UXC to install smart meters for CitiPower and Powercor

ASX-listed integrator, UXC (ASX:UXC), has secured part of an $80 million deal to rollout 1.1 million smart meters across Powercor and CitiPower electricity networks in Melbourne and western Victoria.

The meters, 31 per cent in the CitiPower network and 69 per cent in the Powercor network, will be installed from October this year through to December 2013 by UXC and another as-yet unnamed provider.

In a statement to the ASX, UXC executive chairman, Geoff Lord, said the deal was an “important plank” in the company’s efforts to drive business in the metering industry.

Earlier in the year, the integrator warned its first half earnings would be down by a “substantial amount” after trimming its head count late last year as a result of the tough economic climate. At the time, finance director and company secretary, Mark Hubbard, said the lack of confidence in the market had created real weaknesses.

However, the latest deal is positive news for the company and follows on from other announcements of wins for its Business Solutions Group, totalling more than $40 million. The wins by UXC subsidiaries ranged from Government and education to commercial deals.

In recent times, several large companies (including IBM) and ICT industry bodies have called for greater deployment of smart meters in infrastructure across the country by utility corporations and government.