Using smart meter system data for public good

The Opportunity

Britain’s energy infrastructure is undergoing a vast transformation in the transition to Net Zero. The future flexible energy system will be digitalised and interconnected, with smart meters at its heart, enabling consumers to manage their energy use and reduce costs by providing accurate billing. However, the public benefit that can be realised through appropriate use of this data is far greater.   

Today, with more than 38 million smart meters connected around the UK, the DCC’s smart and secure communications platform is a public asset which sees over 2.1 billion digital messages sent each month. Greater transparency of, and accelerated access to, this anonymised data can be used to deliver public benefit - directly to consumers, the energy system and for health and care services.

Fuel poverty continues to affect millions of households across the UK, with an estimated 6.7 million homes currently classified as fuel poor. While a range of initiatives and support schemes have emerged in response to the energy crisis, many organisations still face challenges in identifying households most in need and targeting interventions effectively.

Smart meter system data has the potential to help address this challenge. By providing deeper insights into energy use patterns, it can support more targeted assistance, inform policy development and help measure the impact of fuel poverty interventions.

In our white paper, Tackling Fuel Poverty Through Smart Metering, we explore how data from the smart metering system could help support vulnerable households and improve outcomes across the UK, find out more below.

Partner with Us to Tackle Fuel Poverty

We welcome energy suppliers as data controllers for smart meter energy system data to join us in using smart meter system data for social benefit: specific focusses today are on addressing fuel poverty and enabling policy interventions to support vulnerable households across the UK.

By participating in this initiative, your organisation can play a key role in improving outcomes for those most at risk by enabling more targeted, data-driven interventions.

All initiatives are assessed for public benefits, subject to privacy preserving processing to protect personal data and covered by explicit Ofgem derogations to ensure robust information governance. This ensure that appropriate controls are in place to handle all personal or sensitive data correctly, while focussing on outcomes that have tangible benefits across academic research, real-world policies and interventions and commercial innovation.

Available Data Sets

Granular Data (Detailed Dataset)

Designed for advanced analysis and innovation, this dataset provides higher-resolution, detailed data specifically to support fuel poverty-related use cases, it includes schema, data fields, and example data.

Download example granular data

Aggregate Data (Summarised Dataset)

This dataset provides anonymised, aggregated insights focused on fuel poverty, it includes schema, data fields, and example data.

Download example aggregate data

Register Your Interest

Interested in accessing fuel poverty data?

Complete our Expression of Interest (EOI) form to tell us about your organisation and proposed use case. This information helps us assess applications and ensure data is used to deliver public benefit.

Once submitted, the DCC team will review your application and contact you regarding next steps.