Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has completed the in-sourcing of its meter reading and electricity meter operation services throughout Great Britain, a year ahead of schedule.

The company said that it has also completed the first community-wide energy reduction trials in the UK, featuring ‘smart’ meters, and through this has helped two partner communities achieve a 10% reduction in their energy consumption.

SSE decided to in-source metering services in a program, which started in 2007. This program has reached completion, creating 750 new jobs within SSE as a result. SSE’s metering team now comprises 1,500 directly-employed people working in all parts of Great Britain.

The company said that this has led to annual cost savings of at least GBP5m. Furthermore the in-house metering team delivers metering services, management of customer data and creates face-to-face contact between SSE and its customers.

Prior to this, SSE relied on a combination of its own employees in central southern England and the north of Scotland and up to nine external agencies elsewhere in the country to read electricity and gas meters and install and repair electricity meters.

SSE, which has been participating in the UK government’s Energy Demand Research Project (EDRP), since it began in July 2007 conducted long-term trial of over 10,000 smart meters in several locations across the UK and community-wide energy reduction trials involving three communities in Wales, Scotland and England.

SSE claimed that these trials, that were held in North Leigh in Oxfordshire, Alyth in Perthshire and St Athan in South Wales have registered a 10% reduction in energy consumption. The trial in St Athan started later, and is therefore not due to be completed until later this year. The community is, however, working on achieving their target.

A range of measures was available to each community including smart meters, real-time display devices (which show energy use in monetary value), energy efficiency advice and insulation offers. The communities also arranged various events locally, designed to involve the whole community.

The EDRP trials, which were announced in July 2007 and started later that year, have been managed by industry regulator, Ofgem, on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and aim to gain an understanding of how consumers react to improved information about their energy consumption.

Richard Westoby, director of energy demand at SSE, said: “The information that we have obtained during our smart metering trials will be extremely useful in helping to shape the future of the energy industry. The primary purpose of our trials was to understand how people use energy and how savings can be made when more control is given to individuals and communities.

“We firmly believe that there must be radical changes in the way that energy is produced and consumed and the results of these trials, which have used a number of innovative technologies, will help us assist all customers in reducing their energy consumption in the future.”