Smart meter data to drive development of a tariff ‘engine’ in UK

Scotland-headquartered energy solutions provider SMS is to lead the development of a smart meter data-based electricity time-of-use tariff engine.

The project, which is being supported with findings from the UK government’s Alternative Energy Markets innovation programme, is aimed to design an engine that can generate optimised time-of-use tariffs for households based on their energy usage patterns.

The ‘Intelligent Smart Energy Engine’ (ISEE) is planned to be built based on similar principles used by tariff comparison mechanisms.

Using half hourly smart meter data, to be carried out by SMS’s energy data company n3rgy, the engine will combine household consumption information with the operational data associated with individual appliances such as battery storage, heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers and white goods that are already installed or plan to be installed in the home.

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With this, the engine can then create an optimised time-of-use tariff structure to maximise the potential cost savings available to the consumer, which will then be enabled by aligning the tariff offer with intelligent control of the home’s appliances, delivered via SMS’s FlexiGrid flexibility platform.

Once developed, the new smart tariff and flexibility design will be made available to participating energy suppliers Shell Energy and Rebel Energy to pilot with a group of consumers.

The project will run for around six months, with the findings due to inform how the product could be commercialised for mass market adoption.

“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,” states Tom Woolley, Smart Product and Strategy director at SMS.

“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. We believe this project could unlock significant opportunities for the adoption of domestic renewable technologies and other energy smart appliances.”

Other partners in the project are Samsung Research UK, Engage Consulting, MyUtilityGenius, Hugo Technologies, Evergreen Energy and Solo Energy.

In addition to the ISEE project, SMS is participating in a second Alternative Energy Markets funded project with Chameleon Technology, Evergreen Energy, Solo Energy and the Energy Systems Catapult to design and test flexibility propositions.

The other projects funded in this round focus on the design of alternative energy market options, which is led by the Energy Systems Catapult and OVO Energy, and the EDF Energy-led FLASH (Flexibility Assets and Smart Homes) focussed on storage product bundling and how it can impact the grid and consumer energy bills.