Page 29 - European Energy Innovation - winter 2017 publication
P. 29
Winter 2017 European Energy Innovation 29
COMMUNICATION
ESB Networks
Smart Meter Programme
Following the official Programme launch in late September The programme will be delivered by ESB
2017, the Irish electricity Distribution System Operator
(DSO), ESB Networks, has embarked on the journey to Networks over three distinct phases of work,
deploy smart meters to all Irish electricity customers. A
transformed energy retail market, a manual meter reading which will deliver the incremental addition
process which has existed for over 90 years and a desire to
provide better information to customers are some of the of high-level functionality to the Irish Energy John Byrne,
drivers for this significant business and digital technology Market. Smart Metering
transformation. Project Manager,
• Phase 1 (2017 – 2020) enables the ESB Networks
The seeds were initially sown for this project between installation of 250,000 meters and the
2008 and 2011 when ESB Networks conducted customer
behaviour and technology trials with 10,000 customers delivery of the Market Schema changes by 2020 which
which looked at the behavioural impacts of smart metering
on a sample of the population of Ireland. Following on from will facilitate the flow of half hourly interval data to the
the completion of this work ESB Networks worked with
the Commissioner for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) and the market.
public to develop Time of Use (ToU) Tariff propositions and
to understand the needs of the Pay As You Go community. • Phase 2 (2021 – 2022) will support the installation of
All of this work was to develop a well rounded deliverable
National Smart Metering Programme. an additional 1 million smart electricity meters and
The main stakeholders of the National Smart Metering the enablement of the remote and local service switch
Programme (NSMP) including the CRU, ESB Networks, Gas
Networks Ireland and the Energy Suppliers then embarked operation in smart electricity meters.
on a period of consultation to develop a series of policies to
support the introduction of Smart Metering. • Phase 3 (2023 – 2024) will see the installation of the
The programme itself is one of the largest transformation remaining one million smart electricity meters, along
projects in the history of the Irish state as it aims to
revolutionise the Irish energy market by installing smart with the activation of Gas Smart Metering services and
meters which are capable of providing interval data directly
to the market. The high level objectives of the NSMP include: In-Home Data services by 2024.
• Encourage energy efficiency
• Facilitate peak load management in the Irish energy sector The Smart Metering programme will have multiple
• Support renewables and micro-generation benefits for ESB Networks, Suppliers and most importantly
• Enhance competition and improve customer experience customers. The programme will deliver a more competitive
electricity retail market through better service offerings,
in the Irish energy market ease of switching Supplier and changing address. The
• Improve network services programme will provide Suppliers with improved
opportunities in relation to ToU tariffs to enhance their
relationship with customers. Finally, customers will see an
end to estimated bills, be better informed of their energy
usage patterns and will also be able to avail of more
suitable, flexibility based tariffs from their Suppliers.
ESB Networks’ ambition is to deliver a low carbon future
for our 2.3 million customers powered by a smart electricity
grid, with smart metering being core to that ambition. l
Contact Details:
Web: www.esbnetworks.ie
Dublin City, Ireland
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
