Nottingham City Council
Eliminating Wasted Energy
Report by Ken Stone, Energy Officer, Nottingham City Council
The meter changeover to Smart Meters carried out by WPD (Western Power Distribution) was extremely smooth, almost seamless in fact, and the staff flexible and helpful. From the moment the meters were installed we eliminated the problem of estimated readings – the scourge of energy management. No longer do we have to make special arrangements for access to awkward meters or deal with the to-ing and fro-ing of rebates and back charges caused by the lack of accurate data.
Furthermore, the data and web-analyser which has accompanied the Smart Meters has enabled:
- Accurate bills, no more estimates
- An end to hassle associated with rebates and back charges
- Excellent data analysis capability
- Half Hourly (HH) data helping pinpoint excessive consumption
Helping eliminate wasted energy
A recent episode in a large office building illustrates the usefulness of the data. The building's overnight base load inexplicably doubled for odd weeks. Before the Smart Meters, this increase in consumption would not have been noticed, let alone explained. Happily, the HH data produced from the Smart Meter was able to clearly identify the exact dates in question. We were able to deduce that the increases occurred when the usual caretaker was absent. Consequently we were able to inform the relief caretakers of their errors of omission. The whole incident has highlighted both good practice and identified real cost savings.
The future
Overall, we have been so impressed by the trial installation of Smart Metering in 40 high-consuming sites that we are now planning to install another 200 Smart Meters. These will include all our schools, libraries and leisure centers as well as other significant users. We are looking forward to the new meters and the new release of the web-analyser software, and of course we are looking forward to our continued partnership with BizzEnergy.