eMeter to Manage U.K. Smart Meter Data

Software maker eMeter has landed a contract that could see it managing data from smart meters across the United Kingdom.

The deal is with Electralink, a company created in 1998 to manage communications between utilities in the deregulated U.K. energy market. That's unlike the United States, where utilities typically manage their own meter data.

Electralink manages data from traditional meters, but it's moving to integrate smart meters into its system as well.

Right now about 15 percent of the U.K.'s electric meters are "smart," or capable of remote monitoring, activation and shut-off, according to John Quealy, managing director of equity research for Canaccord Adams.

But the U.K. government has called for all 26 million homes in the country to have smart electric and gas meters by 2020, making Electralink a potentially huge customer for eMeter (see Green Light post).

That kind of cross-utility data management is something eMeter is also handling for the Canadian province of Ontario to link all of its 93 utilities, Electralink CEO Dave Mutton noted in a Tuesday morning press release announcing the contract.

The San Mateo, Calif.-based company already has about 24 million meters under contract, with big customers including Southern California Edison, Alliant Energy and Toronto Hydro.

It has raised $57 million to date, including a $32 million investment last month from Sequoia Capital and Foundation Capital, and recently launched its own in-home energy management software platform to compete with the likes of Microsoft, Google and a host of fellow startups (see eMeter Lands $32M for Smart Meter Data, Home Energy Software).