Non-domestic smart meter research report
“[We would be interested getting a smart meter if] at some point in the future energy was charged at a more varied rate through varied periods of the day.” Construction company,10-49 employees, North West, no smart meter Some respondents did not believe that such a tariff would actually save money and others were concerned that it might cost extra to be on such a tariff, thus eliminating the benefits of the lower cost for energy. Where respondents were not interested in TOU tariffs this was because they felt that their energy usage could not be shifted to different times – either because they worked standard business hours (considered to be peak demand times) or because their variable energy use was linked to customer demand rather than controlled by them. These comments have been seen throughout the discussions and represent one of the greatest barriers to interest in energy management and reduction. Overall TOU tariffs were seen to offer no real disadvantages (provided there was no premium to be on the tariff and the smart meter was free). Respondents also saw TOU tariffs as a spin off from energy providers knowing more about when their organisation was using energy. These respondents would expect TOU tariffs to be like mobile phone contracts where a range of “bundles” are available to cover different patterns of usage20. 4.7.2 Automated DSR There was less interest in Automated DSR as most respondents felt that they could not change their business activities to benefit from this energy management approach. The main interest was again if this option could save their organisation money or if it offered the SME itself the ability to control equipment remotely (for example turning off specific equipment such as freezers). The main concerns were around losing control over when they could use equipment plus whether or not business-critical equipment could be exempt from any reduction in energy supply. In all, respondents felt that they needed more information about this option in order to consider it properly and to think through the benefits and impacts on their own business. Several respondents saw benefits of Automated DSR being purely for the energy provider and not for the user.
4.8 How to promote smart meters to SMEs Following the interim debrief during fieldwork, it was decided to explore the specific messages which respondents felt would be most effective in promoting smart meters to SMEs.
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This research took place before the announcement by British Gas/Centrica of their plans to introduce “Free Energy Saturdays” for their domestic customers with smart meters but with higher weekday energy tariffs. While this particular “bundle” was not mentioned it would be an example of what respondents meant in their use of the term “bundle”.
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