Two weeks ago, the energy regulator Ofgem launched a £9.75 million tender call to assess smart metering and monitoring in UK households. It follows from their earlier work on smart metering in which the ECI submitted a response, noting that energy savings of 5 to 10% are possible when consumers have better information on their energy consumption. However at the time, Ofgem assumed a more conservative 1% saving and lamented that little evidence was available on how UK consumers might react to such feedback.
This monitoring pilot study is an attempt to provide that evidence. For those who like detail, there’s a press release available or the full tender document if you prefer (both PDFs). Applicants are invited to submit their proposals for home energy monitoring and several ideas will be tested in parallel, allowing the results to be compared before drawing policy conclusions.
It will be very interesting to see what options are proposed. Energy feedback literature indicates that clear, timely and relevant information will be most effective suggesting that software-based approaches – where the household has to actually log onto their computer to either input the data or observe the results – might be less effective. Tangible displays that encouarge consumer interaction are much more promising. One option is something like Sharp’s JH-G51X PV monitor, which features consumption information as well as tracking household progress against saving targets. Others have experimented with devices that detail how different appliances in the home are used and provide customized advice to consumers.
If a particular project is seen to be successful, then Ofgem is likely to offer electricity suppliers EEC (Energy-efficiency commitment) credit for installing these devices. This could be a big push for increasing consumer awareness of energy – not just in microgeneration applications but in all households. I’ll keep following this as it develops but it might be a while. The tender closes at the end of September with the winning bids announced soon after; results won’t be available until 30 March 2007 at the earliest.
2 Comments
I beleive energy monitoring within the home is a concept that will only come into being when the public realise its potential. Assumptions that are made before then about its success are unfounded and, in my opinion, inaccurate.
There certainly is some uncertainty about what might happen with large scale implementation of home energy monitoring. Although most studies do show savings with monitoring, I’m not aware of any long-term studies (e.g. 5 years or more) and so it’s difficult to tell whether the observed effect is due to the novelty of the devices, the fact the households are being observed or something more profound. Depending on how large the Ofgem pilots are, it could be a good chance to answer some of these questions.