Smart meters could help businesses become more intelligent with their energy saving – not just with accurate data but because they make using more added extras possible.

A new smart metering report commissioned by DECC looked at how different innovative products and services could give customers “actionable advice”.

They looked at thing such as:

– Non-domestic energy switching groups (so-called Power of Attorney services),

– Automated checks of a building’s ideal energy performance versus it’s actual energy use, to find wasted energy consumption,

– “Software engines” which match up smart meter stats with fabric information and weather data,

– And how many people are using the building and demand response.

But the key to providing these services is to make the data accessible for third parties at a “much lower cost”, found the report.

Smaller businesses are less likely to be prepared to analyse smart meter data or pay for someone to do it.

Better products and services could help energy managers at smaller non-domestic customers more effectively than basic data analysis, suggests the report, with tips on how much money they could save or what their payback period for energy saving measures would be.

The report by the Carbon Trust for government called ‘Forward Look: Smart Metering-enabled Innovation in energy management in the non-domestic sector’ is available on the DECC website.

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