Communications breakdown – the power of a common mission
Charles Wood
BY CHARLES WOOD
“As an industry and as a country, we have failed to explain the “who cares?” of smart meters.”
Many of those reading will be familiar with the ins and outs of the smart metering programme. Smart meters are now in more than 70% of households, delivering control and clarity to consumers over energy usage and costs incurred.
But the smart metering project, for all the genuine and significant benefits it has provided, failed to deliver in one key metric. As an industry and as a country, we failed to explain the “who cares?” of smart meters.
We did well to set out the ease and convenience that comes with monitoring your energy use in real time, but didn’t explain what smart metering means to the whole system.
The ability to better understand and anticipate energy users' actions across the system will deliver benefits in network build-out, system operation and optimal siting decisions, behaviours and business models for energy generation and flexibility providers.
The energy sector is in the midst of a revolution. That is news to nobody, as climate change and low-carbon technologies are regular guests in news coverage, particularly as global events cause energy security and price instability awareness to skyrocket.
But what is news to households and businesses across the UK is that this revolution is not just about the climate.
It is about cost-efficiency. It is about growth. It is about independence and national security.
“Every single sector in this Government’s Industrial Strategy is entirely dependent on energy to operate. Existing businesses need lower energy costs, routes to electrification to avoid high fuel costs and access to a reliable, low-carbon energy supply”.
Every single sector in this Government’s Industrial Strategy is entirely dependent on energy to operate.
Existing businesses need lower energy costs, routes to electrification to avoid high fuel costs and access to a reliable, low-carbon energy supply. New business investments will also need a timely and affordable connection to the network to enable them to contribute to the GB economy.
It is not only the eight Industrial Strategy sectors that are reliant on access to a grid connection and clean energy supply, but the entirety of the Government’s agenda.
Investment by GB Energy into solar panels on schools and hospitals demonstrates the potential cost savings for public services.
The discourse around housing developments features energy connections and clean technology heavily, both as challenges and solutions.
The sheer scale of the ambition in the industrial strategy, housing targets, cost-effective public services and broader policy means we need infrastructure investment now to deliver… well, everything.
“The sheer scale of the ambition in the industrial strategy, housing targets, cost-effective public services and broader policy means we need infrastructure investment now to deliver… well, everything”.
But that has not been communicated and nor have the needs of those other sectors been effectively communicated back to the energy sector. Siloes still exist across government departments and across sectors, and it is time to remove those paper walls and recognise that we need to be connected.
This is why it is so important that we come together, not only within the energy sector but across sectors, to discuss the challenges, opportunities and potential solutions for the UK economy. GRID-UK is that moment, bringing together utilities, businesses, and policy-makers to discuss, debate, collaborate, and share information.
Only through identifying challenges, sharing knowledge and making an effective case for strategic investment, with support from across the economy, can we resolve the communications breakdown both between sectors and between infrastructure providers and the general public.
Charles Wood is Deputy Director of Policy at Energy UK.