The big energy suppliers are looking into developing a web-based tool to help drive up household energy efficiency by enabling consumers to compare their power usage with their neighbours.
The "
comparative consumption" tool is one of a number of measures agreed at yesterday’s
Energy Summit between the '
Big Six’ energy companies, Government, consumer groups and industry regulator Ofgem, and was described yesterday by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as "milestone" in the Government’s efforts to increase households’ control over their energy costs.
If adopted, the online tool would enable consumers to compare their energy usage with similar households in the same area, a behaviour change technology that has been shown to cut bills and carbon emissions.
"It would allow households to compare data anonymously on a regional basis," explained a spokesperson for DECC. "You would register on the website, plug in your consumption and see how it compared with other households."
Early development
The Retail Energy Association (REA), which is leading on the project, said the tool was still in early development and it was not yet decided when it would launch or how exactly it would work.
"We’re still in the early stages of planning and it is hard to say at the moment how sophisticated it will be," said a REA spokesperson.
The tool, however, forms part of a broader agreement yesterday by the energy firms to make sure customers have greater control over their energy costs. The big energy suppliers, which control 99 per cent of the market, have agreed this winter to place a tariff signpost message on the front page of bills encouraging customers to call their supplier or visit a website to find out if they could be saving money on their energy bills.
The DECC spokesperson said the cheaper tariff signpost and website measures were "a part-way agreement " towards meeting a pledge by the Coalition when it came into power to increase households’ control over their energy costs by ensuring that energy bills provide information on how to move to the cheapest tariff offered by their supplier, and how each household’s usage compares to other households.
Smart grid software
In a separate but
related initiative, DECC has been working with independent energy supplier First Utility and US efficiency and smart grid software company OPower on a pilot programme that helps households lower their energy bills through software that can analyse home energy consumption and identify and alter unsustainable domestic energy usage. According to the First Utility and OPower, £400 million in energy costs would be saved if it the software was installed in all UK households.
Other action agreed by energy suppliers
Other joint action agreed by the energy suppliers at yesterday’s summit included sending out letters to four million households to tell them about free or heavily discounted insulation offers and contacting customers to encourage them to shop around for better deals.
"We're committed to some big initiatives to help as many people as possible this winter," said Lawrence Slade, ceo of the Energy Retail Association. "Over the longer term, there are big challenges ahead in providing secure, clean and affordable energy and we look forward to working closely with Government, the regulator and consumer groups to ensure we tackle those together. We see this Energy Summit as an important step forward towards addressing the challenges and explaining them to consumers."
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