Smart meter roll-out: consumer behaviour and data management questioned

As part of its energy review, the government has announced plans to accelerate the roll-out of smart meters to every household in the UK.

The intention is to provide real-time and more detailed information about energy usage change, thus motivating consumers to reduce demand when they see how much energy they are using – and money they are spending on energy.

Demand-reduction has been indentified by DECC as vital to meet the UK’s carbon reduction targets. It is the motivation behind the Green Deal and seen by government as a necessary and permanent contributor to the low-carbon economy.

Doubts have been raised as to whether the installation of smart meters will alter consumer behaviour sufficiently.

“We have our doubts that smart meters will change behaviour radically,” Nick White, energy practice leader at consultancy Arthur D Little told Businessgreen.com: “All the attention has been on changing consumer behaviour but really it should be on boosting micro-generation by enabling accurate feed-in tariff information for upstream suppliers and providing suppliers with accurate demand information so they can optimise the grid by reducing the amount of spinning reserve required.”

Others have questioned whether energy utilities are equipped to deal with the flood of extra data which smart meters will bring.

“Utility companies have multiple systems working across disparate business divisions. If they stick to this siloed approach once the switch to smart meters takes place they'll drown in the sheer volume of real-time, unstructured data that needs to be managed across the business,” says Charles Race, vice president at data integration company Informatica. “The challenge is to take that data and make it useful across the entire organisation to ensure that they can react quickly to industry events and remain competitive.”

“It might sound like a long climb, but smart metering will revolutionise the utility industry allowing for real-time business decision making for the first time,” added Race. “By being able to monitor usage, identifying potential business opportunities, bad debt and analysing tactical performance, utility companies can transform how they operate. This isn't just about smart meters, it's about smart business."

Meanwhile, French-owned energy provider EDF has been conducting trials of smart meters with 3000 selected customers since March 2009.

“You can see real-time usage of electricity and gas. It makes you think about turning off lights, the PC, the TV and saving electricity and money,” Steve Fitton, one of EDF’s customers on the trial, told Businessgreen.com.

Fitton, who lives in Surrey with his wife and two teenage children, has been using a Smart Meter since June 2009. As well as providing real-time usage information, EDF’s smart meter set-up provides historical drill-down too, which Fitton likens to having an itemised phone bill.

“It’s great for budgeting, you can see what you’ve used and when,” he said “You can very quickly and simply find out what your gas or electricity usage for the previous month or year has been, in fact, you can determine the period you’d like to look at. This helps us compare our usage to last year.”

Fitton is one of 200 on the trial to also test a wireless handset from which he can control household devices such as the central heating boiler. Installation involved adding devices to the existing gas and electric meters, installing sensors up- and downstairs and a base station for the wireless conntroller in the kitchen.

Fitton says the device is easy to use and has changed his family’s behaviour in subtle ways that will stick.

“When you see a bill it’s just historical, you have to pay it. But when you see the real time usage you can act to reduce it. I think we’ve all made some small adjustments,” he added.

EDF’s trial will complete in October 2011.