The 6th Annual Smart Energy UK & Europe 2015 summit (formerly known as the Smart Metering UK & Europe Summit) is a European gathering for Smart Metering, Utility and Grid professionals from around the World. The event is held in the ETC Venues at St. Paul’s London. This well-established event, organised by Oliver Kinross attracts in excess of 300 delegates and over 30 exhibitors each year.
The 6th Annual Smart Energy UK & Europe 2015 also plays host to the Smart Metering and Smart Grid Awards ceremony. This year there were 11 awards in total up for grabs, 8 for solution providers and 3 for the utility companies. 22 judges cast their votes anonymously for each award.
The first accolade of the evening was the Network & Communications Award. The award was handed to Netatmo for their ‘Netatmo Thermostat’. This Smart Thermostat looks to reduce the end-users annual spend and improve overall efficiency. The second award of the evening was the Home Energy Monitor Award and for the second year in a row Chameleon Technology took this award. Judges picked Chameleon as the clear winner for their simplicity and user-friendly design, stating that the user experience was clearly at the heart of this product.
Next up was the Smart Metering Technology of the Year Award. The judges gave this award to Green Energy Options (GEO) for their ability to combine philosophy and technology. GEO believe that customer engagement is only possible through taking relatively small steps; this approach considers continuously evolving user opinions.
The Smart Meter Data Management & Solutions Award went to Secure Meters (UK) for their continued developments to the overall management of data, which in turn enhances the end-user experience. E.ON won the Smart Metering Service Provider Award for their continued commitment to ensuring that their approach reflects the needs of their more vulnerable customers, but also that their messaging meets the needs of customers in later life.
Innovation of the Year was given to Cyan Technology. Judges felt that Cyan Technology had contributed greatly to the formation of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure by being able to transmit data wirelessly to utilities. The penultimate award for solution providers was the Smart Water Metering Innovation of the Year Award, this year’s winners were Endetec-Homerider Systems. Judges recognised the entry as the only submission in this category, which is innovative and future oriented (cloud based). The last of the solution provider awards was given to CyActive who won the Cyber Security Award. The judges were particularly impressed with the proactive nature of CyActive’s solution, horizon scanning and predicting future malware threats, and pre-preparing defences against them.
The first of the utility awards was Roll out Innovation of the Year. nPower – Neil Pennington was the clear winner. The aim of the nPower project was to establish a new strategic relationship with Nest, end-to-end business model, and introduce a new proposition to the UK market that will significantly change the relationship between customers and their energy use.
British Gas were the winners of the Customer Services Innovation Award. Feedback given stated that this year British Gas have focused on ensuring they have fully leveraged the positive momentum they’ve created around smart meter awareness through to the point of receiving a smart meter. They’ve implemented a customer experience that provides information needed at each stage of the journey. This journey has led to a significant increase in customers staying in for their appointments, further driving roll-out efficiencies.
Scottish Power collected the final award of the evening as they won the highly anticipated Utility of the Year Award for their Accelerating Renewable Connections (ARC) project. The judges were impressed by their continued collaborative work with SSE on RPZ in Orkney and with UKPN on Flexible Plug and Play projects respectively. The ARC project has built on this learning and applied it at Grid Supply Points, the interface of Transmission and Distribution networks – a first in the UK. Utilising the latest network information, updated every 24 hours, Scottish Power can provide renewable generation projects with the most accurate curtailment assessments. No other DNO can currently achieve this.
The European Smart Metering Awards are an initiative of Oliver Kinross aimed at recognising the achievements of solution providers and utilities. All award entries were assessed and judged upon by an independent panel of industry experts.
Oliver Kinross would like to thank all those who contributed this year making it a great event. A special thank you goes out to all the winners and the judging panel. The event was a great success and we hope to see you all next year. The 7th Annual Smart Energy UK & Europe 2016 summit will be on the 28th and 29th of January. Nominations are now open for next years’ awards ceremony.
