Equiwatt — an energy flexibility app, white-labelled for Scottish Power
Equiwatt — white-labelled for Scottish Power
Product design · UX process · White-label — Nimble Approach, 2023–24
The project
Equiwatt pays households to use less electricity when the grid needs it
Equiwatt runs 'events': one hour windows when the grid is under strain. Households opt in, keep their usage below a forecast, and earn points to spend in a rewards store. None of it works unless the app can read a smart meter, and smart meters fail to connect in a lot of different ways.
Scottish Power licensed the product as a white-label called Equinox for a customer trial. Same flows, their brand, their customer ID, their legal wording, and a dark theme their brand team wanted from the start.
- Client needs
- Two clients with different needs. Equiwatt owned the product, and I was picking up from a previous designer whose work was UI only, with no UX behind it. Scottish Power were the customer, with their own product owners, legal, and a brand designer to check in with.
- Engagement
- Three month fixed term contract. Sole designer, working closely with a technical PM and clients.
- Discovery
- Ran the whole way through. Requirements and stakeholder sessions with both sides, led by the technical PM in Miro. That work lived in Miro. This file is what came out of it.
My role
Sole designer, picking up where UI had been done without the UX
On the Equiwatt side I inherited a previous designer's work: finished-looking UI with no flows, no states and no reasoning behind it. So the first job was to work backwards from those screens and put the UX underneath them. A big part of the three months was working out what each client actually needed. Equiwatt as the product owner, Scottish Power as the customer with their own product owners, legal, and a brand designer I checked in with as the white-label took shape.
UX review · November 2023
What I found
Seven areas reviewed on a real account. One issue outranks everything else: the smart-meter connection fails without telling people why.
A heuristic walkthrough on a live account, screenshotted 31 Oct and 13 Nov 2023, judged against usability and accessibility good practice. No user testing at this stage — that is the first next step.
04 · Smart-meter connection
Connection fails silently HIGH
- Observation
- I believed I had a smart meter, entered my MPAN, and it was rejected. The real cause was the wrong meter type but the app gave no reason.
- Why it matters
- Nothing works until a meter is connected, so this is the gate to the entire product. An unexplained failure here is the most likely drop-off point and the most likely support call.
- Recommendation
- Tell people the actual reason: no smart meter on this MPAN, unsupported meter type, or MPAN not found. State the smart-meter requirement up front, and give a route out, help finding the MPAN, an alternative way to verify, or a way to contact support.
Flows and journeys
Putting the UX under screens that never had it
Sitemap and journey map to put the UX under screens that never had it. Five user flows, with the Scottish Power differences marked up.
Wireframes v1
The smart meter connection, redesigned around its failure states
Smart meter connection redesigned: MPAN entry, three ways to verify, consent, every failure state. Wireframes for all journeys, edge cases drawn rather than implied, reviewed with both clients.
- Pain point
Most people don't know what an MPAN is. Biggest expected drop-off in the whole flow. Needs 'where do I find this' with a bill image.
- Decision
Three verification routes: IHD, bill, SP ID. IHD is instant but most people have unplugged theirs. Lead with SP ID for SP customers.
Wireframes v2
A second, meter-first approach to compare against the first
A · Linear wizard (v1)
- Account first, meter second — 7 screens before the wall
- Every state is a screen: 87 in total
- Errors as full screens with a retry button
- Safer for a big client and a dev team estimating from screens
- Risk: users quit at the meter step having already invested
B · Meter-first hub (v2)
- Meter first: the wall is the first thing you hit, and the only thing
- 29 screens cover the same journeys; states live on the hub
- Errors inline or as sheets; the hub never goes away
- Riskier to build: hub needs real data early, sheets need care on Android
- Payoff: one-tap opt-in, and the first event is offered the moment you connect
Scottish Power UI · Equinox
White-label and hand over
Scottish Power UI built from a component kit, to their brand and legal requirements, checked in with their brand designer.
Every colour bound to a Light/Dark variable collection, so dark mode is a mode switch rather than a second design. Screens rebuilt with auto layout and named for build. Handover notes in the file.
- Decision
In the SP-branded app, SP ID is the default verification route. IHD and bill are fallbacks.
Dark mode — same screens
Nothing is redrawn. Each frame has the SP theme collection switched to Dark.
- Decision
Dark mode follows the OS setting. Every colour is a token, so dark is a mode switch, not a second design to maintain.
Impact
What I can claim, and what I can’t
Delivered
- Scottish Power white-label designs handed over for build, made from components rather than one-off screens
- A token system that made light and dark themes, and any future brand, a variable switch
- The smart meter connection flow redesigned around its failure states, which is where users were dropping off
- A UX review that became a prioritised fix list for the live Equiwatt app
- A file the build team could work from: named screens, states, auto layout, notes
What I can't claim
The contract ended before the Scottish Power trial launched, so I don't have conversion, drop-off or retention numbers I could stand behind. I'd rather say that than present a delivery list as outcomes.
What I would measure
- MPAN entry to meter verified, completion rate by route (IHD, SP ID, bill)
- Opt-in rate per event, and time to first event after connecting
- Support tickets about 'can't connect my meter'
If I’d had another month
What I’d test first
MPAN entry
Five moderated sessions watching people find their MPAN on a real bill. I think this is the biggest drop-off in the flow, but nobody has checked that with a customer.
Verification routes
Do Scottish Power customers know their SP ID? If they do, the IHD and bill routes become fallbacks and the flow loses a screen.
Live event target
“Consume less than 2.3 kW” on the live screen, then a result in kWh. I suspect most people don’t know what either means. One unit, one word, tested.
Points and rewards
Does 100 points for £10 feel fair, or does it feel like a trick? The whole retention loop depends on that answer.
