UK-based smart meter provider Calisen said it is partnering with energy-focused operating system firm Kraken to modernize its field operations and improve the delivery of smart meter services. 

Under the terms of the partnership, Calisen will integrate scheduling, dispatch, and workforce management together using Kraken Field on the Kraken operating system to support delivery and maintenance of its meters. The goal is to improve the capability of Calisen’s 1,100-strong field force. 

With a Calisen engineer carrying out a home visit every six seconds, field operations need to be as intelligent as the infrastructure they support, the company said. Kraken’s field operations product is designed to eliminate the need for time-consuming manual planning – intelligently matching engineers to jobs, optimizing schedules, and reducing unnecessary travel.

Kraken aims to ensure engineers arrive with the right skills and tools to complete a job, which will enable Calisen to complete more successful appointments with the same workforce, while delivering better, more reliable service, higher first-time fix rates, and fewer missed appointments for customers, Calisen said.

Smart meters are one of the foundations of a more flexible energy system, but the rollout depends on thousands of field visits being planned and completed reliably, the company noted. By modernizing the operational layer behind those visits, Kraken and Calisen aim to help accelerate the deployment and maintenance of the infrastructure Britain needs for a cleaner, more flexible grid.

“The energy transition depends on the deployment of smarter infrastructure at national scale – and to make the operations behind it just as intelligent,’’ said Kraken CEO Amir Orad. “Calisen has built one of the UK’s most important smart-metering platforms, and Kraken Field optimization will help make every visit count: improving first-time success, reducing unnecessary miles and giving customers a faster, more reliable service.”

Catherine O’Kelly, CEO of Calisen estimated that about three-quarters of British homes now have smart meters. “In this mature and more complex phase of the roll out, the remaining installations are in harder to reach homes, we are fixing non-communicating meters, and performing upgrades,’’ she said. “At the same time, consumers are rightly demanding this crucial bit of kit is functioning well as they look to install solar panels and batteries or switch to EVs.”

O’Kelly characterized this new phase of the smart meter system as “more technical, with tougher penalties for suppliers where things go wrong.” This makes it vital to have the best systems in place to ensure Calisen’s 1,100 field force is in the right place at the right time with the right equipment to improve customer service, she said. “Kraken offers the best way for us to secure this ambition.”

The partnership with Kraken, which has headquarters in London and New York, is part of Calisen’s broader technology transformation to ensure best-in-class service to its customers as they navigate the clean energy transition, the company said. An internal team is delivering the transformation in carefully planned pilot phases in partnership with Kraken and other companies, Calisen said.