Calisen appoints Dr Diane Bitzel as first Chief Technology Officer

New hire follows appointment of Alistair Phillips-Davies CBE and Matthew Timms to the Board, and Catherine O'Kelly as CEO

MANCHESTER, England, April 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Calisen Group, the UK's largest smart meter provider, has appointed Dr Diane Bitzel as its first Chief Technology Officer. Diane brings extensive experience from sectors including manufacturing, life sciences and telecommunications, with a focus on data management, and most recently served as Chief Digital & Information Officer at Vodafone.  She has a strong global track record in delivering major technology transformations and building commercial data and analytics capabilities. 

The appointment of Calisen's first Chief Technology Officer seizes upon the opportunity of fast-paced innovation in technology and the energy transition.  Diane will drive business acceleration and value creation through technology.  Calisen's specialist data and analytics team of engineers will join Diane, forming the new unified Calisen Data Team - delivering critical data and analytics initiatives at pace, 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.

Commenting on the appointment, Catherine O'Kelly, CEO of Calisen, said:

"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. We are so excited to have Diane on board as we take smart metering to the next level."

Dr Diane Bitzel, Chief Technology Officer at Calisen, added:

"I started my career working on the modernisation of the metering system in Italy, the first country to take this bold step over thirty years ago. In recent years, we have seen this clever technology become the vehicle for a radical transformation of energy supply in the home such as tapping into flexible tariffs and enabling the national storage of power. 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."

Today's news follows the announcement in December 2025 of the appointment of Alistair Phillips-Davies CBE, former CEO of SSE plc,  and Matthew Timms, formerly Chief Digital & Technology Officer at E.ON, as Non-Executive Directors to the Calisen Board and Chief Executive Officer Catherine O'Kelly, previously Managing Director of British Gas Energy, who joined the business in October 2025. 

Calisen Group: 'smarter energy for all'

Calisen Group Holdings Limited ("Calisen") has been operating in the modernisation of metering systems for over a decade, originating in Manchester and Wigan in the UK. Calisen has grown substantially in this time and is now the leading owner and operator of essential energy infrastructure assets, with around 16m meters, including around 40% of all smart meters in UK homes. Calisen's purpose is to contribute to the transition of the country's energy and water systems from analogue to intelligent technology, making them more efficient, more resilient and giving people the power to connect to market innovations like flexible tariffs and home generation like solar.

The Group employs approximately 1,500 people from its offices in Manchester, Market Harborough, London, Wigan and Portsmouth. Calisen also announced the launch of its first international business in Germany in November 2025.

For further information, please visit www.calisen.com 

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