Actavo, a leading international engineering solutions company, has signed a five-year partnership with ScottishPower to help deliver the majority of a smart metering installation programme to 1.5 million homes in Scotland.
The contract will see Actavo creating 230 new jobs in Scotland in order to supply in the region of 780,000 meters to homes across Scotland’s central belt, incorporating Glasgow, Edinburgh and Fife.
Keith Anderson, ScottishPower chief corporate officer, said: “Smart metering will revolutionise the way our customers consume and monitor their own energy use, empowering them to make real behaviour changes and identify savings. This contract award to Actavo is a significant moment for ScottishPower in the delivery of smart meters for millions of people across the UK. There is a significant challenge to support climate change targets and we are determined to offer all our customers a smart meter by the end of 2020, meeting the UK Government’s deadline.”
Welcoming the announcement of the deal, CEO of Actavo | Network & In-Home Division, TJ Malone, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by ScottishPower as the partner of choice for its smart meter programme. This new partnership builds on the already well-established relationship between ScottishPower and Actavo, where we already provide home services for their Eco and Home Comfort teams, including gas boiler installation, repair and maintenance to over 40,000 UK homes annually.
Malone added: “This new smart metering contract will encompass an ambitious training programme designed to upskill a 200-strong team of metering operatives who, supported by our new dedicated back-office and customer call centre teams at CityPark Glasgow, will provide the capacity to support ScottishPower in meeting its business objectives.”
The deal forms part of the government’s ambitious plan for a smart meter – which automatically sends gas and electricity usage readings back to the energy supplier – to be installed in every UK home by 2020, bringing an end to estimated billing.
Addressing the benefits of smart metering, TJ Malone said the “Smart meters play a crucial role in providing the data and infrastructure needed to deliver the benefits of the new energy system for the UK. We are finally seeing the smart grid becoming part of our not-too-distant future. With these free-of-charge meters, customers will now find it easier to control and manage how they use their own energy at home, which should lead to cost savings.
“Actavo is well-positioned for this new market of smart metering and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, which we believe will support the successful deployment of this beneficial technology into people’s homes,” Malone concluded.
