To appreciate this story, you need to know that back in 1998, Western Europe was in love with the idea of smart cards. France had led the way with “Chip & PIN”, offering real security for credit and debit cards and eliminating the need to carry cash. Smart technology was at the forefront of satellite television. Smart cards were seen as the answer to everything, including pre-payment electricity and gas metering. For pre-payment electricity, you could even have your “chip” on a key for convenience!
Naturally, PRI and Secure had a different idea about utility metering (that’s why we are who we are). Despite all its limitations, after looking at the keypad metering available in South Africa, we had a firm belief that something better could be developed and offered to the UK, Irish markets, and other parts of the world.
The concept of Liberty was born, and a few brave souls in the PRI set about trying to break the strong bond between the people of the British Isles and their smart cards. Generally, the conversations were short and went something like:
“So instead of just sticking a card in, you want the consumer to punch in 20, 40 or even 60 digits? Don’t call us – we’ll call you!”
In Northern Ireland, things were a little different. The people there have always been less inclined to follow the herd. Even before PAYG mobile telephones, they were used to paying for things in advance. With natural gas supply still in its infancy, many homes were heated with coal or oil, typically paid for in advance. The culture in Northern Ireland is one of avoiding debt, unlike most of Britain.
Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) was working mostly with credit meters. For pre-payment, they were using old token meters from Landis & Gyr, affectionately known as “bus ticket” meters, because they used a ticket with a magnetic stripe. These meters were low on technology and high on limitations. The biggest drawback was that the token was directly allocated to a specific consumer, but it would work in any meter.
Imagine this: You forget to buy a token for your electricity meter, but you bump into a friend who gives you a spare one. As soon as you insert the token into your meter, the two accounts fall out of sync.
NIE needed to act, and the obvious next step seemed to be smart card meters. A gentleman named Robert Oliver was tasked with finding an alternative to the token meters and was considering smart card solutions. However, Robert—an experienced man—was not convinced that smart card technology would solve his problems, particularly those related to revenue protection. (Robert’s foresight saved NIE from the catastrophe that befell the British electricity industry in 2010–11.)
Instead of following the herd, Robert commissioned an independent consultant to review smart card technology from a utility metering perspective. He wasn’t surprised when the consultant’s report highlighted several limitations. Robert turned to a local metering engineer—now a great friend of many in Secure—Jimmy Hollinger, and asked whether he knew of any alternative technologies. Jimmy informed Robert that a company called PRI was talking about a new idea involving keypad metering for PAYG and arranged a meeting.
Jim Shields, who was then looking after the business for PRI in Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England, explained the idea of Liberty to Robert. Robert listened intently, questioned Jim closely, and challenged him with everything he’d learned from the consultant’s report. After a long period of discussion and reflection, Robert turned to Jim and said:
“I think you might have something here. I’m interested—but only with a small ‘i’ at the moment.”
Many meetings followed. Robert was from the Energy Supply division, which was led by visionary Alan Gaston, who immediately saw the business potential Liberty could offer. Alan challenged the PRI team to prove that Liberty could deliver on its promises—and they did, time and again. Eventually, Alan decided to run a pilot project.
At the time, this was unusual for NIE. Normally, the Energy Supply team would identify a requirement and hand it to the metering “experts” to implement. But in this case, Energy Supply was telling the metering “experts” what technology to buy—a first, and a move that caused some tension. (That could be another story entirely!)
The team agreed to run a pilot project to determine whether Liberty would work for NIE before deploying it to indebted consumers. Normally, pilots are ideal evaluation tools, and this one was no different—except that we hadn’t even built a meter yet, let alone figured out the vending software or interfaces!
A few sleepless nights followed. After the initial panic and roller-coaster feeling, Kaushik Ghosh, Phill Kettless, and Neeraj Punmiya, ably supported by Dave Nessling and many others, began building Liberty.
The pilot was planned for Finaghy and Dunmurry, right near the NIE offices. There was one problem—there were no meters. Ray Shaw salvaged old Schlumberger key meters from a skip at the Meter Test Station in Bexley Heath (then London Electric, now EDF Energy). These were stripped down to just the terminal blocks.
Two hundred Kittiwake meters were assembled with primitive plastic fronts, and “TV controller”-inspired Freedom units were born. The vending was serviced from a laptop and freestanding printer at the local petrol station (Crichton’s, for those racking their brains).
To everyone’s relief, the Liberty sets and vending system worked extremely well. NIE was happy. Consumers were delighted. The PRI/Secure team? Hugely relieved.
The decision was made to move to stage two: 20,000 proper Liberty metering sets supported by an online vending system. Many late nights followed. The NIE team visited Udaipur. Jim Shields and Phill Kettless became regulars in Belfast. Kaushik Ghosh wore out several aircraft flying back and forth.
The pressure was intense, the work rate was high, and everyone felt part of something good. Friendships grew with amazing people like Graeme Hunter, Clifford Morrison, Jimmy Hollinger, and Stephen McCully, who were there from the beginning and still work with Liberty more than a decade later.
As the 20,000 meters were installed, it became clear that households loved Liberty—a lot. Initially seen as a debt recovery tool, Liberty soon became a cash-flow improvement tool. Before long, there was a waiting list for Liberty meters, including people with no debt.
The plan for 20,000 meters became 80,000 (the number of PAYG consumers at the time). That quickly grew to 100,000, and eventually to 400,000 consumers. More people in Northern Ireland now pay for electricity via Liberty than by Direct Debit.
Consumers loved the round-the-clock access to billing and energy management via their Freedom unit. NIE loved the upfront cash. Everyone was happy—a best-case outcome.
Stephen McCully, a young engineer during the early Liberty days, later became Managing Director of Power NI—the new name for NIE Energy Supply—and led it as a stand-alone energy retailer in a fully open market. Occasionally, a consumer would switch to a competitor, but often they would return. When they did, Stephen welcomed them back with a Liberty meter.
Life is stranger than fiction.
In the Republic of Ireland, which shares the island with Northern Ireland, PAYG metering was never widely adopted—just 20,000 token meter users. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB), being government-owned, never prioritised cash flow.
Then the global recession hit. Consumers struggled with electricity bills. In 2011, the Energy Regulator (CER) identified 80,000 to 100,000 consumers who would need PAYG metering. The metering “experts” suggested token meters. But energy retailers already knew about—and were interested in—Liberty, now with more than just a small “i”.
Making Liberty available only to those in debt was never a serious part of the plan. Cash-flow improvement and consumer benefit definitely were.
As I write this, we’re in the process of delivering the first Liberty meters to the Republic of Ireland as a debt recovery tool for the metering team. But the public also wants Liberty, and PrePayPower, a private energy supplier, has stepped in.
Robert Oliver and Alan Gaston would be proud.
Hang on tight. Here we go again. At least now we know: this roller-coaster has a loop, and there are rails beyond the cliff’s edge.
– Jim Shields