The preferred bidders for the government's Smart Meter Contracts have been named today as Capita, Arqiva, Telefonica, and CGI. 

 The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced that Capita has been named as the preferred bidder for the data and communications company (DCC) contract.

DCC is described by Decc as "a key element" in the rollout of Smart Meters and will be responsible for contract managing the services, which it needs to communicate with smart meters. The contract will be worth an estimated £175 million over 12 years.

The preferred bidder for the Data Service Provider (DSP) contract, which will manage the large volumes of transactional data that flows through the system, has been provisionally named as CGI (formerly Logica).

This will be an 8 years deal worth an estimated £75 million.

The named candidate for the Communications Service Provider (CSP) for the central and southern regions is Telefonica, with the contract set to be worth an estimated £1.5 billion over 15 years.

The CSP contract for the northern region is set to be awarded to Arqiva, with the contract worth an estimated £625 million over 15 years.

The CSPs will provide the communications infrastructure between the DCC and consumer premises.

A Decc spokesperson said: "In preparing for the roll out of smart meters, we have today informed bidders of the outcome of the competitions to put in place the DCC which will link smart and electricity meters with energy suppliers and network operators.

"These decisions remain subject to contracts being concluded, which will occur in the next few weeks after which we will make a statement to Parliament".

The government hopes that the smart meter rollout scheme will bring a net benefit to consumers, suppliers and network and transmission operators of £6.7 billion.