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Consumer benefits at the heart of the Smart Energy Demand Coalition
Consumer benefits at the heart of the Smart Energy Demand Coalition
Electricity has for a long time been treated as a fixed household expense for which our de-mand is largely inflexible. However, this is set to change.
Brussels,
Brussels,
Belgium
(sardnews.org)
06/02/2012
Electricity has for a long time been treated as a fixed household expense for which our demand is largely inflexible. However, this is set to change. With European consumers feeling the pinch of a dipping economy there are fewer domains off-limits when it comes to making savings.
Saving money by using less electricity is one thing, but how about actually getting paid to use less at certain times? Perfectly feasible, but not something that will happen without organisations like the Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC). Headed by Jessica Stromback of the VaasaETT Global Energy Think Tank, the coalition has, within a year of its establishment, become the central voice for promoting the requirements of so called 'demand side programmes' in Europe. Bringing together utilities, aggregators, and key technology providers for smart grid solutions, the SEDC'S membership includes major players such as Schneider Electric, eMeter, GE Energy, Honeywell, and EDF, amongst others.
The idea of residential consumers shifting their consumption away from peak periods and being financially rewarded to do so is at the heart of what is now commonly known as Demand Response. European consumers are already becoming more aware of their kilowatt hours as smart meter installation gathers pace. The next step is to use the smart meters in a way that allows Demand Response to take place. With potential revenues for households and local businesses in Europe estimated at 3.5 billion euros, the incentives to make Demand Response work are significant.
At the heart of Demand Response is the notion that consumers should be active participants in an electricity market where demand can be bought and sold in much the same way as supply. This is not just to the benefit of the consumer, but also for our environment. With more of our electricity set to come from renewable sources such as wind and solar in the future, we will need more ways to balance our grid when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine. At the moment, that means building more 'back-up' power plants that run on polluting fossil fuels. Instead of making these costly investments we can adjust when we consume electricity and be financially incentivised to do so.
While this is frequently identified by policymakers as the way forward, regulators and parts of the electricity industry are still playing catch-up. The SEDC's member organisations have already made big strides in areas such as smart meter rollout and 'aggregation' (bundling consumers' demand) which is helping change the landscape of Europe's electricity markets. Joining forces under the umbrella of the SEDC is proving to be an effective way to give the Demand Response movement the cohesion it needs to push through the big changes required and deliver real consumer benefits.
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About sedc-coalition.eu
The Smart Energy Demand Coalition (SEDC) is an industry association for utilities, electricity retailers, and other companies that provide products and services in the areas of demand response, smart meters and smart grid technologies. SEDC works to educate and provide information to policymakers, utilities, electricity retailers
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