Bglobal to rush smart meters to npower's clients

By Shivani Singh

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Bglobal, a provider of smart meters for the UK energy market, said it agreed to accelerate the introduction of smart meters to the business customers of npower, the British unit of German utility RWE.

"Smart meters," which give data on energy use, in every household by 2020 would cut energy bills and help the country achieve its green target.

Britain's target is to cut greenhouse emissions by 34 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels, and it needs 47 million smart meters for its homes and businesses to help achieve the target.

There is a huge demand for smart meters from large corporate energy customers as the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme -- which forces them to reduce their carbon footprint -- comes into force by April 2010, Chief Executive Tony Barnes told Reuters by phone.

Bglobal has already provided about 60,000 meters to large corporations.

"For the large and medium businesses, it is compulsory to have a smart metre by 2014... but what we are seeing is the strong demand from the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) sector," Barnes added.

The SME market for smart meters for electricity is 2.2 million, and including gas it is about 3.4 million, Barnes said.

Bglobal, whose largest clients also include British Gas and Scottish & Southern Energy, plans to rollout smart meters for the residential market in the next 12 to 18 months, he said.

Bglobal shares were up 18 percent at 25.75 pence at 1429 GMT on the London Stock Exchange. They touched a trading high of 31.63 earlier in the session.

(Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Anne Pallivathuckal)