With the burden of green energy transition mostly offloaded on consumers (and less so on manufacturers, traders and intermediaries), we still lack a deeper and more proactive integration of energy consumers with utilities.
In a liberalised energy market, choosing a utility company is similar to buying a new car. The process of choosing a car essentially boils down to two main criteria: price point and features, the latter meaning mostly comfort, but also efficiency and saving. So, how does this apply to energy?
Energy prices are not that simple or as straightforward as before. The price caps introduced by The European Commission in early 2023 made it harder for consumers to understand and calculate their prices. For example, in Germany, price cap calculations are particularly complex to figure out. Energy price surges, dynamic tariffs and dynamic invoicing are not making it any easier, so the consumers really need a better tool to understand what is going on with their bills and how to economise, than a utility call center.
What features can consumers expect from an energy provider? In the old way, they are limited to monitoring real-time consumption on an in-home display, and to a simple bar graph on a monthly bill showing consumption comparison to previous months. The consumer can only observe their sustainability by continuously checking the meter and any improvement or savings are only measured once a month. In a digitalised energy system, the feature side should extend far beyond just that.
The answer is simple: we need much a wider offer and higher penetration of customer portals, applications or complete customer suites, that will make real-time and historical data and predictive tools available for consumers, presented in logical and graphic way and empower them to take an active role in their own consumption models and habits. Such tool will provide billing transparency, encourage energy use during off-peak hours, allow consumers to schedule appliance use, and receive notifications and alerts. Last but not least, it can transform prosumers from being passive energy exchangers to becoming engaged utility partners. It is easy to see how each of these features, and many others, actually translate as cost benefits to utilities themselves. As a matter of fact, customer portals should be an obligatory part of digitalisation and energy transition in every utility and their offer to consumers.
Smart meters have been providing hosts of data to utilities for many years. From simple consumption and metering device status, data sets have expanded to provide deep insights into energy quality, network condition and more. The introduction of a customer port, so-called P1, H1 or HAN, finally involved the end consumer in consumption monitoring and control by sending real-time data to a simple display, a mobile app or to a more complex smart home system. With more functionalities to come in the future and security challenges mitigated along the way, meter manufacturers are already doing their part in engaging the end consumer. And so are software providers, app developers and even a number of utilities across Europe, but it is simply not enough. According to a report from Guidehouse Insights, utilities worldwide are expected to invest up to USD 700M in customer experience technologies by 2029, and a big part of that is taking place in Europe.
Consumers, prosumers, meter manufacturers and software providers are ready – now it is up to utilities to accelerate the transition to providing a full digital experience to customers and helping them to navigate their decarbonisation journeys.
Meter&Control develops and manufactures hardware and software solutions for smart energy management. Find out more about their solutions here.
Disclaimer
This is a blog space for debate where ESMIG members share their thought leadership. All opinions expressed are the authors. The content of this article is not an official position paper endorsed by the association.