Smart Meters, Cleaner Greener Safer & DECC

Dear Gordon,
 
You certainly have my vote!  I'd be very eager to help in any way I can with the proposal and with the implementation of the scheme if we get the money.
 
One small thought: I have heard that DECC are seriously considering installing smart meters across the entire of the UK and that DECC will soon start a pilot of the scheme with Project Dirt.  I'll call Mark from Project Dirt this morning.  If Peckham Power can get involved in the DECC / Project Dirt smart meter pilot then perhaps we don't need the Cleaner Greener Safer money?  I'll find out and get back to you...
 
Thanks,
Jack

I'm just about to leave the house but a very quick follow-up...
 
I've spoken to Mark from Project Dirt who will call his contact at DECC today to inquire about Peckham Power getting involved in the DECC Smart Meter pilot.
 
Also, regarding the CGS bid: a little while ago, I had a short chat with Jessica Binks about the £10k CGS grant awarded to an East Dulwich Smart Meter project.  Some notes from that conversation:
 
1) Jessica played a key role in putting together the details of the bid.  If we go for the bid then perhaps we could ask for Jessica's advice about our bid
2) The £10k was for smart meters + a home energy survey.  i.e. an energy surveyor visited each persons' property to install the smart meter and to run a home energy survey.
 
I've got to dash now and may be away from my email until about 4pm... see you...
Jack

sorry, v. quick clarification:

When Mark calls DECC, he wont actually get the ball rolling, so to speak.   He's literally just inquiring about the feasibility of PP getting involved in a Smart meter pilot.  I certainly wouldn't want to start a serious conversation with DECC without talking it through with the rest of PP.

Thanks,
Jack

Thanks.
 
Just to update you on the CGS application, I had a word yesterday evening with James Barber, the E Dulwich councillor who supported the project I mentioned.  This is indeed the same project that Jack recalls Jessica Binks mentioning, and the £10k in fact covered 100 rather than 40 households -- even better. 
 
James warned me that the online application system can be rather shaky and he advised me to put the application in before midnight yesterday to be sure of hitting the deadline.  I duly did this, with some valuable assistance from James (a good example of members working with each other across party lines), submitting the application in my own name.  But there is no reason why it can't be made clear during the application process that this is a PP-supported project if that's Ok with everyone.
 
As I understand the DECC scheme, the idea is to get electricity suppliers to undertake a rolling programme of replacing existing meters with smart meters.  That is likely to be at least a medium term project, with the timescale partly informed by the rather impenetrable financial arrangements the electricity companies have for amortising the cost of the most recent set of non-smart meters over their expected life.  So getting ahead of the game with CGS money still seems worth it.
 
I will have a word with Jessica Binks to let her know the application is in.  The E Dulwich scheme relied heavily on officer support for its design and implementation.
 
The next local funding opportunity on the horizon is the Community Council Fund, which awards small sums of revenue (as opposed to capital, which is the province of CGS).  Can we think of a use for a small revenue stream over a 12-month period?  I think the deadline is about a month off, and I will see what more I can find out about the budget for this year's scheme.
 
Best,
Gordon

Dear Gordon,
 
Many thanks for the details about the DECC Smart Meter scheme.  I must admit that I really didn't know much about the scheme at all.  I've just done some Googling to find out more about DECC's Smart Meter scheme.  There are a few details here:
 
http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/417-2009-is-a-crucial-year-for-smart-meters-in-the-uk.html
 
The most relevant parts:

"...the most significant action promoting smart meters came with the commitment to a smart meter mandate on October 28.  With the announcement, Britain committed to installing smart meters for every household and small business within a ten-year period once the deployment process begins.  “This is a major step forward; no other country in the world has moved to an electricity and gas smart meter roll-out on this scale,” announced energy minister Lord Hunt.

Of course, smart meters won’t appear for everybody overnight.  “We anticipate a period of around two years to resolve the issues and to design the full detail of a domestic roll-out,” Lord Hunt continued.  “Our aim is then to ensure that the subsequent roll-out happens over a period of 10 years.  This would see delivery of smart meters by the end of 2020 to align with our renewable targets.”
To play devil's advocate... there is an important question here... (I hope this doesn't sound too rude... I'm just eager to discuss this issue which is nagging me).  If DECC are due to role out smart meters (beginning in a few years' time) then is there any point in us rolling out smart meters?  My main concern is that the 100 Peckham Power smart meters will be thrown into landfill when the DECC smart meters are installed (it sounds like the DECC smart meters will be able to communicate with the energy supplier; something that "normal" smart meters can't do).  Any thoughts?  I suppose it all depends on the timing of the DECC roll-out.  If Peckham gets DECC Smart Meters in 2010 then there's clearly little point in installing PeckhamPower Smart Meters in 2009.  But if DECC don't get round to installing Smart Meters in Peckham until 2020 then clearly PeckhamPower should go ahead and install smart meters now.  But it sounds like DECC don't have a roll-out schedule yet.  Ho hum... it will be interesting to see what DECC say when they get in contact via Mark (from Project Dirt).

Thanks,
Jack

sorry, I didn't mean that to sound quite as ungrateful as perhaps it came across!   The problems of trying to dash through emails without spending enough time on each one...

Perhaps we could combine all the recent events such as Harriet Harman getting in touch, the CGS application and DECC's enthusiasm for SmartMeters?
 
I believe Gordon recently suggested that we could ask Harriet Harman if she could setup a meeting between us and DECC.  Perhaps we could meet with DECC to talk to DECC about being involved in the "pre-pilot" for DECC's Smart Meter roll out?  If we get the CGS funding then we could combine that with support from DECC in order to roll out lots of Smart Meters (paid for by the DECC scheme) while doing energy surveys (paid for by the CGS funding)?
 
I sent a brief email to HH's office a few days ago just to say thanks for making contact and to say that we'd be back in contact.  But perhaps the next email to HH should fulfil all the excellent suggestions made by Lesley... we ask for HH's help in contacting DECC to introduce PP to DECC but also to talk to DECC about partnering in the roll out of Smart Meters to a few hundred households in Peckham?  It might be a nice way to build up a relationship with HH and DECC (assuming we deliver on our promises, of course), whilst getting our hands dirty with a real, tangible and deliverable project which also dovetails nicely with our aims.   Any thoughts?
 
Thanks,
Jack

Hi all
 
Sorry to be off the map. It's very busy here. I like the idea of our getting involved in a quick win community project which gets us delivering a tangible benefit to the community (Smart meters) and gives us an opportunity to canvas opinion/offer other servies at the same time. We'd need some training to deliver it but that could be part of the funding breakdown and would leave a legacy of knowledge within PPC.
 
M

I've just been doing some Googling on 3rd Generation Smart meters and I stumbled across the "Google PowerMeter".  Sounds very interesting.  It will be a free web application which will allow users to monitor, analyse and share their smart meter data.

More info here: http://www.google.org/powermeter/

I've contacted Google to ask if there's any chance of us working with Google if/when we roll out smart meters (I didn't commit to anything when I contacted Google).

Plust there's an interesting and informative news item from SmartMeters.com: New Software from Google Interacts with Smart Meters

Does anyone know what model of smart meter will be used by the East Dulwich group?  Or, at least, does anyone know if their smart meters are capable of any of the following:

• reporting back to the electricity supplier
• distinguishing between different types of load (e.g. "that spike is the TV turning on"; "that spike is the tumble drier" etc rather than just "there was a spike at 2pm").

Jessica from Southwark has very kindly let me know what type of Smart Meter was used for the East Dulwich project:

We are using the Current Cost model [smart meter]: http://www.currentcost.co.uk/
 
There are quite a few on the market though. Lewisham council are using the Eco Eye.

As far as I can tell, the "Current Cost" smart meter isn't able to communicate with the energy supplier.

Google have just launched their power meter software in the UK:

http://blog.google.org/2009/10/empowering-uk-with-google-powermeter.html

It seems to be using:

http://www.alertme.com/products/alertme-energy/

Cheers,

Ed