How smart tech is helping households beat rising energy bills

Look at me and my lovely battery – pleased as punch!  Like a quarter of Brits, I live in a draughty old Victorian house that gives away a lot of my expensive energy out of its beautiful old walls.  The energy crisis (and another one on the way) has made my energy bill eye watering.  I’m Northern so there’s a lot of “put a jumper on” when the kids complain about the cold (and, ahem, hats and gloves too sometimes).  But I also know that energy is not a fixed cost and there are other ways to battle the bill than encase the children in woollens.  Power prices vary throughout the day, so I’m determined not to pay top dollar. 

 

Eight years’ ago, we saw energy companies starting to reward their customers for avoiding peak times but – let’s be honest – if you have young kids or work ‘normal’ hours – you need to have your house going at peak hours.  I tried it and I think I saved a whopping 6p!  Since then, data and analytics and the need to use up all that lovely wind power we have when it’s blowing a hooley have supercharged innovation. Most of the big and small suppliers now offer all sorts of way to tailor your power to your needs and reward you for taking power when the country has too much.  But, but, but… this is only available if you have a smart meter.  None of this magic can work without one.

 

Even better if you have a battery. Unlike many low carbon technologies like solar or heat pumps, almost everyone can house a battery.  If it’s hard to make the most of cheap power when it’s available (e.g. 2am!), you can charge your battery overnight and power your home in the day. My battery came with the new solar panels I bought in the summer to store excess solar power, but the unexpected revelation happened this winter when – of course – thick cloud isn’t doing much for my little independent power station on the roof.  On my current tariff, I charge my battery at night at 7p/kwh (rather than 29p in the day).

 

Readers. It has radically reduced my energy bill.

 

As millions of consumers plug in batteries and EVs, more flexible capacity is being built in the UK with early signs that we’re smoothing the spikes between peak times and the middle of the night.  The upshot of this is that peak times will become, well, less peak.  This will give consumers more flexibility around when they use power.  The crux is that when we have truly flexible demand, we can match the cheapest power when it’s at its most abundant and wave goodbye to £1bn a year of offshore wind curtailment costs (a posh word for paying to turn it off!).

 

If we look at where we need acute care in our society, there are thousands of vulnerable people struggling to pay their bills who have had years of energy and cost of living crises, with the total fuel debt now spiralling to over £5bn.  Smart + battery has got to be an important resilience measure.  It’s fabulous to see companies like E.ON piloting schemes to get batteries into the homes of the vulnerable.

 

Since the crisis in Iran, much of the debate around energy has been understandably about supply – how do we ensure we have enough gas to warm our homes, how do we withstand another jump in power prices when our power is coupled to the gas price?  One of the most vital ways we can build up the buttresses is maximising the potential of our energy system.  Installing smart meters in the 30% of homes which do not have one is vital.  Connecting those smart meters to ever cheaper batteries is even better.