Vodafone UK was one of the winners at the inaugural European Smart Metering Awards. The award was given to Vodafone for its strength as a communications partner in the smart metering industry.

Smart metering refers to the new wave of meters that use two-way communication systems between the consumer and the energy supplier. Advocates claim they spell the end for the ‘estimated’ bill.

Vodafone received the Network and Communications Award for 2011 in the Solutions Provider category for its large scale deployment of mobile data services as part of British Gas’s smart metering rollout, which aims to provide a million households with smart meters by 2012.