Mannheim, 18 February 2026: Strong momentum for the rollout of smart meters in Germany: PPC, Energy Metering and Calisen conclude the largest Meter Asset Provider (MAP) agreement for the German market. In the MAP model, Calisen purchases and owns intelligent metering systems (iMSys) and leases these assets to wMSB Energy Metering on a long-term basis. As a competitive metering point operator, Energy Metering installs the iMSys as part of its services by its own customers. Calisen is thus making international capital available for the German smart meter rollout. This strengthens the wMSB’s long-term planning security in scaling up its metering point operations, thereby accelerating the digitalisation of the energy transition overall.
The collaboration between Calisen, PPC and Energy Metering has tapped into a new source of capital for the German market with the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) model, which has already proven very successful in the UK’s smart meter rollout. Octopus subsidiary Energy Metering Germany plans to install more than 250,000 smart meters for Octopus by 2028 and also support smaller gMSBs and the housing industry in the rollout. As a first step, Calisen is providing project financing of approximately €100 million for hardware and installation. This is to be expanded further in the coming years as required.
Calisen will procure the smart metering systems and other components. Energy Metering and PPC are also cooperating in the control rollout for the use of SMGWplus. The companies are thus establishing a long-term partnership. Through this growth-oriented cooperation and the combination of their respective expertise, experience and knowledge of market and business processes, the partners also want to establish offerings for small and medium-sized gMSBs as well as for the housing industry and enable synergies in the rollout. The result of this cooperation is the conclusion of the largest MAP contract of its kind to date for the German market.
The advantages of the MAP model
With Calisen as the largest Meter Asset Provider (MAP) in the UK, boasting decades of experience in financing and operating metering equipment and having already successfully brought over 15 million metering systems to market, the MAP model is now also available in Germany for all metering point operators. In addition to providing capital for hardware and installation costs, Calisen, as a MAP, also assumes rollout-specific risks for the respective MSB and supports them in operational processing and selecting the right components. For metering point operators, the MAP model thus creates long-term planning security and financial freedom: Instead of tying up equity capital in the smart meter rollout, it can be used for other investment projects, for example. This reduces high investment expenditure at the start of the rollout and mitigates it as a potential brake. Calisen thus provides its customers with tailor-made solutions for the rollout, which can be supplemented by technical advice for metering point operators and other services.
Claus Fest, Managing Director of Calisen Germany, comments: “With our MAP approach, we support both competitive and original metering point operators as a strong investment and technology partner. We advise our customers on selecting the right components, assume and manage risks along the value chain, and help them to optimally meet the diverse and complex requirements.”
“With the MAP model, we are jointly introducing a new financing pillar into the German rollout – for competitive and smaller original metering point operators, this could be a real accelerator for the digitalisation of the energy transition. With SMGWplus, we are also focusing on maximum flexibility and efficiency in control,” says Ingo Schönberg, CEO of PPC, summarising the expected impact. “With its own successes in the UK, Calisen has already demonstrated how quickly additional capital can be used to mobilise the rollout. As the market leader with many years of experience in the German market, it is crucial for PPC that the new opportunities quickly and directly benefit customer requirements such as control installation and the creation of additional flexibility in the grid.”
The long-term contractual framework enables the partners to accelerate the smart meter rollout through intensive cooperation at all levels. For Energy Metering, the cooperation enables the capital-efficient scaling of its own metering point operations across all its customer segments. Overall, the MAP model creates viable and secure cooperation scenarios for MSBs for the mandatory rollout.
