How flexibility can get the UK to work smarter, not harder
With smart meters in over 60 per cent of homes, consumers are using time-based tariffs to cut costs and carbon. Jacob Briggs, senior consultant at Cornwall Insight, emphasises how flexible energy use is transforming households, saving money and driving decarbonisation
Households using energy flexibly are becoming more commonplace, with technologies like smart meters (installed in over 60 per cent of homes) unlocking benefits for consumers. Schemes like the Demand Flexibility Service and products like time of use tariffs are unlocking reduced energy costs across the system. Moreover, this flexibility − enabled by smart meters − is contributing to the decarbonisation of the energy system.
Flexible energy use, or ‘demand flexibility’, involves consumers increasing, decreasing, or shifting their energy usage in response to a signal. This could be a message from their supplier or a change in price that results in them using less energy at peak times, or more energy at off-peak times. It can be a manual response, such as switching off appliances, or an automated one, such as in electric vehicles with the capability to ‘smart charge’ overnight when the electricity price is typically lower.
Cornwall Insight’s Power of Flex report demonstrates that demand flexibility is a ‘win-win-win’: households win, the environment wins, and the energy system wins. By taking a snapshot view of Britain in 2025, 2030 and 2040, we found that without household flexibility, the market would need to build the equivalent of four new gas-fired power stations for 2030. As network upgrade costs are spread across energy consumers, even households who don’t, or can’t, shift to flexible usage would still benefit from others doing so, as almost £1bn in spending on the electricity network would be saved collectively, alongside building costs and disruption to local communities and environments.
We also found that in 2040, flexible households could save around 52 per cent on expected wholesale electricity costs compared to if they had limited or no flexibility. Furthermore, engaging with household flexibility results in a 45 per cent increase in carbon savings, the equivalent of planting 630,000 trees.
Electric vehicles are a key example of an electricity appliance or asset that households can use to capture the benefits of flexibility.
Our most recent research report, Turn on, Plug in, Check out, examines the benefits for electric vehicle owners and the network from drivers using smart or vehicle-to-grid charging (where the car essentially acts as a battery).
“Consumers and the energy system stand to benefit from £14.1bn in savings in 2040 if we embrace flexibility”
Smart charging households (those who charge their vehicles overnight at off-peak rates) could access wholesale electricity prices that are 24 per cent lower on average than prices for non-smart charging households. In fact, on some days in 2025, savings could reach up to 77 per cent.
Ultimately, the individual consumer, the broader energy system, and the environment all stand to gain if we encourage and enable more flexible use of energy. Consumers and the energy system stand to benefit from £14.1bn in savings in 2040 if we embrace flexibility.
Smart meters are essential to unlocking these benefits – they provide consumers with near real-time information about their energy usage, enabling them to access time of use tariffs and participate in flexibility services. Smart meters are a cornerstone technology, providing a ‘win-win-win’ for all.
For more information about this research, or how smart meters are supporting our transition to a smarter and more flexible energy system, please visit smartenergygb.org.
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