05 July 2011

Partnership will give energy consumers confidence that they will benefit from a smart meter enabled competitive energy market

Logica, the UK’s No #1 provider of business and technology services to utilities in Britain which supports over 85% of residential smart meters currently in the UK, and SAP, the UK and Ireland’s leading supplier of business software solutions to utilities, have entered into an exclusive partnership. The agreement will address the British government’s challenge of delivering the systems at the heart of Britain’s competitive energy market as it transfers to operate on a smart metering infrastructure by 2014.

The deployment of smart meters to every home and small business in Britain during this decade is a vital first step in the transformation of how we will meet our energy needs in the future and in operating our energy distribution networks more intelligently. Smart Grids will help to ensure the UK has ongoing access to the energy it needs. The programme is expected to deliver £18.6bn of benefits against an investment of £11.3bn – a net benefit of £7.3bn, or £23 (NAO figures) per home per year.

Logica and SAP (UK) have come together to provide the systems that will enable the energy market to operate effectively, ensuring barriers to competition are minimised and that consumers can benefit from innovative new services that will allow them to be in control of their spend on energy.

Key to delivering these benefits is maintaining Britain’s highly competitive market in the supply of energy. With almost 1 in 5 households (Vaasa ETT) choosing to change supplier every year, Britain has consistently been one of the most competitive energy retail markets in the world. As Britain moves to satisfying its energy needs more sustainably through the progressive adoption of low carbon technologies, a vibrant market in the supply of energy and in the provision of energy services that enable consumers to manage their energy bills without costing the earth will be vital.

Craig Boundy, CEO of Logica UK, said, “It is vital to the UK economy that we have an energy infrastructure that delivers security of supply and addresses climate change, whilst keeping energy affordable. Our partnership with SAP will help drive the benefits of the low carbon transformation of the energy market and should give consumers, utilities and the government confidence that the roll-out will be a success.”

Mike Lewis, Utilities Industries Principal at SAP (UK), continues, “Our partnership with Logica should be seen as great news for Britain’s objectives of providing every consumer with a smart meter before 2020. SAP is already the preferred supplier of systems for the majority of utilities because we deliver solutions that provide our clients with best practice business process and governance, and allow our clients to get on with satisfying their customers and building leading positions in the markets in which they choose to operate. By putting our systems with Logica at the centre of Britain’s smart metered energy market will give everyone confidence that the market can operate consistently and reliably to the levels demanded by utilities, government and us all, as consumers.”

Craig Boundy continued, “Increasingly governments are recognising that truly competitive energy markets are the best way to drive innovation. This requires an efficient and effective market infrastructure to be put in place, the development of which is where our partnership with SAP is focussed.”

About SAP (UK) Ltd
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device - SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 170,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of Sybase) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

About Logica
Logica is a business and technology service company, employing 41,000 people. It provides business consulting, systems integration and outsourcing to clients around the world, including many of Europe's largest businesses. Logica creates value for clients by successfully integrating people, business and technology. It is committed to long term collaboration, applying insight to create innovative answers to clients’ business needs. Logica is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Euronext (Amsterdam) (LSE: LOG; Euronext: LOG). More information is available at www.logica.com.

Press contacts
Molly McDonagh – molly.mcdonagh@sap.com– SAP (UK) Ltd
Jenny Thorpe – Head of PR– Logica UK Ltd – jenny.thorpe@logica.com, +44 (0)7771 815428