Smart appliances and load control – protections for GB consumers and electricity system

Interoperability and cybersecurity are key issues as the number of energy smart appliances and their participation in demand response grows.

Electric vehicles and heating and other appliances are expected to be key in the future electricity system with their ability to deliver flexibility to support the variable bidirectional power flows on the grid.

With a view to the growing market the British government has drafted a set of proposals intended to deliver protections to consumers and the electricity system and the development of a competitive market.

The focus is on three “key” areas – the technical frameworks to unlock the potential of flexibility for domestic and small business consumers, the security of the electricity system and the confidence of consumers to engage with the system.

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In the short term by the mid-2020s proposals are to require energy suppliers to make time-of-use tariff data openly available in a common format and to require domestic smart appliances including heat pumps, storage heaters, heat batteries and batteries to meet minimum cybersecurity and grid stability requirements.

In the medium term, heating appliances with the greatest flexibility potential, i.e. heat pumps, storage heaters and heat batteries, should be required to have ‘smart’ functionality.

In addition it is proposed to establish a licensing framework for organisations providing demand side response to domestic and small non-domestic consumers and to require all organisations controlling large electrical loads, greater than 300MW, to comply to the national regulations on cybersecurity in their networks and information systems.

Longer term, in the mid-late 2020s, larger domestic smart appliances, including EV charge points, batteries and heat pumps, should be fully interoperable with demand side response service providers and should meet the requirements for cybersecurity, grid stability and data privacy.

For this purpose the previously consulted and developed PAS 1878 standard specifying the system functionality and architecture for energy smart appliances is indicated to form the basis.

The proposal document notes that some of the ‘new’ services are already being provided on a small scale for domestic consumers. For example, EV owners can get discounts, rewards or cash-back by charging their car during periods of the day when electricity demand is typically low.

However, there are currently barriers to the growth of this sector. Not all tariffs and services are available for all devices, and there are limited consumer protections to build confidence in the market. In addition, the greater use of smart appliances and other associated services could pose risks to the energy system, such as creating new routes for cyber security attacks.

The proposals are out for consultation, which runs to September 28, 2022.