Fulcrum Utility Services Limited, a leading independent multi-utility infrastructure and services provider focused on delivering infrastructure for the UK's net-zero future, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a new five-year smart meter exchange and management contract, worth an anticipated £20 million, with energy supplier, E (Gas and Electricity) Limited (“E”).
This new agreement is a tripartite agreement between the Group's smart metering business, Fulcrum Metering Services Limited, E and its Meter Asset Provider (MAP), Vantage Meters (Operations) Limited (“Vantage Meters”) and is expected to deliver total revenues of £20 million over the five-year period.
Under the agreement, Fulcrum will become E's Meter Operator (MOP) and Meter Asset Manager (MAM), managing its portfolio of 320,000 UK meter points and delivering an expected 80,000 meter exchanges as part of E's Smart Meter exchange programme. Fulcrum will receive income from both E and from Vantage Meters, as E's MAP.
This new agreement takes Fulcrum's portfolio of managed meter points to almost 500,000 and is expected to double the run rate of its meter exchange programme.
In less than 18 months, Fulcrum has established relationships with a number of new market entrants and growing energy suppliers to provide flexible metering services, further strengthening its position in the domestic Smart Metering market. E is a British-owned energy supplier and part of the Bayford Group. Based in Birmingham, it specialises in tariffs for customers with prepayment meters. Vantage Meters is a MAP and funds the procurement and installation of smart meters.
The contract comprises a related party transaction pursuant to AIM Rule 13, given Jonathan Turner's interest in the Bayford Group, which wholly owns E. The Group's independent directors consider, having consulted with its nominated adviser, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned.
Terry Dugdale, CEO, said:
“We are delighted to announce this significant new agreement with E and Vantage Meters, which is a positive endorsement of our growing position in the Smart Metering market, and substantially grows our meter portfolio and exchange programme activity.
“There are strong synergies between Fulcrum and E, particularly our shared focus on delivering the highest levels of service, which will be essential when we are operating on E's behalf in customers' homes. Through our collaborative approach, we can assist E and its customers to continue to make a valuable contribution to the low carbon economy by saving energy.”