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SMS to develop bespoke smart tariff ‘engine’

SMS has revealed more details of its plans to create a smart electricity tariff engine to create customised time-of-use tariffs for households.

The company said its Intelligent Smart Energy Engine project could enable energy suppliers to maximise potential cost savings for consumers by integrating bespoke smart tariffs with the intelligent control of home appliances.

The engine will use half-hourly consumption data from smart meters and operational data from individual smart appliances, including heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers and batteries, to design tailored tariffs structure for customers. Based on these tariffs, their appliances will then be controlled through SMS’s Flexigrid platform to ensure they consume or produce electricity at the most cost-effective times of day.

Once developed, the engine will be trialled with customers of Shell Energy and Rebel Energy.

Among other things, SMS provides smart metering service for a number of large energy retailers, including Shell.

Tom Woolley, smart product and strategy director at SMS, said: “Combining the creation of optimised electricity tariffs and domestic smart energy appliances with the intelligent deployment of demand-side flexibility offers incredibly exciting potential to bring benefits to consumers, suppliers, and grid operators alike.

He continued: “At SMS, we are committed to advancing and implementing low-carbon technologies and solutions, and this project will allow us to show how the smart meter system can be used as a fundamental platform to further develop and innovate in this field.

“The ISEE pilot marks a milestone for the energy sector as it aims to revolutionise the way tariffs are designed to empower and engage consumers and will identify and support future models of our energy system.”

The six-month Intelligent Smart Energy Engine project was one of several projects to be awarded funding last month as part of the government’s Alternative Energy Markets innovation programme, receiving almost half a million pounds.

SMS is also involved in another of the projects led by Chameleon Technology and Evergreen Energy, which was awarded nearly half a million pounds to develop and trial new flexibility propositions for suppliers and their customers.

The Energy Systems Catapult and Ovo Energy were likewise awarded nearly half a million pounds for a similar project, while EDF, LCP Delta and Landis+Gyr received around £375,000 to develop energy storage products and tariffs.