The Impact of Electricity Markets on Customers

Date

International Energy Agency Demand-Side Management Programme
Task XXIII: The Role of Customers in Delivering Effective Smart Grids

Acknowledgements

Task XXIII / Sub-Task 2: Case Studies

Glossary

Contents

Page

1Scope

1.1Interventions

1.2End Use Loads

1.3Customer Segments

2Case Studies

2.1Case study selection

2.2Approach: the case study template

3Analysis approach

4Case Study Template

Task XXIII / Sub-Task 2: Case Studies

1Scope

1.1Interventions

Task 23 will consider a broad range of interventions designed to change energy consumption behaviour in order to support the successful implementation of Smart Grids. This includes interventions that influence the amount of energy consumed and the pattern of that consumption. The primary focus of this Task is on actions that directly lead to the activeengagement of consumers in the Smart Grids.

The focus will be on interventions that lead to the following behaviour changes:

  • Reduced energy consumption (energy saving)
  • Reduced peak demand (curtailment)
  • Demand shifting (with demand shifted to a different time)

It is worth noting that the latter two of these may not lead to an reduction in overall consumption, but may in some situations lead to an increase in consumption. However, the change in pattern of consumption is sufficient that it is considered advantageous from the Smart Grid perspective.

Individual interventions that lead to the behaviour changes listed above fall into one of the four general categories listed in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 Interventions considered within the scope of Task XXIII

Time of Use Tariff / (T) / A form of pricing that penalises consumers that use energy at certain times and/or rewards consumption at other times. This can include static Time of Use (ToU) tariffs, Critical Peak Pricing (CPP), Peak Time Rebates (PTR), Real Time Pricing (RTP).
Control / (C) / Controls to actively manage the pattern of consumption. This can include direct load control, automatic load controls, home energy management systems, thermostats for heating and air-conditioning and building energy management systems.
Feedback / (F) / Feedback of energy end use information based on the actual energy end use of the individual, i.e. relying on data collected from the smart meter. This can include in-home displays of real time and historic data, web based feedback and billing information. Alternative forms of feedback also exist, such as web-based feedback or the use of smart phones or other portable devices.
Advice / (A) / Advice on how consumers can deliver outcomes that support the effective delivering of Smart Grids. This can include advice targeted to an individual on processes/end uses that can be managed, or general advice distributed to groups.

Two or more of these interventions can be combined. In this case, the phrase ‘initiative’ is used to describe the combination (or package) of interventions that have been implemented. Such combinations can involve interventions of the same type or different interventions, as depicted below, which shows some generic examples.

Figure 1.1 Interventions and Initiatives explained in the context of Task XXIII

1.2End Use Loads

All electric end use loads are potentially important from the Smart Grid perspective. However, the extent to which they are relevant to a particular context varies, as does the extent to which they can be actively managed.

Therefore, for the purposes of Task XXIII, interventions that target the following categories of end uses of electricity are considered.

Table 1.2 End-use Loads / Technologies

Heating / direct and storage heating and heat pumps
Air-conditioning
Appliances / wet appliances, cold appliances, consumer electronics, information and communication technologies, lighting, cooking and hot water
Industrial processes(*)
Transport / domestic and commercial(*) electric vehicle charging
Storage / Thermal storage, electrical storage

(*) Industrial and commercial loads apply to the SME sector only

1.3Customer Segments

A broad segmentation of customers is considered.

Table 1.3 Customer Segmentation

Households / Low Income / Fuel Poverty Household
Non Low Income/ Non Fuel Poverty Household
With on-site generation
Without on-site generation
Commercial SMEs / With on-site generation
Without on-site generation
Industrial SMEs / With on-site generation
Without on-site generation

2Case Studies

Case studies were used to assess the way that customers use and relate to Smart Grid related technologies.

All case studies were summarised using a standard template to ensure that data and information is collated in as standard a way as is possible. The template is presented in Appendix A.

A range of case studies were identified and the findings used to explore customer experiences for a range of different interventions.

The case studies considered are listed below:

List of case studies

-See separate Excel spreadsheet for list of case studies

No. / Description / Source Information

2.1Case study selection

The identified case studies were mapped onto the a matrix, indicating the customer segmentation and end-use loads targeted by the initiatives. The results of this mapping is shown in Table 2.1, which shows the number of case studies of each type for a particular customer segmentation / end-use load combination. Thus, a single initiative may map into several locations within the matrix.

For example, consider a case study etc, etc…..

Table 2.1 Case Study Mapping: Customer Segmentation and End Use Loads

Households / Commercial SMEs / Industrial SMEs
Low Income / Fuel Poverty / Non-specified household types
On-site generation / On-site generation / On-site generation / On-site generation
Yes / No / Yes / No / Yes / No / Yes / No
Heating / Direct
Storage
Heat pumps
Thermal Storage
Air conditioning / Individual
Central
Appliances / Wet
Cold
Cooking
Consumer Electronics/ICT
Lighting
Hot Water
Industrial process loads
Transport
Electrical Storage
No specific load targeted

[Narrative showing where there is lots of examples, where gaps exist etc – to be completed once case study information becomes available]

2.2Analysis approach

Although this sub-task is specifically focussed on the interaction between customers and technology, it is more useful to consider the interaction between customers and interventions (which may also include technology). Thus, the case studies used to explore the way that customers use and relate to Smart Grid related interventions.

The specific objectives of this analysis were to understand whether customers are willing to accept Smart Grid related interventions, and the extent to which they are able to actively engage in Smart Grid initiatives.

The specific areas consideredwere:

  • Initiative readiness level
  • Market readiness level
  • The willingness of customers to take part in the initiative
  • The extent to which customers actively engaged during the trial

2.2.1Initiative readiness level

A Technology readiness level (TRL) framework is used to grade technologies on a scale of 1 to 9. At the upper end of the scale, 9 indicates a technology that has been qualified through prolonged operation and a number of units are in commercial operations. At the lower end of the scale, 1 indicates that only the basic principles involved in a concept have been observed and reported. As mentioned earlier, this sub-task is focussed on the interaction of customers and interventions. As such, an equivalent Intervention Readiness Level (IRL) will be used to assess the readiness of the initiative (i.e. package of interventions), using the same scale used for assessing TRLs, as shown in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1 Initiative Readiness Levels

2.2.2Market readiness level

Although an initiative (i.e. package of interventions) may be sufficiently developed, the market may not be ‘ready’ for implementation. For example, whilst technologies might exist to allow washing machines to be remotely controlled by a third party, customers may not yet be willing to accept the intervention. The term ‘Market Readiness Level’ or MRL is used to describe customer attitudes towards specific Smart Grid initiatives. Unlike TRLs, there is no standard definition of a MRL scale, therefore a scale has been defined specifically for the purpose of Task XXIII. A nine point scale has been used to ensure comparability with the TRL scale, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2 Market Readiness Levels

2.2.3Willingness of customers to take part

The first area considered is the extent to which customers were willing to take part in the initiative. This is not something that can be easily quantified, therefore, a qualitative approach is used to explore the following issues:

  • Did the initiative involve a voluntary opt-in? If so, how were the participants recruited? For example:
  • How were participants invited to take part in the initiative?
  • How many enquires were received?
  • How many of these subsequently decided to take part?
  • How many dropped out during the period of the initiative?
  • What reasons were given for dropping out?
  • What happened at the end of the initiative (if it was for a fixed duration)?
  • Did they revert back to ‘business as usual’ or did they retain the interventions?
  • Were any difficulties encountered in recruiting customers? If so, what were they and how were they solved?

  • Was participation in the initiative by default, but with a voluntary opt-out? If so,
  • Why was this approach taken?
  • Who was permitted to opt-out? Was it restricted to certain individuals or available to all?
  • How many customers did voluntarily opt-out?
  • What reasons (if any) were given for opting out?
  • Was participation in the initiative mandatory? If so, were any concerns raised by customers, and how were they addressed?
  • Were any specific changes made to the design of the initiative to address concerns raised by (or on behalf of) customers?

2.2.4Extent to which customers actively engaged

The second area considered is the extent to which customers were actively engaged in the initiative, i.e. the extent to which their energy consumption behaviour and their approach to energy consumption in general changed as a result of the initiative. This has both quantitative and qualitative elements.

Quantitative refers to aspects that can be measured, and in the context of this Task, would include aspects such as:

  • How much energy consumption has reduced?
  • How much has the peak load reduced?
  • How much load has been shifted?

These measurements need to be related to a base case, for example:

  • comparison of the energy consumption of an individual or group before and after an initiative
  • comparison of the energy consumption of an individual or group against a control group who are not subject to the initiative

Other quantitative elements could include direct measurement of actual energy end use behaviours, such as:

  • The time that specific appliances are used
  • The number of times that individual appliances are used
  • The number of times that a user interrogates an in-home display
  • Thermostat set points

It is believed that these aspects are rarely measured, and thus understanding of how Smart Grid interventions impact on energy consumption behaviours is limited to a more qualitative analysis of aspects that can be observed (i.e. descriptive attributes) but cannot or are not measured. In addition to the aspects highlighted above, this could include:

  • What specific actions did customers take in order to change their energy consumption behaviour as a direct result of participation in the initiative?
  • How did the decision to make these changes come about? What information was used in the decision making process? This should focus on day-to-day behaviours (turning lights off, avoiding using the washing machine at certain times of the day) and more one-off behaviours (turning down the thermostat or buying energy saving appliances)
  • What information / aspects did customers find most helpful?
  • What did information / aspects customers find least helpful?

BIG QUESTIONS?

WILL IT BE POSSIBLE TO GET THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION FROM THE CASE STUDIES?

WILL IT BE POSSIBLE TO COMPARE THE RESULTS OF ONE CASE STUDY AGAINST ANOTHER?

3Results

Analysis of case studies -----

Case Study / IRL / MRL / Customer willingness / Customer engagement
1 to 9 / 1 to 9 / General remarks and commentary / General remarks and commentary

3.1Discussion of results

Any trends?

What went well?

What didn’t go well?

What conclusions can be drawn?

4Results

1
Task XXIII / Sub-Task 2: Case Studies

Appendices

Appendix ACase Study Template

Appendix BList of Case Studies

1
Task XXIII / Sub-Task 2: Case Studies

Appendix A:Case Study Template

Title:

Description:

A general description of the project. Include information on the duration of the trial. Are any results / outcomes available. If the project is on-going, when is it expected to be completed, when will results be available.

Customers involved:

Describe the customer types involved in the trial, and the numbers of customers involved.

Technologies deployed:

Description of technologies deployed (see Table 1.2)

Customer offerings:

Description of customer offerings – i.e. the commercial arrangements – including tariffs, penalties etc. (see Table 1.3)

Customer engagement approach:

How were customers recruited? Did they voluntarily opt in, did they opt out?

Was there a special focus on trying to aim to create ‘enthusiasm for the smart meters/smart grids by the households/SMEs. If so, what was the approach taken.

Smart metering:

Describe the metering arrangements in place, and what the smart meter was used for – i.e. to collect data for billing, to feedback information to customer, information on energy prices, to directly control loads.

Tariff (Intervention type T – see Table 1.1)

What type of tariff did the initiative include?

For example, Time of Use pricing, Critical Peak Pricing etc

Did customer’s voluntarily opt-in, or was it mandatory?

If it was a trial / pilot – how long did it run for? What happened to the customers at the end – did they continue with the same tariff.

If it was a voluntary opt-in arrangement, how many customers dropped out during the trial. What were the reasons for customers leaving the scheme?

What were consumer experiences?

What aspects did consumers like? Did any aspects raise concerns or complaints?

Remote / Automatic Control of Appliances (Intervention type C – see Table 1.1)

Did the trial involve any remote or automatic control of appliances / end-use loads?

What approach was taken to ensuring consumer acceptance or acceptability of the controls?

Was it a voluntary ‘opt-in’?

Was there the option for manual override under certain circumstances/

What were consumer experiences?

What aspects did consumers like? Did any aspects raise concerns or complaints?

Information and Data Sharing (Intervention type F – see Table 1.1)

What information (energy data) was shared, and who was the data shared with. Were any third party organisations involved?

Were any specific difficulties encountered?

Were any specific consumer concerns encountered?

Were consumers actively aware of how their data was being used, and by whom? How was this explained to consumers?

How was the energy consumption information used? Examples might include:

  • to provide direct feedback to the consumer
  • to provide more accurate billing for the consumer
  • to assist the Network Operator manage the network better
  • to assist the Energy Retailer to detect fraud, provide better customer service etc

Advice / Customer Engagement (Intervention type A – see Table 1.1)

What method(s) were used to inform customers about the trial, and about what actions they could take to modify their energy consumption (both the pattern of consumption and amount of consumption). Was engagement provided upfront only, or was it on-going?

What advice was provided?

Who provided the information? To what extent was information personalised to the needs of each individual, or was it general advice?

Was advice provided ‘face-to-face’ or via general leaflets or information campaigns.

Where there particular concerns or issues that needed to be addressed either at the outset or once the trial/project was underway.

Results:

Summary of energy savings, peak load savings.

Key lessons learnt (to date):

  • Key lessons
  • What where the key learning points – what went well, what when badly
  • What was the customer experience – what aspects were viewed positively, what aspects were viewed negatively.

Major barriers encountered (to date):

  • Key barriers

References:

Links to sources of information / reports / presentations etc

1