The first British housing project financed under the Juncker Plan

After the French success story, the Juncker Plan is financing another housing project, this time in the UK. This is the largest project so far to be backed by the Juncker Plan and the second one in the UK.

The overall 1 billion GBP initiative will finance the installation of more than 7 million smart meters in homes across Great Britain. The support comes from the EIB (GBP 360 million) and from six other commercial banks that will significantly increase the roll-out of smart meters to reduce energy use and help households save money. 

The programme is a key part of the scaling up the use of smart meters in Britain, and one of the largest smart meter schemes in Europe to date. The roll-out will be managed by Calvin Capital, a leading funder, owner and manager of gas and electricity meters.  Individual meters will then be used by customers of energy suppliers.

The programme will support the UK Government’s plans to ensure that over 53 million smart electricity and gas meters are installed in every domestic property in Great Britain by 2020. The energy industry has spent the last four years learning, testing, trialing and developing how the roll-out will work in practice. The mass roll-out will begin in 2016.

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness said:

"[..] it is very positive that over half of the EFSI projects to be approved by the EIB so far are in energy efficiency and renewable energy."