Data drive sees Calisen hire ex-Vodafone chief as first CTO

Calisen Group, which claims to be the UK’s largest smart meter provider, has appointed Dr Diane Bitzel as its first Chief Technology Officer alongside a slew of other executive appointments and a new data team.

The group, which has been operating in the modernisation of metering systems for over a decade, operates approximately 16 million meters, including around 40% of all smart meters in UK homes.

Bitzel, who most recently served as Chief Digital & Information Officer at Vodafone, brings extensive experience from sectors including manufacturing, life sciences and telecommunications, with a focus on data management. 

Calisen also said she has a strong global track record in delivering major technology transformations and building commercial data and analytics capabilities.

Doubling down on analytics

Calisen’s specialist data and analytics team of engineers will join Bitzel, forming a new unified Calisen Data Team which it says will deliver critical data and analytics initiatives in partnership with Calisen’s nationwide operations. 

The team was brought into the business as part of the acquisition of Advizzo, the smart meter machine learning and behavioural science business, in 2023.

Advizzo, a company specialising in the provision of a software-as-a-service platform for energy and water smart meter data, uses data science techniques to interpret smart meter data and send personalised communications to motivate consumers to change their energy and water consumption behaviour. It also provides the capability for energy and water companies to have a sophisticated aggregated near real time view of their customers’ utility usage, gaining benefits from the deployment of smart meters.

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Catherine O’Kelly, who became Calisen’s Chief Executive Officer in October 2025, said on Bitzel’s appointment: “Diane’s pre-eminence in her field is well proven, with a brilliant track record of identifying commercial use cases for data analytics that improve customer experience and grow businesses. 

“The UK’s smart meter system is an important asset which has the potential to transform the use of energy in the home, making it more tailored, more convenient and more affordable. It also gives consumers the key to energy independence via low carbon technologies such as solar and battery.”

Bitzel in a release commented on the start of her career in the sector, working on the modernisation of metering in Italy, which was the “first country to take this bold step over thirty years ago”.

Since then, she adds, the technology has become a vehicle for the transformation of energy supply in the home through different methods, such as by flexible tariffs and power storage, although there is further potential unexplored.

“However, we are only scratching the surface of innovation in smart meter data. It is fantastic to have the opportunity to work with the UK’s largest smart meter provider and develop ways we can improve consumers’ lives and reach the full potential of this important system.”

Bitzel’s appointment follows the announcement in December 2025 of the appointment of Alistair Phillips-Davies CBE, former chief executive of SSE, and Matthew Timms, formerly Chief Digital & Technology Officer at E.ON, as non-executive directors to the Calisen Board.