DEPARTMENT FOR
BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM News Release (Reference
P/2007/012) issued by The Government News Network on 12 July 2007
Around 40,000
households will be taking part in energy saving trials in a bid to
cut household bills and help in the fight against climate change,
Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton announced today.
Contracts have been signed with EDF Energy, E.ON UK, Scottish and
Southern Energy, and Scottish Power to conduct the trials; and are
funded by £10m from Government matched by a similar amount from
the companies involved.
The trials will include around 15,000 households receiving state
of the art smart meters and 8,000 more receiving clip on real time
display units for their existing meters. The other households in
the trial will be testing new ways of receiving information to
help them cut their energy use.
Clip on real time display units can tell people how much energy
they are using, and how much it is costing when individual
appliances are turned on. Smart meters allow energy suppliers to
communicate directly with their customers, removing the need for
meter-readings and ensuring entirely accurate bills with no
estimates. Smart meters tell people about their energy use either
through linked display units or in other ways, such as through the
internet or the television.
Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton said:
"Changing consumer habits is vital if we are to cut our
energy use and reduce the impact of climate change. Smart meters
provide the cutting edge technology to enable this to happen. The
results of the trials will provide invaluable evidence to support
the future rollout of displays and smart meters; helping to cut
consumer bills and cut our carbon emissions."
Ofgem Chief Executive, Alistair Buchanan, said:
"Smart meters have great potential to help customers better
understand their energy consumption and encourage energy
efficiency. Ofgem's initial work suggests that smart meters
are the future - the end of the meter reader, the ability to meter
homemade electricity sales back onto the grid and vastly improved
consumption data available within your home. These trials, which
will be administered by Ofgem over the next two years, will
provide us with firm evidence and hard facts about the benefits
smart meters can bring."
The trials will test out consumers' response to better
information on their energy use through a variety of methods, including:
* Consumers to be able to access information about their
consumption and energy costs through visual display units that can
be displayed round the house, over the internet and even through
digital TV;
* The potential for energy suppliers to provide enhanced billing
information with advice to consumers on how they can cut down
their energy bills; and,
* Providing a breakdown of energy use to the customer and
exploring a range of tariffs for consumption at different times of
the day.
The trials will be conducted throughout the country and will look
at the responses from a range of customers, including those in
fuel poverty.
The trials will also look at:
* Increasing the frequency of billing as well as the impact of
more accurate bills; and
* Encouragement to become even more energy efficient through more
information and community engagement.
Smart meters are expected to be rolled out to most households
within the next ten years, and all but the smallest businesses in
the next five years.
In the meantime, Government has proposed that real time display
units be provided with any new meters fitted from 2008, and to all
households that request them between 2008-2010. It is estimated
that these short-term measures will deliver savings of 300,000
tones of carbon per year by 2020. Government will be consulting
further on the implementation of these proposals.
Notes to editors:
1. Ofgem are managing the project on behalf of the Department for
Business. The trials will be carried out throughout the UK and
will last two years with results being available on a six-monthly basis.
2. The four energy companies taking part in the trials are EDF
Energy, E.ON UK, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power.
There are also six different metering/feedback device companies,
four IT specialist companies, two charities and three universities involved.
3. Each participating company is carrying out a range of trials
to test out consumer response to different interventions including
a combination of some or all of the following: improved billing
(with and without smart meters), energy efficiency information,
community engagement, clip-on visual display units and smart meters.
4. The project will focus on the domestic sector, involving
around 40,000 separate households of which approximately 15,000
households will have smart meters installed as well as 8,000
clip-on visual displays. The households are geographically
dispersed across Great Britain.
5. The Energy White Paper, published on the 23 May 2007 stated
that subject to the results of these trials we intend to work with
energy companies to roll smart meters to households over the next
10 years. In the meantime, real time displays are intended to be
provided with any new meters fitted from 2008. Because it will
take a number of years before a new meter and display can be
rolled out to every household, we proposed that between 2008-2010,
real time displays, will be available free of charge to any
household that requests one. These proposals will shortly be
consulted upon.
6. The White Paper also stated that we will consult on a
requirement for energy suppliers to extend, to all business users
in Great Britain, advanced and smart metering services, within the
next five years. This will not apply to the smallest business
users, nor to larger businesses with half hourly meters.
Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory
Reform
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