The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), along with energy regulator Ofgem commissioned a study to review how innovation could enable Low Income and Vulnerable (LIV) consumers to participate in a smart, flexible energy market.

This may include new technologies and appliances in consumers’ homes, access to smarter tariffs, interaction with a broader range of service providers and new infrastructure in their local area, such as: smart metering, demand-side flexibility, electric vehicles, electric heat pumps and domestic energy storage.

These changes to the energy system raise a core concern about whether low income and vulnerable consumers could be less willing and less able to access, purchase and use smart energy products and services.

The review summarised evidence to answer the following questions:

1. How do low-income and vulnerable consumers participate in a smart energy market? What barriers prevent their participation?
2. Does existing innovation activity help them engage in this market?
3. How will new innovation activity ensure they are engaged in this market?
4. How could innovation put them at the forefront of the smart energy transition?
5. What risks could emerge when, and how could innovation prevent them?
6. Where should future innovation focus?

Energy Systems Catapult in partnership with the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC) has been awarded funding for a programme to Enable Inclusive Innovation and Sustainable Choice.

The funding comes from the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme, which are payments distributed from energy companies that may have breached rules. Projects must “support energy consumers in vulnerable situations”.

The Enabling Inclusive Innovation and Sustainable Choice programme will work with disabled and older consumers to deliver new research and assets that support the development of innovative, accessible smart and low carbon energy products and services, and to inform consumer and policy decision making.

The RiDC pan-disability consumer panel of over 2,500 people will deliver the research through a programme of six insight and test evaluation projects, including co-design workshops, accessibility and usability evaluations and mystery shopping.

This includes adding 50 new households with disabled consumers to Energy Systems Catapult’s real world test environment – the Living Lab – including developing co-design solutions that explore how the increasing electrification of heat and transport could result in new vulnerabilities emerging. Giving particular consideration to identifying potential changes to how those on the Priority Services Register might be best served.

Up to 100,000 people in danger of struggling with their fuel bills will be proactively offered support and guidance, thanks to a new partnership led by UK Power Networks called Social Connect.

Energy Systems Catapult is working with the UK’s largest electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO) using sophisticated data software to identify households across London, the East and South East who may need extra support, now and in the future.

Research by Citizens Advice expected an additional 600,000 consumers to enter into fuel poverty due to COVID-19. In addition, a continued increase in the prices of natural gas is expected to drive a rise in the number of consumers in need of assistance.

UK Power Networks is aiming to help seven times more customers facing fuel poverty* as it currently does – rising from 14,000 per year to 100,000.

UKPN doesn’t set energy bills but it offers energy efficiency advice to help people reduce their energy use, and tailored advice to help customers access government grants or support from its 223 charity partners.

The Social Connect project will use artificial intelligence and data science techniques to combine the UKPN information, existing fuel poverty insight, along with smart meter data supplied by households, and geographical and socio-economic statistics.

The AI system produced by software firm Urban Tide, will bring these data sets together into one simple dashboard which gives an accurate picture of who may need help, especially in areas where people are less likely to come forward and ask for support.