Sense to help UK council residents understand their energy consumption in real-time

Theale, Reading—14 March, 2023—DG Cities and Royal Borough of Greenwich are collaborating with Sense, in a pilot study aimed at reducing energy usage and costs for council residents. Through the award-winning Sense app on their smartphones, residents will be able to monitor the energy consumption of individual appliances in real-time and receive notifications about opportunities to save energy. The pilot will also test how behaviour change techniques such as nudges can be used to reduce energy consumption.

The UK faces rising energy prices and a cost-of-living crisis, making energy savings a top priority for households. The pilot will help residents to take control of their energy usage and save money, while also reducing the carbon emissions of each household, in line with the UK’s goal of reaching net-zero by 2050.

Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing, Homelessness and Neighbourhoods said: “The cost of living crisis has heavily affected our residents and we are working to help local people in every way we can. This is a fantastic way for residents to understand how much energy they use and find out ways they can reduce their monthly bills. It’s also a great way of connecting with others in the community by sharing tips and advice.”

DG Cities recognises that there are important technological advances from industry that can give people insights and agency to make choices that are right for them. DG Cities is also concerned with ensuring that this trend can be inclusive and new technology accessible to groups that may otherwise be harder to reach or may not have the means to purchase and test such technology. Trevor Dorling, Director of DG Cities commented: “This is an exciting and innovative way of helping residents in Royal Greenwich save energy and money using digital technology. Working together with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, we’re able to use artificial intelligence to understand and measure how much energy residents use and look at ways to reduce costs.”

As part of the trial, Royal Borough of Greenwich council residents who opt in, will receive a R&D Sense energy monitor which will be installed into their fuse boxes to measure the electricity consumption of the whole home, as well as individual devices. Outside of this walled pilot, Sense collaborates with smart meter manufacturers, energy retailers, and grid operators to run the Sense application directly on smart meters.

Michael Jary, International Managing Director at Sense said “There is a growing recognition that artificial intelligence has a transformative role to play in the world’s energy transition. Already, in North America, over 3 million next generation smart meters are being deployed to run the Sense app. In the UK, we hope to see further uptake for innovative technologies like Sense that reduce the overall cost of managing, maintaining, and balancing the energy system, ultimately benefiting residents with lower energy bills.”