INDUSTRY INSIGHT
www.heatingandventilating.net
A smart investment?
With gas prices soaring, smart metering technology can empower energy managers and residents to make money-saving changes, argues Anthony Coates-Smith, managing director of Insite Energy
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n recent months, some of the housing associations, developers and managing agents we work with have reported gas kWh-rate increases of up to 292%. While the price rises experienced by heat network users are comparable to those faced by consumers running traditional gas boilers, that still means bills are rising by at least £240 per household annually and in some instances, increasing as high as £600. This can pose big challenges, namely increasing the risk of residents going into fuel poverty and heat debt – something that housing providers are inherently keen to avoid. Many organisations are looking to their M&E contractors for help and advice about how to keep costs down. So, what should you tell them? It has been well understood for some time that greater awareness of personal energy usage leads to positive behaviour change that reduces consumption,
thereby lowering costs and carbon emissions. However, we are now starting to see concrete evidence of just how much this shift can be increased if smart metering is used to provide live usage data in an engaging and easily accessible format. Doing it via an app can further multiply the effect. Launched in 2019, KURVE is an first app-based metering solution for heat networks. It enables residents to view, monitor and manage their energy account from any internet-connected device, anytime and anywhere. With a sizeable user base built up over the past two years, we can now see the impact such convenient access to real-time data has on people’s energy habits. It’s notable that over a third (35%) of page views on the KURVE app are from
residents reviewing their energy consumption - more than any other type of activity such as viewing their balance (24%) or topping up (6%). This clearly indicates people’s interest in how much energy they’re using.
36 April 2022 DOWNLOAD THE HVR APP NOW
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