Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | APRIL 2023 | 15 Electricity become hard to ignore: "Suddenly you're looking at over £1,000 savings from moving from a at tari s to a smart tari over a year. That's not an amount of money you would turn away. We're not talking about saving a • ver a month." Schoch says the increased awareness of, and interest in, energy is demonstrated by the levels of participation in the ESO's new Demand Flexibility Service (DFS), which he hopes will be continued in some form in the future. The service is targeted at getting cus- tomers to move their consumption outside of the few peak hours on weekdays evenings when the strain on the energy system is at its greatest. Some real enthusiasts went all in, even going so far as to turn as to switch all their lights o and spending an evening in roman- tic candlelight as they made a game of get- ting their energy usage as low as possible. Clearly this is not something the average per- son will want to do on a regular basis. Automation will be key for these smaller loads where the savings of shiŠ ing con- sumption will be relatively little. There are a growing number of devices that have smart capabilities and Octopus's website now lists a number of brands whose products can con- nect to its Agile API (application program- ming interface). However, Lu s says, smart thermostats and automated appliances are not quite mainstream yet and "the retail o ering bring- ing all of those together isn't quite there". Despite delays, smart meters have become common and EV sales are gathering pace. The power grid is increasingly under strain on both the supply and demand side. Energy is on the front pages and a major concern for many people. The potential for smart tari s to help solve the country's energy issues is increasingly obvious. But for the time being, smart tari s still seem to be a relatively niche product for enthusiasts and early adopters. For the foreseeable future, the growth of smart tari s is likely to be tied to the prolif- eration of technologies such as EVs and heat pumps – large exible loads that o er the greatest potential value. However, progress is also being held back by suppliers' inabil- ity to access this value. Unlocking energy markets will enable suppliers to create truly compelling propositions for customers and provide the means and motive to overcome some of the other barriers to progress. Tom Grimwood, insights editor This an edited version of an article which can be read in full at https://utilityweek.co.uk/ how-smart-are-britains-energy-tari s/ U tilities of all types have a need to improve control and measure of the commodities they supply in order to bill consumption accurately, reduce wastage, cut operational costs and give a better customer experience. Whether supplying water, gas or electricity, utilities need to supply reliable and safe services, while also doing so economically to ensure value for money for customers and continued revenue for the company. With the e ect of climate change and population growth demanding more resources, utilities are also looking for ways to cut waste, optimise the use of available resources and integrate renewable resources. E˜ cient metering is central to these goals. Reliable, easy to access data on water and gas volumes and ow rates is essential to managing distribution networks, such as optimising the cost of energy used for pumping water at the right pressure, or dosing better the water treatment process, while granularity of data on electricity consumption patterns is vital to capacity planning for smart grids. They can do this by regularly collecting data from meters, monitoring all types of sensors and controlling remote valves or actuators in almost real time. The key to this is connectivity. LoRa is an ideal connectivity technology for utilities because it combines an extremely long range, measured in miles, with deep underground and indoor penetration. It also o ers very long battery lifetimes of up to two decades, making maintenance less of a burden. The technology is also an open protocol recognised by the ITU-T and supports OMS for M-Bus and DLMS with IPv6 adaptation layer among major international metering standards. Utilities require these key standards to ensure smart meter interoperability and reliability. The same standard can be operated over di erent communications media, thus a smart meter can have a dual connectivity interface to ensure maximum coverage and uptime across di erent networks. Additionally, the same LoRa WAN network can support multi-metering applications, and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, o ering bene• ts and revenues such as sensors for remote monitoring of pressure and water quality, or detectors for gas or wateržleaks. By enabling easy connectivity of smart IoT devices, allowing data to be readily converted into insights and thus actionable decisions, LoRa can help utilities cut costs, improve safety, reduce waste and improve customer satisfaction while still being compliant with di erent standards required by smart utilities. Rémi Demerlé is alliance partnerships and marketing director for LoRa ecosystem at Semtech, plus a board member of DLMS User Association. For more information visit: https://www.semtech.com/ lora/lora-applications/smart- utilities EXPERT VIEW RÉMI DEMERLÉ, ALLIANCE PARTNERSHIPS AND MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR LORA ECOSYSTEM, SEMTECH Standardisation across utilities "We think there is much more potential for innovative tariffs that cater to different consumption profi les and give greater fl exibility and control for customers." DYLAN JOHNSON, FUTURE ENERGY ASSOCIATES

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