The gas and electricity regulator has called for evidence and input from the public and business before finalising a new energy demand strategy that will transform our relationship with electricity usage.
The Commission for Energy Regulation launched the consultation to deliver significant savings in greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging people and businesses to become more flexible in how and when they use electricity.
The strategy is to match electricity demand more closely with the periods when low carbon renewable electricity is available.
There are clear signs a revolution in electricity usage is already under way, with 1.3 million smart electricity meters already installed around the country and 13% of electricity users switching to a smart electricity service.
The commission said the Energy Demand Strategy Consultation launched today will continue drive that revolution forward as far and as fast as possible.
The Climate Action Plan imposed an obligation to ensure that 15-20% of electricity demand is flexible by 2025, and up to 30% flexible by 2030.
The proposed strategy will require a far greater focus on leveraging smart meters to incentivise further flexibility from households and SMEs.
There will be a focus in the business sector on incentivising demand flexibility and response at the Electricity Distribution Network level.
New large energy users connecting to electricity and gas networks will have to be low or zero carbon, or else can provide significant demand flexibility at the point of connection.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is looking for input from all stakeholders about all of these matters.
Measures have been proposed to incentivise greater uptake of time of use tariffs, including to amend the accreditation framework of Price Comparison Websites to allow consumers to access price comparisons using their smart meter consumption data.
Last November, ESB Networks launched its Customer Portal, which allows consumers to access half-hourly smart meter data for their property.
By amending the accreditation framework, PCWs would facilitate consumers to upload this smart meter data onto their website, to show available tariffs that might best meet the consumer's needs based on their historical consumption behaviour.
The aim of this measure is to provide more information to consumers to enable them to determine whether a time of use tariff is appropriate for them, and to be able to better compare available time of use tariffs.
Another measure proposed was to apply the Estimated Annual Bill (EAB) for all time of use tariffs. It is now proposed to implement the EAB for all available time of use tariffs.
This would ensure consistency in information provision and marketing between the Standard Smart Tariff and other time of use tariffs, which will help consumers make an informed decision which time of use tariff may be appropriate for them.
Increasing the limit on the maximum number of time of use tariffs retail suppliers are allowed to offer on the market was also proposed.
Currently, there is a limit of four time of use tariffs available per supplier, including the Standard Smart Tariff, which is mandatory.
The CRU previously decided that this limit will increase from four to eight at the end of Phase 2 of the NSMP. However, it is proposed to move this forward to an earlier point in time.
This would allow retail suppliers to present a greater range of time of use tariffs to consumers.
The CRU is also calling for evidence for a potential fourth measure. This relates to a proposal to bring forward the timing of a review of the Standard Smart Tariff.
The aim of this would be to identify whether the Standard Smart Tariff is achieving the intended objective as acting as an 'entry-level' time of use tariff, which is easily compared between suppliers.
Commenting on the Energy Demand Strategy, Commissioner Aoife MacEvilly said: "As we transform our electricity system to a high renewables, low carbon system, we also need to develop more flexible demand.
"Customers can benefit from using electricity at times of high renewables, while also helping us achieve our carbon targets. The past winter has shown good progress in terms of reducing demand at peak times and a new Energy Demand Strategy is the next foundation piece to this transition.
"This will provide a clear pathway for increasing the flexibility of all customer groups to moving their demand from times of high demand and carbon intensive generation to times of lower demand and higher renewables sources of generation."
Nicholas Tarrant, Managing Director of ESB Networks, said: "We hope that the scenario-based approach we have taken will help stimulate lively engagement with the CRU’s call for evidence, by providing a view of our customers’ diverse and active role in flexible demand."
