown that the more visible smart meter data is the more likely it is to help drive energy savings of up to 15 per cent.

Daeche said that due to privacy concerns customers would have to sign up to the new services to authorise first:utility to transfer their data to Google. But he predicted that the majority of the company’s smart meter customers would be interested in the new service. “It’s free of charge and we will email all customers in the middle of next month to notify them of new service,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you sign up?”

First:utility is the first UK firm to partner with Google’s PowerMeter project after a series of US utilities and smart meter firms signed up to integrate the technology into their own smart grid plans earlier this year.