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Three projects designed to improve the value of smart metering within the energy sector have won government funding.
Two of the projects look to harness the internet of things (IoT) to improve customer offerings while the third project aims to create a data repository for network operators and local authorities to support planning and decision making.
In total, the three projects have been awarded just under £2.24 billion.
A consortium of six energy and data providers was awarded the biggest share of the funding (£850,000) to develop its ‘anonymisation enhanced smart meter data repository’.
The consortium includes SSEN, n3ergy, Retail Energy Code Company, Advanced Infrastructure Technology, Data Communications Company and Perse Technology.
The project involves building new tools to help network operators and local authorities manage energy systems and base their decision making on smart meter customer trends.
The project developers claim that it “could help lower electricity bills and speed up rollouts of low-carbon technologies such as electric vehicle chargers and low carbon heating systems and identify issues such as fuel poverty, power outages and future constraints on the electricity distribution network”.
A second project, awarded just over £625,000, is being led by Octopus to build on the retailer’s Octopus Home offering.
It uses IoT sensors to provide Octopus customers with real time insights on metrics such as the temperature and humidity of their homes.
Other organisations involved in the project include Silicon Labs, Rufilla, NCC Group, Element Energy and Arista
The final scheme, awarded £764,000, is led by Hildebrand working with the University of Salford, the DCC and with Utilita conducting in-home Trials.
It also uses smart meter data collected via sensors to provide consumers with information for the management of their energy use, flexibility and efficiency.
Recent research by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero revealed that smart meters have a bigger impact on energy consumption than the government previously anticipated.
Previously the government anticipated that smart meters would result in 3% less electricity consumption and 2.2% less gas consumption.
Yet in an evidence synthesis of seven studies from four suppliers, the BIT found that the there was a collective 3.43% reduction in electricity usage and a 2.97% decline in gas consumption.
The smart meter rollout has been ongoing since 2011 and is currently scheduled to end in 2025.
Yet recent analysis of government figures by Utility Week found that the rate of installations must more than double to have any chance of completing the rollout by the deadline.
Based on the pace of installations over the past year, c.13.4 million homes and small businesses will still not have a smart or advanced meter at the end of 2025. To make up ground, suppliers would have to fit 700,000 devices per month, compared to the current level of just under 300,000. Even the government’s backstop minimum target of 80% coverage in domestic properties by that date is set to be missed under the current run rate.
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