A SALISBURY based smart energy metering company is preparing for a surge in business as it plans to take advantage of the national roll out of smart electricity and gas meters.

Smart meters allow consumers and businesses to more accurately monitor the gas and electricity they use in real time.

Utility Funding Limited (UFL), working with its energy supply customers and installation partners, supplies new smart meters and pays for their installation and then rents the meters to energy suppliers, which use them to provide accurate bills and consumption data to consumers.

The meters enables companies them to save money by taking advantage of more flexible tariffs, and helping the Government hit its target of reducing carbon emissions.

To ensure it has the backing to respond to such a surge in demand, (UFL) has agreed a £17 million loan with Lloyds Bank Corporate Asset Finance.

UFL director Hugh Mullens explained: “We have been in the meter asset provision business for six years and become a significant player in the segments in which we operate with an estimated market share of around 10 per cent.

“In the next five years, nearly 50 million new smart meters will be installed across the country by energy suppliers, and UFL is a key partner as a meter asset provider, funding and managing the meters as consumers switch from one energy supplier to another.

“To maintain our market share in this fast-growing market, we needed a facility [loan] that would enable us to scale our operations substantially yet still remain nimble and flexible enough to respond to the demands of both large and small energy suppliers alike. This facility does that.”