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utIlIty WEEK | 4th - 10th July 2014 | 25 Operations & Assets British Gas Hive Active Heating™ Over 51 per cent of adults in the UK now own a smartphone (OFCOM Communications Market Report 2013) and the competition among retailers to capture mobile sales through marketing is increasing exponentially, with £1 billion spent on mobile advertising in 2013 (BRC). Companies are rethinking the way that they interact with smartphone consumers because, despite being an effective market- ing and "price comparison" chan- nel, two-thirds of buyers abandon their purchase (study conducted by Harris Interactive March 2013). In the future, with the next genera- tion of consumers, the companies that engage through mobile will be better placed to convert marketing into sales revenue. According to research by Deloitte, 85 per cent of those aged 16-24 now own a smartphone. The same trends are starting to happen in the market for utilities and the use of mobile apps is likely to grow exponentially. One great example of innovation which uses mobile technology is Hive Active Heating™ from British Gas, a product which allows customers to control energy usage from an app on their mobile phone. The usage of apps to understand and control energy use is likely to become commonplace: the national rollout of 53 million new smart meters to homes and businesses by 2020 is bound to open up opportunities to control more aspects of energy via mobile. The introduction of this functionality could create a better experience for energy consumers on prepay tariffs. Currently, prepay- ment customers need a key or card to add credit to their meter. These devices are frequently lost, broken or stolen, resulting in customer inconvenience, additional cost and sometimes self-disconnection. A survey by the Consumer Direct helpline (Accenture, Smart Prepay- ment in Great Britain, 2013) found that 25 per cent of prepayment calls between October 2011 and March 2012 were about lost or stolen pay- ment devices. Now utility compa- nies can remove these customer pain points by giving the option of payment via a mobile smart meter- ing app. This innovation could facilitate the transition from pre- payment to a genuine pay-as-you- go model for energy consumers. Smart prepayment meters, soon to be trialled by British Gas, will allow customers to use mobile phones to top up their meters, and see that top-up on their in-home display. One of the leading examples of mobile payment technology is the Barclays Pingit app, which is being used to capture payments by companies across the UK, and is currently used by Severn Trent Water. Barclays Pingit has been downloaded over three million times since launch in February 2012, and customers do not have to bank with Barclays to use it. It is easy to see how this type of mobile payment could easily be incorpo- rated within apps to manage and pay for energy consumption. For more information about how Barclays Pingit can support your mobile strategy, call us on: 0800 015 4242 or visit http:// www.barclayscorporate.com/ pingitutilities EXPERt VIEW Martin Baker, Director, Utilities, Barclays Mobile payments plus apps equals home control the combination of mobile payments with smart phone apps to control home heating systems could be a game-changer for utilities.