It was pretty HUGE news for us when we became the first non-domestic metering business to become a user of DCC services in the Other User (OU) role for smart meters.
But it isnt just good for us, securing this coveted accreditation is great news for our customers who can now reap the energy and financial savings that this will bring.
The OU role is designed to allow users to request information from Smart Meters on behalf of consumers, with appropriate consent, to perform the following many services:
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- Retrieve half-hourly data via the DCC from smart meters
- Install and pair into the Smart Metering Home Area Network a Consumer Access Device (CAD) at site to enable real-time access to smart meter data from both an electricity and gas smart meters including pricing, instantaneous and cumulative consumption information.
This is important for many reasons, now we can:
- Act on behalf of end user customers and parties working with them such as: TPIs, Brokers, BMS providers, system integrators, and price comparison websites to ‘collect’ smart meter data direct from smart meters and/or via the DCC without the need to go to the energy supplier.
Utilise smart meters to provide:
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- Half-hourly interval data readings, regardless of the consumer’s procurement deal
- Visibility of consumption patterns throughout the day to aid in load-shifting activities
- Ability to identify opportunities for energy and cost efficiency from the data
- Directly feed into a client’s BMS and other smart devices for dynamic control aligned with the metering data
- Deliver data for visibility through dashboards and apps
- Enable consumers to run the half-hourly data through price comparison websites
The biggest benefits?
Businesses on monthly ‘read-only’ meters will now have the ability to view their consumption data on a half hourly, rather than monthly basis. The benefit of this being that they will be able to see at which times of day they are consuming the most energy and at what price. The role also allows us to install and connect CAD devices to the smart-meter for direct connection into BMS and IoT systems.
This adds immediate value for consumers and energy management companies as they can use the real-time data to actively change BMS controls or deliver behavioural change activities within the business to reduce consumption and cost.
Consumers can also use the half-hourly interval data to run through price comparison websites to be easily able to assess whether they’re on the best procurement deal – something that’s difficult with monthly reads.
