Non-domestic smart metering
Guidance and information on non-domestic smart metering.
Smart meters are replacing traditional gas and electricity meters in small businesses and public sector sites across Great Britain as part of an important upgrade to the national energy infrastructure.
The rollout of smart meters to non-domestic sites within the mandate is estimated to lead to £1.5 billion of energy consumption reductions, driven by these consumers engaging with their smart meter data and identifying ways to reduce their energy use.
The government is committed to ensuring that households and small businesses can benefit from smart meters as soon as possible. To meet this ambition and to drive smart meter installations, the government introduced a 4-year Targets Framework on 1 January 2022. Under this Framework energy suppliers are set individual annual smart meter installation targets on a trajectory to 100% coverage, subject to annual tolerance levels that apply across industry but are specific for the domestic and the non-domestic sectors.
Smart Meter Targets Framework
The government response to this consultation sets out energy supplier minimum smart metering installation requirements for Year 3 and Year 4 of the Targets Framework.
It includes an adjustment to the structure of installation requirements in the second half of the Framework so that mixed portfolio suppliers will be set separate domestic and non-domestic installation requirements.
Non-domestic smart meter consumer segmentation
This report outlines how grouping non-domestic customers by their attitudes towards smart metering, business and energy can be used to increase engagement with smart meters.
Maximising non-domestic smart meter consumer benefits and improving the data offer
The government response to this consultation details changes to energy supplier licence conditions made in 2022 to improve the data offer that non-domestic energy customers receive with their smart meter:
- an on-request data offer - non-domestic consumers and their nominated third parties can request free access to up to 12 months of their historic smart meter energy use data. Energy suppliers must respond within a time limit
- awareness raising requirements with respect to data - energy suppliers must regularly raise non-domestic customer awareness of the routes by which they can access, or nominate a third party to access, their smart meter energy use data for free
- a default data offer (from 1 October 2024) - energy suppliers must provide or make available free, user-accessible energy use information to smaller non-domestic customers with smart meters, for example, via an app, data tool or online platform
Non-Domestic Smart Energy Management Innovation Competition (NDSEMIC) evaluation
NDSEMIC was an £8.8 million competition funded by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy from 2018 to 2020. It aimed to maximise the potential for energy saving in 3 priority sectors: hospitality, retail, and schools.
The competition developed and piloted 7 energy management products and services that use smart meter data to help smaller organisations to better manage their energy use.
The evaluation reports describe learnings regarding facilitating behaviour change (including energy savings) in smaller non-domestic sites and market transformation for smart metering services in this market.
Non-Domestic Working Group
The Non-Domestic Working Group (NDWG) is a monthly closed forum for DESNZ, non-domestic energy suppliers and other market actors as required, to:
- discuss issues
- provide policy updates
- share best practice relating to the smart meter rollout to smaller businesses and public sector organisations
The NDWG has no formal decision-making authority.
These principles were developed by the Non-Domestic Working Group.