Steven Day, the co-founder of app-based renewable energy supplier Pure Planet, has been appointed as a director of the national smart meter campaign Smart Energy GB.
Day, who has a background in telecommunications, was appointed to the non-executive role last week after being nominated by a colleague.
His past work involved setting up Virgin Mobile and was chief of staff, brand and communications at Orange in 2008, which he helped merge with T-Mobile in the UK.
In addition, he led the creation and launch of the EE brand in 2012 and the decommissioning of the two former brands.
On the Smart Energy GB board he will represent smaller energy suppliers, with Pure Planet having entered the market in September 2017.
Speaking to Utility Week, Day said he was “really excited” to take up his position on the board.
He added: “Personally I am very interested in sustainability and helping as much as I can in getting people to be more aware of what we can do to help ourselves and the environment.
“I think Smart Energy GB has got a great role in that. Smart meters are the big unlock in terms of domestic premises being more energy efficient in the future.
“Getting households to have accurate data which then can help generators and National Grid balance what we are using is a massive win for the country and it’s a massive win for cost.
“The real saving, I think, is in carbon because it means we are not going to be burning fuel when we don’t need to.”
In response to the announcement, Alistair Gibbons, company secretary of Smart Energy GB, said:“We are very pleased that Steven Day has joined Smart Energy GB as a non-executive board member.
“Steven brings with him a wealth of experience in the energy and communications sectors. We look forward to working with him over the coming months.”
The smart meter rollout aims to ensure every home in the UK is offered a device by the end of 2020.
It has been plagued with a number of issues, most notably the lack of interoperability of first-generation SMETS1 devices.
This issue is set to be resolved with the devices being enrolled onto the Data Communications Company (DCC) network.