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The Topic: TPIs UTILITY WEEK | 3RD - 9TH JULY 2015 | 9 Opinion: Switching sites: the friend of the independent energy provider "Switching sites present people with quick and easy access to the best energy deals on the market. Price comparison sites are important for First Utility because they account for over 40 per cent of industry switches, and they ensure people are aware of our better pricing and how much they can save as a result. "This in turn results in lower prices and more competition for the benefit of all consumers. Research shows that 70 per cent of big six customers are currently on a standard variable tariff and are therefore overpaying by £3.4 billion. "We believe that switching sites are well placed to engage with consumers and empower them to make good choices about their energy supplier. The key is to ensure they are transparent, impartial and trusted." Ed Kamm, chief customer officer, First Utility "If the government wants more people to switch energy supplier then it has to ensure that energy price comparison services are transparent and trusted." • Tim Yeo, former chair, Energy and Climate Change Committee DEMAND-SIDE TPIs TPIs could prove an ideal interface between DNOs, suppliers and National Grid. In the domestic market, consumption data made available by smart meters, or alternatively by the evolution of the internet of things, will provide a key opportunity to data and analytics com- panies within the energy sector within five years. Dr Chris Brauer, director of Inno- vation at Goldsmiths, University of London, believes major suppliers will be "looking to partner with organisa- tions to create a consolidated capa- bility inside of these areas to be able to compete". He also expects to see more of the big players in the data and analytics world move into the energy demand aggregation market. Google has already signalled its intent in its acquisition of Nest, a smart thermostat that could provide a gateway to future service provision. The Energy Saving Trust's direc- tor of operations, Duncan McCombie, says: "To see this kind of market, you have to move away from ownership of a customer to more access to assets and services. Google bought Nest because it saw a future opportunity, and Eon is doing exactly the same by acquiring a part stake in Enervee." Thomas O'Reilly, head of strategic planning at Siemens, believes that distribution network operators – or spin-off organisations – could make a play for ownership of the consumer demand-side aggregation market- place, motivated by the desire to man- age substation capacity more closely. "From an aggregator point of view, that service can come from any num- ber of different sources, such as tra- ditional demand response through switching things off, or non-traditional demand response such as switching distributed generation assets on," says O'Reilly. This generation may already exist or may be procured as part of a managed service. The role of the aggregator, as O'Reilly sees it, will be to provide scal- able demand response that can cope with hundreds of thousands of assets in a specific geographical location. Aggregators will also need to manage conflicts between distribution network operators and National Grid. Smart energy technology expert John Scott, director of Chiltern Power, adds that the arrival of electrified transport, will throw newly "attractive loads" open for TPI management. LD HOUSEHOLD ENERGY TPI INDEX Q115 Cornwall Company Services Finances Employee Switches Cornwall Index rank Index Index Index Index Index Q115 1 MoneySuperMarket 5 5 5 4 19 2 Uswitch 5 3 4 5 17 3= comparethemarket 3 5 4 4 16 3= Gocompare 4 5 4 3 16 4= Confused 4 4 4 3 15 4= Which? Switch 3 4 5 3 15 5 Moneysavingexpert 3 2 4 4 13 6= Energylinx 4 1 4 3 12 6= UKPower/Makeitcheaper 5 1 3 3 12 6= Simplyswitch 4 2 4 2 12 Average Index values for all 33 TPIs 2.3 1.9 3.3 2.0 9.5 Cornwall Energy has compiled indices for each of the four categories, Services, Finances, Employee numbers, and Switches, and rated each company from 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the highest. The total score is out of 20. Source: Cornwall Energy