ScottishPower said it has placed £340 million of contracts to install about five million smart meters across the UK by 2020.

Contractors including Amey, LowriBeck, Providor and Actavo will help deploy the meters.

ScottishPower said it expects to be installing up to 2,000 meters a day soon across Scotland, England and Wales.

Keith Anderson, ScottishPower chief corporate officer, said: “ScottishPower is well on course to invest over £1.8 billion this year, and digital innovation is a key part of our long-term business objectives.

“Smart metering will revolutionise the way our customers consume and monitor their own energy use, empowering them to make real behaviour changes and identify savings.

“This contract award is a significant moment for ScottishPower in the delivery of smart meters for millions of people across the UK.

“There is a significant challenge to support climate change targets and we are determined to offer all our customers a smart meter by the end of 2020, meeting the UK Government’s deadline.

“It is crucial however that the significant investment we are making is supported by the Government-appointed Data Communications Company, which has been tasked with delivering the necessary infrastructure for the new meters on time and to scope, enabling them to operate effectively across the energy market.”

The smart meter update came as Iberdrola, ScottishPower’s Bilbao-based parent company, said its net profit rose 6.4% to €2.042 billion in the first nine months of the year, “driven by good business performance and reductions in operating and financial costs.”

It said group revenues fell 9.1% to €21.53 billion.

On its UK businesses, Iberdrola said EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) at SP Energy Networks fell 2.8% to £580.9 million.

At its UK generation and supply business, EBITDA rose 2.6% to £187.1 million, due to lower net operating expenses linked to the closure of Longannet.

At ScottishPower Renewables, EBITDA fell 28.6% to £156.9 million, “primarily driven by the 26% reduction in output across the first half of the year.”

Iberdrola explained: “The full-year 2015 was a record year for wind power output in the UK.”

Iberdrola said ScottishPower Renewables is currently constructing eight new onshore wind projects at six sites across Scotland, with investment of more than £650 million.

Once completed, the new projects will generate 474MW of electricity, which will bring the company’s UK wind energy portfolio to over 2GW of capacity.