How well is the smart energy initiative received by UK utility customers?

We still need to explore some of the different ways smart energy can make life easier and better for providers and consumers, both now, and in the future, especially with the price of energy going up so quickly. 

Smart energy has proven to save consumers millions of pounds each year according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Smart Meter roll-out(pdf). This is good news, and with 24.2 million smart meters already rolled out in the UK(pdf), smart energy also offers substantial benefits to the environment and the grid itself. While there are plenty of reasons to make the switch to smart energy, consumers may still be wondering how it will affect their lives on a day-to-day basis and what do businesses need to do to make serious behavioural change in the customers energy habits.

 

Are Smart Meters having any effect on customer bills?

If you’re in a retail store, or just walking down a city street, you’ve probably seen an automated meter reading (AMR) device. AMRs help utilities get more accurate readings than what they would receive from sending out human meter readers. The same rings true for smart meters in homes or businesses, something which many governments are encouraging, if not, legislating for. This results in savings for energy companies and decreases human error or impinging on individuals time when taking meter readings manually. In addition to being more accurate, AMRs are also more convenient for consumers. Smart meters may also be able to help lower a customers spend in combination with new technology such as mobile apps, smart home or IoT devices that leads to a greener future.

 

Net Zero is a big topic, how does Smart Energy help the Environment?

Not only can smart energy help conserve energy, but it can also reduce the impact on our environment. Although switching to a smart-energy plan won’t rid consumers completely of greenhouse gas emissions, it is an important step in ridding ourselves of unnecessary pollution and we are seeing a trend for even small businesses to show their green credentials.

 

But who owns the responsibility for smart energy?  Is it the Government, is it businesses or is it individuals?

In fact, it is everyone, and by using smart meter data each party will be able to see the impacts their decision makes on the environment.  Additionally, it lets industry come up with new and better innovations to make the consumer’s decision to go with Smart Energy not only a better lifestyle choice, but also a financially wise choice with a bigger return on their investments over a period of time than traditional energy plans.

 

What would you say has smart energy devices done for the customer?

A home energy management system or a smart device can help consumers make better decisions when it comes to managing their utility bills and assessing whether they are getting a good deal. These systems also keep track of how much energy is coming in from renewables, giving consumers an overall picture of where their power is coming from and how green the grid is. Traditional house heating solutions like gas boilers can be internet enabled and can be controlled remotely to regulate the house temperature. These smart enabled devices are a start, but where businesses may see some useful benefit is by allowing service desk engineers to use remote diagnostics of boilers, so that if there is a problem, the field service engineer can view the remote check and hopefully bring the right tools first time to fix the problem, reducing the number of journeys driven to the customer. Some of our solutions we install for businesses help with guided troubleshooting by combining diagnostics and cloud connectivity.

 

Since smart energy has become a buzzword what improvements have there been?

Before smart energy, power failures were a common and costly occurrence. Older equipment could break down or be susceptible to outages caused by bad weather. But with smart energy, utility companies are more aware of how their systems are working. They can detect problems and fix them before they affect consumers adversely. On top of that, if you have a smart meter installed, you’ll also get alerts when there’s a power outage or threat to your electricity service. There is an exchange happening here…consumers give utility companies their money and data, in return, providers give consumers greener and more reliable energy supplies as well as insights on how to reduce their carbon footprint and bills. Although it may sound simple there is a complex set of tools and processes required for this data to accurately flow from one to the other and to be able to make sense of complicated data sets. There are now solutions to address challenges in this area such as IntelliAsset – an analytics and Action Platform for Assets. Designing and implementing analytical reporting solutions demands a fluid and comprehensive understanding of industry specific business dynamics. With Birlasoft’s extensive Big-Data, Data Lake, BI Modelling & Analytics experience and focused expertise in energy and utilities, businesses are getting the results that they need from smart energy initiatives.

 

What is the future of smart energy looking like?

In today’s connected world, we have more options than ever before to better manage our energy consumption as providers and consumers. Whether you’re a homeowner or renter, cutting your carbon footprint by tracking energy usage isn’t just a fad—it’s a necessity. With energy providers being set targets with the threat of being in breach of the supplier’s license with the Government in place more and more homeowners and businesses will be moving to smart meters over the coming years.  However, by embracing smart energy management methods and cutting electricity usage during peak hours, consumers can reduce their overall bill while being more aware of their impact.

Another area of focus on smart energy also comes to the business side – with all this data available about customers or even businesses smart data, you must realize that you need to know what is important, mission critical data/information and what is just the everyday information when there are no problems and faults. Birlasoft have a huge number of skills in large data projects, they have data scientists and years of experience in this area plus Birlasoft have a number of Energy and Utility solutions that can help your customers and business improve their energy usage.

Contact us today to find out more.

Contact and sales details

For more information please reach out to the Birlasoft team.

Website: https://www.birlasoft.com/

Energy: https://www.birlasoft.com/industries/energy-and-resources

Utilities: https://www.birlasoft.com/industries/utilities

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