Smart Secure Electricity System Programme (#SSESP) 2024

PART 1 - #Tariffs

Foreword: My 11 years in the energy industry have been exclusively in digital energy, firstly making smart meters work (smartdcc.co.uk), then building the largest independent processor of meter data (n3rgy.com) now the first global energy tariff platform (flatpeak.com), see my answer to question 7 :)

Firstly it’s great to see the government beginning to acknowledge the critical role electricity tariffs must play in the future energy system. Time-of-use tariffs are (IMHO) the only ubiquitous means of influencing energy use, encouraging increased consumption at times of high availability and deterring consumption when availability is low. In principle this provides great benefit to end users, allowing them to choose from tariffs that offer dynamic rates, fixed periods (peak/off-peak) or complete static tariffs depending on their preferences, ability to react to changes and risk appetite. A fundamental foundation of choice as well as supporting flexibility for the future system.

However, we continue to rush towards a double contract mechanism in this future energy system. The first is the obvious one, a customer must choose an Energy Supplier and a Tariff that best fits their needs. The second, less obvious, the customer should also choose their “Load Controller” (aka Aggregator), a new role within the energy sector that takes control of your device and attempts to manage it in a way that a) follows your tariff b) follows a variety of network flexibility mechanisms which could be simultaneously applied and c) still enable your device to do what it’s supposed to do (charge your car or heat your home, etc). I can only see the introduction of this role as a demonstration that the energy sector simply “can’t get its shit together” and offer a simple mechanism to customers or the wider market.

The short-term profits associated with a ‘Load Controller’ are likely to be much higher than the traditional Energy Supplier, so in an attempt to justify this new role, the sector is making these organisations work.? Firstly they won’t be allowed to (easily) find out what your tariff is, as governments' “minded to” position is to obligate Energy Suppliers to only publish a generic list of the tariffs they offer. And publish this in a new “industry standard format” (and we all know what happens when you quickly define a new standard and expect 40 organisations to implement it consistently..). But the Load Controller will be left to figure out what the actual tariff is themselves, probably asking the consumer “Are you contracted to the British Gas Energy Plus Protection Mar 2024v22” (yes BG did publish 22 versions of this March 2024 tariff). But maybe, in some distant future, this could change (they say).

Load Controllers will also need to be licenced, comply with cyber security requirements and, most interestingly, must “treat consumers fairly”, take considerations for consumers in ‘vulnerable situations’, meet minimum ‘financial requirements’ and have a complaints procedure in line with energy suppliers. If that’s not barrelling towards a copy and paste of the generally dysfunctional Energy Supplier paradigm I don’t know what is…?

However, there is a tiny bit of positive news here. The “committee” tasked with defining this new standard, the Tariff Interoperability Work Group (TIWG) will operate within the scope of the Retail Energy Code (REC) which means any organisation can engage rather than just parties to a code (as the alternative, the SEC, Smart Energy Code, requires). Unfortunately splitting responsibilities between REC & SEC is likely to further complicate activity.

For further information the consultation is linked here, this article was specifically related to the Tariff element: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/delivering-a-smart-and-secure-electricity-system-implementation

Considering responding in line with this article? See below my "Cheat Sheet" for each question:

1. There is only one viable use case from an end customer perspective, the third party must be able to discover the actual customer tariff through a link with the industry.
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. No. Defining a brand new standard (by committee) and expecting 40+ organisations to implement it consistently isn’t going to happen any time soon.
5. Too slow, too slow.
6. The actual tariff rate (the price per kWh) is missing here!
7. No, option 4 is the only viable solution (see answer 1). A service such as flatpeak.com is already operational!
8. Yes