Landis+Gyr has signed a contract to deliver devices known as ‘bridges’ for the Alternative Home Area Network Company, a company owned and funded by all the UK’s energy suppliers, created to address issues and promote solutions for households unable to employ standard smart meters.

The Alternative Home Area Network Company (Alt HAN Co) was established by government through regulation as a special purpose company to allow all UK energy suppliers to deliver alternative home area network (Alt HAN) technological solutions and services. The company is not-for-profit, and jointly owned and funded by energy suppliers.

Under the contract, Landis+Gyr becomes the exclusive device supplier to Alt HAN Co. Landis+Gyr will provide at least 1 million devices over a period of 4 years. These ‘bridges’ work with existing smart metering infrastructure and close the communications gap between the smart meter and a property. They are aimed at the 2% to 4% of properties in GB unable to be accessed by existing smart meters. This mainly concerns households where the energy meters are located outside or a distance away from the home, in-hard-to-reach areas – for example, in large apartment blocks, preventing those customers from getting the information from their meters that would help them better manage their energy use and keep their energy bills as low as possible.

The technology resulting from this partnership seeks to address this concern and complete the range of smart energy metering solutions available in the UK. It will enable up to a million further households to access SMETS2 meters that could not otherwise be accessed, allowing them to take better control of their energy use. It also bolsters the nationwide campaign to deploy smart energy solutions and grid edge technologies that will facilitate a reduction in household energy consumption while also providing much needed flexibility to the grid.

“We are delighted to begin production of what is a critical part of the UK’s nationwide SMETS2 rollout. Landis+Gyr is committed to ensuring that households up and down the country benefit from the energy and carbon savings that smart meters bring,” said Simon Egan, Managing Director UK and Ireland at Landis+Gyr. “‘Hard-to-reach areas are a significant hurdle to the success of meeting full deployment of SMETS2 meters by 2025. Our collaboration with Alt HAN Co is a prime example of key industry players working together to create a workable solution to meet customer needs and we are proud to have reached the next phase of this critical project.”

“Alt HAN Co has worked tirelessly with energy suppliers and Landis+Gyr to ensure that a solution is made available to customers which addresses the smart metering gap and avoids leaving customers behind. The production of devices is a significant milestone in fulfilling our commitment to enable all customers to harness the benefits of smart meters. We look forward to working with Landis+Gyr in helping make smart metering a reality for all,” said Paul Cooper, Managing Director at Alt HAN Co.

As a UK smart meter manufacturer, Landis+Gyr is under contract to deliver a substantial amount of the nationwide roll-out of 53 million smart electricity and gas meters, which is expected to be completed by 2025.