local utility started offering customers money in exchange for using less electricity, the father of one had a battle on his hands. Wood, who lives in Hampshire in southern England, was keen on realising savings while alleviating peak energy demand. But some things — like teenagers — are even harder to manage than maxed-out electricity grids.
Wood is part of a new group of super-proactive, super-engaged electricity customers. Solar panels, home batteries and other energy-efficient devices are cheaper and more accessible than ever. Higher power bills are making everyone more aware of their electricity use, and utilities are passing on price signals in the form of cheaper rates when demand is low and pricier rates when demand is high. Together those factors are creating a new class of consumer: call them the home energy nerds.
Technical know-how isn’t required; neither is much maths. For Chris Morgan, 35, a church operations manager in Durham in the north of England, three is the magic number — 3kW. That’s how much his home battery can discharge at any one time, so Morgan’s family of four tries to keep their energy consumption under that cap. They use the grid to charge the battery and their EV between 12.30am and 4.30am, when electricity is cheap.
In addition to saving consumers money — and piquing their curiosity — this small-scale version of what utilities call “load flexing” could be key to managing a more intermittent energy grid, says Mike Fell, a senior research fellow at the UCL Energy Institute in London. Optimising demand could also reduce the need to spend taxpayer dollars building out new power sources.
It’s what Bram Claeys plans to focus on once he’s finished making his house more energy efficient, a process that includes putting in better insulation, adding more solar panels and installing ceiling fans to keep the house cooler in the summer.
Sarah Chambers, a 52-year-old mother of three from south Wales, realised that her family could save a “substantial amount of money” by investing in a car charger, solar panels and a battery. Her next project is to set up acomputer to automate the household energy flow. Chambers also opted into a pricing plan with her utility, Octopus Energy, that automatically sends power to her EV when prices are low.