Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | FEBRUARY 2023 | 17 Electricity "They are also responding to the commu- nity or collective bene ts of the Savings Ses- sions. They feel they are part of something bigger, both in the climate impact but also in the fact they're part of this mass of energy shi ing." Jean Fiddes, director of commercial at Eon Next, has also seen "a lot of positive senti- ment" from the 500,000 customers invited to take part, adding: "People are learning more about their energy consumption and seem to be enjoying taking part in the events. This is absolutely part of the future of our relation- ships with customers and the relationships they have with their energy use." Dykta echoes these sentiments and says the positive public reaction exceeded any- thing the ESO had expected. "It's really caught people's imaginations and they have engaged with why we're doing this. The other thing we've observed is that for the tests we have run we have generally seen an over-supply of megawatts so the people tak- ing part have really committed to it." Candles are not the answer Alistair Martin, founder and chief strategy oŠ cer at Flexitricity, also welcomes the positive engagement from consumers but he has a concern about the "novelty factor" wearing‹oŒ . "Domestic participation in energy Ž exibil- ity is absolutely not about going to candles. That's the wrong message. What it should be about, and this is probably my biggest beef with the way DFS was rolled out, is identify- ing the things in your home that are genu- inely Ž exible and where allowing them to Ž ex is no skin oŒ your nose. They are heat pumps and electric vehicle (EV) chargers, with EV chargers being in the front there. "To make it work, it should be done auto- matically. You set the parameters – the level of interruption you're willing to accept – and that is the maximum interruption you get. And then it's the job of the aggregator or the charge point operator or the supplier to adjust that demand directly." Responding to this, Dykta says this "nov- elty factor is useful" in generating interest but what is key is to use that opportunity to hammer home the link between the money saved, environmental impact and the avoid- ance of peak consumption. However, she adds: "If you jump forward to the future and a fully formed Ž exibility market it will absolutely be about automa- tion. As an end consumer you want to know that your laundry is going to be washed or your car is going to be charged – if some- thing controls that for you and does it at a time that's bene cial then great. But for now if you can create the incentives it seems peo- ple are willing to do that themselves – to pro- gramme the washing machine or delay the start of the dishwasher. I think we will see more willingness to do that than we might have thought possible." All interviewees agreed that a sense of collective responsibility for tackling climate change was a powerful incentive in itself. However, much of the conversation around the future of the DFS has been taken up with debates over getting the right nancial incentives for customers. Eon Next's Fiddes says: "Some of the crit- icism or lack of participation we are seeing is that people just don't think the rewards are worth the disruption. We have to nd a way of inspiring people to take part and make this something customers actively want." This is backed up by the experiences of Davies in Ayrshire, who says that while the tests have made her think about her energy usage, she is pragmatic about whether she would continue to proactively shi demand out of peak time without any incentive. "That doesn't necessarily need to be money – it could be some sort of reward scheme – but to do it regularly going forward I think there would need to be some kind of incentive," she says. DFS needs to be more than just a wintersale Dykta says that work has already begun to assess the lessons from the winter and look at what the next iteration of DFS will look like – with nothing oŒ the table. She points to the design of the tests allowing suppliers to nd "diŒ erent Ž avours of incentives" for diŒ erent customers. For Alex Schoch, head of Ž exibility at Octopus, what is needed is a "step change in how we manage our power systems". He says: "There seems to be a recognition [in ESO] that the world is moving far too fast for the traditional approach to innovation programmes and that you need to iterate in the real world. You need to iterate with mar- ket participants, with industrial and com- mercial market participants with utility-scale power plants, batteries but also consumers." He is also adamant that while this service was designed to solve pressures over winter, Ž exibility has wider applications. "This shouldn't just be a winter service, this should be just as much a summer ser- vice where we're helping customers soak up excess wind and solar energy instead of hav- ing those assets curtailed and the costs fall- ing on consumers with no bene t to them." Dykta says the workshops and working groups that will spring up over the next few "It's really caught people's imaginations and they have engaged with why we're doing this." Claire Dykta, head of markets, ESO "There seems to be a recognition [in ESO] that the world is moving far too fast for the traditional approach to innovation programmes and that you need to iterate in the real world." Alex Schoch, head of flexibility, Octopus Energy "This is absolutely part of the future of our relationships with customers and the relationships they have with their energy use." Jean Fiddes, director of commercial, Eon Next start of the dishwasher. I think we will see more willingness to do that than we might All interviewees agreed that a sense of collective responsibility for tackling climate change was a powerful incentive in itself. However, much of the conversation around the future of the DFS has been taken up with debates over getting the right nancial engaged with why we're doing This is backed up by the experiences of Davies in Ayrshire, who says that while the tests have made her think about her energy usage, she is pragmatic about whether she would continue to proactively shi demand "That doesn't necessarily need to be money – it could be some sort of reward scheme – but to do it regularly going forward I think there would need to be some kind of that you need to iterate in the months will delve into all the issues raised in this article with a view to a long-term approach to encouraging demand Ž exibility. However, for many participants there is a palpable impatience to seize what could be seen as a golden opportunity when energy usage is front and centre of public debate. As Schoch puts it: "We already see the current teenagers glueing themselves to paintings out of the sheer frustration of not seeing any tangible progress. I think Sav- ings Sessions is the perfect example of how across society people want to be engaged. We can turn oŒ a city the size of Leicester because people are engaged." James Wallin, editor

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