By Alicia Carrasco, eMeter Director-EMEA Regulatory Affairs

The UK’s first-ever Annual Energy Statement, delivered to Parliament on Tuesday, recommends 32 actions to create a low-carbon-emission energy system and economy. Two of these actions highlight the key role of smart meters in that nation’s energy future…

This landmark report was intended to bring transparency, certainty, and long-term vision to the UK energy sector, in order to spur needed investment in efficiency. As the UK embarks on building a new generation of nuclear plants, along with 44,000 wind turbines, the report emphasizes that there’s still a substantial need to save energy. All stakeholders can, and should, help with energy conservation goals.

The report indicated that smart meters, and the information they provide, are crucial to securing the UK energy supply — given likely future growth in both intermittent power sources (especially renewables) and electricity demand. (Electrification of transportation and heat is expected to increase substantially there.)

These are the specific recommendations involving smart meters:

Action 1. The UK government is fighting barriers to investment in energy efficiency by launching the Green Deal and rolling out smart meter installations.

Action 4. Along with the Statement, the government and Ofgem (the UK electricity and gas regulating agency) jointly published a Prospectus for smart meters. This document:

• Accelerates smart meter rollouts significantly beyond previously published targets. Suppliers should start meeting minimum installation requirements, even before a central data and communications entity is established.
• Reconfirms earlier commitments for smart electricity and gas meters to all UK homes.
• Specifies responsibilities for procuring and installing smart meters.
• Requires residential meters to comply with stringent functional requirements.
• Requires that residential customers receive a standalone display that can show real-time energy use information.
• Urges smart meter installations for smaller nonresidential customers to follow the same timeline as residential rollouts.

On the same day the Annual Energy Statement was released, eMeter participated in a perfectly timed London roundtable session, Empowering Energy Consumers, organized by Google and the Climate Group.

Attendees spent two hours debating the importance of active engagement by energy consumers, and what kinds of information energy consumers really need to save energy effectively. Opinions varied regarding what a perfect smart grid future might look like. However, participants agreed that transparency and trust is crucial to create a more energy efficient future.

The Statement does more than demonstrate a clear intention to establish a more specific smart grid framework. It also provides interactive tools, like this 2050 calculator, to engage people in figuring out how to balance UK energy demand, supply, and greenhouse emissions. Perhaps in the future, real consumption data could enhance the accuracy of such tools.