High Level Summary of Learning: Domestic Smart Meter Customers

Abstract

This summary presents the key messages from the final analysis of the baseline domestic profile control group in the Customer-Led Network Revolution (CLNR) monitoring trials. It presents outputs from the largest study of household electricity use in the UK and provides integrated socio-technical analysis of domestic customer loads and electrical consumption on the basis of interdisciplinary multi-method research. We present analysis of the baseline control group test cell 1a (TC1a) that collected smart meter data for ca. 9000 customers across a two year period May 2011 to April 2013. This dataset has been used as a comparison against the impacts of technology and load-shifting interventions trialled in the CLNR project. These interventions are designed to modify how customers place demand on the electrical distribution network, e.g. by shifting demand out of peak periods, automatically pausing certain electrical goods, etc. Using a socio-technical approach we take account of the ways in which electricity use and its flexibility are shaped by social and material factors.