Home Response: supporting smart energy use in London

Home Response is run with Element Energy, Moixa, Repowering London, UK Power Networks (UKPN), London boroughs and Housing Associations. It is funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Connected Response were engaged to support hot water controls.

Previous studies have shown that smart controllable demand that can be matched to low carbon electricity supply can reduce the cost of the whole energy system by making best use of variable sources such wind and solar energy and maximising the energy that can be delivered through the grid.

Batteries were installed with smart controls that would reduce customers energy bills by :

• Storing energy from solar panels that would have been exported to the grid for no benefit, for use later in the day.
• Charging batteries from the grid at cheap times in order to reduce import at times when price is high.
• The ability to use the battery along with many others to provide support to the electricity system, by importing or exporting to control demand and other essential services to help manage demand and balance the electricity grid.

Personalised usage profiles were developed for each customer to align the solar panel output with their consumption profile.

Battery Storage

The average household with PV in Home Response produced slightly more energy than it consumes. The 4.8kWh battery was found to be reasonably sized for these households on a daily basis. The battery can store an average day’s excess solar generated electricity for use in the evening.

There is a large variation in daily consumption and daily solar production, more than might be expected from only comparing the size of the installed PV. Some households produce far more than they consume and vice versa.

For batteries to be worthwhile there needs to be sufficient output from solar panels for the batteries to store significant solar energy. Batteries can also be beneficial if the customer is able to adaptively charge the battery on a Time of Use Tariff.

The analysis has shown that the batteries and solar combinations in Home Response, optimised against agile tariff prices under normal energy market conditions, would reduce domestic peak consumption by 1.7KWh. Equipping homes with batteries has the potential to contribute significant flexibility to the grid.

Hot Water

Customers’ water consumption patterns varied considerably. The water temperature over the day is strongly linked to when it is consumed as the tanks refill with cold water and are not automatically reheated.

All customers had peak electricity consumption immediately after the off-peak heating switched on around midnight. The peak lasted up to 3 hours, as hot water reached the thermostat limited temperature. There is significant scope for smart controls to manage this demand to deliver the same outcomes over the off-peak period as new off-peak low carbon electricity demands such as EV charging grow.

Hot water heating creates a peak of demand at the start of the off-peak period. As EVs and other new low carbon energy needs will want to use off-peak electricity, smart controls offer the ability to spread the heating of hot water over the day.

There is a lot of potential for different electricity charging profiles to give customers better hot water outcomes at affordable prices, if backed up by affordable tariffs. Less energy would be lost from the tanks if the heating periods were closer to the periods of water use, which would also improve comfort for tenants. Being able to charge in two periods using E10 or dynamic tariffs was found to lower have the potential to lower costs and improve outcomes.

Analysis of dynamic tariffs (using 2019 price data more typical of normal markets) showed potential for better outcomes and costs savings using tariffs if they were used in conjunction with a managed service that adapted hot water charging times in response to prices.

Energy Tariffs

Most hot water customers were on standard or Economy7 (E7) off-peak tariffs. E7 tariffs limit the window for flexibility into a short overnight period. Most battery customers were on standard/flat tariffs.

In the short term, improving hot water services would benefit from off-peak tariffs that more flexibility than a single off-peak period (E7). Tariffs such as Economy 10 (E10) that offer 10 hours over three off-peak periods provide more potential for flexibility and improvements in hot water services.

• Smart hot water controls could provide over 600MW of demand flexibility from London’s 600,000 all electric properties. Adding heating controls could make this much larger, and ensuring heat pumps are also smart will be essential.
• Smart control can allow better heat and hot water outcomes for consumers.
• For batteries to be worthwhile there needs to be sufficient output from solar panels for the batteries to store significant solar energy. Batteries can also be beneficial if the customer is able to adaptively charge the battery on a Time of Use Tariff.
• Rolling out smart controls needs.
  • Technology standards to ensure interoperability and low cost integration
  • Integration into large scale landlord driven programmes to ensure low costs of installation.
  • Smart meters to ensure customers can access better commercial offers.
• The benefits of smart controls should be recognised in decent homes standards and building efficiency and environmental standards.
• New customer offers will be needed to ensure all the benefits are shared with consumers. Simple measures such as wider offering of E10 tariffs with three off-peak periods could bring significantly better energy outcomes today.

Project deliverables archive

Read the Home Response overview.

Download Home Response Engagement Strategy

Download D26 Interim Progress Report

Download D29 Hot Water Customisation Report

Download D27 SMETS Report

Download D30 London Exploitation Report

Download D31 Insights Report