Edinburgh Napier University

  There is an urgent need to address the imminent energy shortage and the 27% of UK energy usage, attributable to domestic consumers, in order to meet our national carbon reduction objectives. With the pending nationwide rollout of smart meters into 51 million homes, it is imperative to consider to what extent the economic model will actually drive and influence consumer behaviour. Initial investigations indicate that, all consumers are concerned about rising fuel prices, their impact on the environment and fuel poverty. There is also a general consensus that energy monitors provide a feasible means of addressing these areas of concern, however very few have taken any sustained practical action and few studies have been undertaken to measure consumer responses to displaying gas consumption information. This can be attributed to an inconvenience of measuring usage and partly to inertia or uncertainty. The purpose of the proposed project is to demonstrate how consumer interaction with energy (both electricity and gas) display monitoring technology will impact on carbon reduction, energy saving and fuel poverty. The initial project will incorporate field testing of a new smart metering technology installed in 60 social housing dwellings with a wide occupant demographic, and the establishment of control dwellings, in order to obtain a benchmark for energy performance and will encompass a social study of the occupant interaction with the technology.