Why Iberdrola is Selling UK Smart Meters to Macquarie
Iberdrola has agreed to sell 100% of its UK smart metering business for €1.06bn (US$1.18bn) to Macquarie, a global financial services group headquartered in Australia.
The transaction is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2025 subject to approval by the UK competition authority.
SP Smart Meters Asset Limited (SPSMAL) currently manages 2.7 million meters, taking Macquarie’s UK portfolio to more than 13 million meters.
Julian Liddy, Senior Managing Director at Macquarie Specialised and Asset Finance, says: “Having played an active role in the roll out of more than 7.5 million smart meters to British households and businesses, this transaction provides an opportunity for us to add further scale and continue to drive progress towards UK government targets and bring benefits to British electricity and gas consumers.
“We are pleased to be taking ownership of a business with a track record of strong performance under the management of Scottish Power and look forward to supporting its further growth.”
What are smart meters for?
Smart meters measure electricity or gas usage in near real-time and automatically send this data to energy suppliers.
They replace the need for manual meter readings and estimated bills, saving consumers time.
This up-to-date data can help to cut down on energy consumption, allowing for insights on when energy is used most.
Iberdrola’s ScottishPower provides an Energy Insights tool to its customers, providing a detailed breakdown of energy usage by category to help identify areas using the most energy in a home.
It says this can help to reduce energy usage by up to 5%.
At the end of 2024, 38 million smart meters had been installed in British homes and small businesses under the Smart Metering Implementation Programme.
Meet Macquarie
Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Macquarie Group is a multinational investment banking and financial services business.
“At Macquarie, we are using our deep expertise in energy, infrastructure, technology and commodities to support the energy transition and advance solutions to climate challenges,” says Shemara Wikramanayake, Managing Director and CEO at Macquarie Group, in its 2024 Climate Solutions report.
“Through our specialist capabilities in advisory, project and company development, financing, asset management and trading and risk, we are supporting the delivery of practical climate solutions around the world — from Brazil to India and the UK to Australia.”
Inspiratia ranked the business the number one global energy transition financial adviser by deal value in 2024.
Macquarie is one of the largest independent meter asset providers (MAP) in the UK of both traditional and smart meters and is now providing support to meter operators in Germany.
It has contributed £1.5bn (US$1.97bn) in funding to the UK’s smart meter rollout which usually comes at no cost to customers.
Why is Iberdrola selling its smart meters?
Iberdrola says that this transaction is part of its strategy of rotating non-strategic assets.
This transaction is the second largest divestment in the company’s history following the same of combined cycle plants in Mexico in 2024.
“The alliance policy is Iberdrola's strategy to accelerate its growth and promote the electrification of the economy while maintaining its financial strength,” the company says.
Upon completion of the sale, Macquarie will enter a long-term rental agreement to provide MAP services to ScottishPower and support the business in a further rollout of smart meters across the country.
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