United Utilities Chooses Dolphins To Collect Meter Data

United Utilities plc was created in 1995 by the merger of North West Water and Norweb. It is a member of the FTSE 100 group of leading UK listed companies, and employs over 17,000 people. Its main activities involve managing and operating the regulated electricity distribution, water and waste water networks in North West England.

One of the group’s units is the Energy and Contracting Services division, which forms part of United Utilities Utility Solutions. This is the UK’s leading utility infrastructure outsourcing business. It operates all water and waste water, electricity and gas networks under contract, whether on behalf of United Utilities or external clients. Part of its activities includes gas and electricity metering operations, carried out by United Utilities Metering.

The Business Challenge
This section of the business was previously using handheld devices for collecting technical metering information in the field. However, these had become outdated and expensive, and the type of operating software that could be used was limited. United Utilities needed a solution that would safeguard its existing contracts whilst also meeting the needs of potential customers. Steve Stainton, United Utilities’ Application Support Manager, explains: “We needed to ensure we could source competitively priced hand held units. These must use the latest technology and have supporting software that gives them the flexibility required to meet our future business needs.