Post on 05-Jan-2016
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Energy Action Fuel Poverty Conference
Smart Meters - Tariff Benefits for Fuel Poor Choosing the Right Supplier
Cathy Mannion
6th October 2014
Current Regulatory Framework
• CER duty to protect energy customers• Supplier Handbook
Customer Charter, Marketing & Sign Up, Customer Billing & Disconnection, Complaint Handling, Vulnerable Customers, PAYG & Budget Controllers, T&Cs
Annual Customer Survey
Market Monitoring Price Comparison Accreditation
Average Domestic Bills – August 2014
• Highest savings can be made by customers switching from standard plans to discounted plans (i.e. by paying by direct debit and availing of online billing).
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Annual Average Urban 24hr Electricity Bill, August 2014, 5,300kWh annual consumptionSupplier Standard Electricity Direct debit & online billing discountA €1,246 €1,101B €1,193 €1,093C €1,211 €1,058D €1,228 €1,075E €1,348 NaF €1,348 Na
Annual Average Domestic Gas Bill, August 2014, 13,800kWh annual consumption
Supplier Standard Gas Direct debit & online billing discountA €979 €954B €993 €926C €979 €929D €979 €855
E €985 €854
What is a ‘smart meter’
Existing Meter
Manually read up to 4
times a year
Estimation used where
readings don’t occur
Customers have little
sense of actual usage
Switching to prepayment
requires new meter
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Smart Meter
Read automatically every
day
No more estimated bills
Allows real time usage
information to be
presented in the home
Allows new pricing based
on Time of Use
Prepayment open to all
EI ServerMeter
Management,Data
ManagementData Storage
Elster AS230 Smart meter with GPRS
Module
GPRS over Vodafone
Mobile network
Roll out smart meters – electricity & gas
Mandating ToU Tariffs - all electricity customers
Mandating energy usage statements
Mandating IHD devices – all electricity customers
Enabling broader and easier access to prepayment services
Decision on National Rollout: July 2012
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Solution Overview
National Smart Metering Programme
Today2007
National Trials into Technology & Customer Behaviour 6000
Av. electricity usage savings of 2.5% overall & 8.8% peak reduction
We are rolling out smart meters to all customers
..and mandating time-of-use tariffs as the norm, because
ToU has been demonstrated in trials and focus groups to be
beneficial to consumers
The Journey
But it is important to understand the potential
distributional impacts
..and focus on how to make it relevant to consumers, and to
retailers
Challenges of migrating to TOU
Customer Risk
In theory, smart meters can reduce supply costs, energy use and bills In practice, this can only occur if consumers make good choices
Two surveys of UK consumers who switched among simple two-part tariffs for price reasons:
Less than 20% chose lowest cost provider Less than half the available gains were made
About 25% switched to a higher cost supplier
Time Of Use Tariffs must be introduced with care to allow consumers save money New Statutory Instrument to allow CER mandate tariff structures CER will develop tariffs working with industry and customer representatives