User Friendly award goes to ... E.ON UK

Here’s a refreshing development in the world of smart metering rollouts: a pledge by a utility to not only deploy AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) on a large scale, but to actually try and make the process as user-friendly for customers as possible.

For both those actions — committing to the installation of one million smart meters by the end of March 2014 and opening a Smart Metering Centre of Excellence to provide customers with a dedicated contact point for smart meter questions — we award E.ON UK a User Friendly award, an occasional title of recognition we bestow upon the smartest of smart-technology efforts.

“Meeting the needs and addressing any potential concerns of our customers is crucial if the smart meter revolution is to be a success, and our dedicated Smart Metering Centre of Excellence will help us get the learning to make sure that we get the smart meter rollout right for our customers,” said Graham Bartlett, Managing Director of E.ON’s Energy Solutions business.

The Nottingham-based centre will be home to a specialist smart meter customer service team of around 100 offering tailored advice and support for customers with smart meters. And to ensure front-line service reps know what they’re talking about in real-life terms, each one will have a smart meter installed in his or her own home as part of the early rollout.

User friendly, indeed … great thinking on E.ON’s part.