Our Aims
To increase the active and effective use of smart meters and in-home displays (where fitted) by vulnerable consumers
To encourage vulnerable consumers to change their energy-related behaviours in response to improved feedback information
Enable vulnerable consumers to make significant energy savings, reduce their fuel bills and seize further opportunities that may be offered by demand-response services
Latest news
EU Sustainable Energy week gets SMART-UP
The SMART-UP consortium gathered in Brussels in the first week of June to take part in EU Sustainable Energy Week, Europe’s most important conference on energy efficiency and renewables. Organised by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Energy and EASME), this year’s event focused on ‘leading the clean energy transition’, with 2500 participants registered to attend over 60 sessions. On 5 June SMART-UP representative Marina Varvesi joined a panel of experts to present the project to around 100 stakeholders at an ‘Active Consumer – Vulnerable Consumer’ session organised jointly with ENTSO-E. The panel, which also included Theresa Griffin MEP; Susanne Nies, Strategy and Communications Manager, ENTSO-E; Marie-Pierre Fauconnier, Vice President, CEER; Elizabeth Errington, Senior Policy Researcher, Citizen’s Advice; and Slavica Robić, Executive Director, DOOR; explored some of the issues around encouraging consumers to be active in the energy market as well as ensuring that vulnerable consumers are also supported, with a particular focus on the new Clean Energy for all Europeans Package. On 6th June, project representative Aniol Esquerra Alsius led an energy talk within the EUSEW Networking Village, presenting some of the experiences and lessons learned from project delivery and facilitating questions and discussion. Many other stakeholders visited the SMART-UP stand within the village to look at some of the training materials, reports and other resources that the project produced. SMART-UP would like to thank EU Sustainable Energy Week for the opportunity to showcase the project at such a successful event. For more information visit https://www.eusew.eu/...SMART-UP at EU Sustainable Energy Week 2018 – Supporting vulnerable energy consumers in a smart meter world
Smart Meters are the next generation of energy meters, able to provide information on energy usage directly to suppliers, leading to an end to estimated billing as well as providing the opportunity for the consumer to have greater understanding and control of their energy use behaviours. Although the individual deployment strategies for smart meter rollout among EU Member States vary, all share the common challenge of ensuring that vulnerable consumers achieve the same benefits of smart metering as other consumers. It is clear that those who are able to understand and interpret the information available via smart meters and accompanying tools such as an In Home Display are more likely to achieve energy savings and also engage with new products and services that become available. To address these challenges the SMART-UP project has been working in France, Spain, Italy, Malta and the UK to support vulnerable energy consumers to learn more about their smart meters and energy use at home. Funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Fund, the project has been training frontline workers so they are able to provide advice to vulnerable consumers in their respective countries, and then monitoring the impact of that advice on energy consumption and energy behaviour. Join us at this EU Sustainable Energy Week where there will be a number of opportunities to learn more about the project. Active Consumer – Vulnerable Consumer Date: Tuesday 5 June, 2:00 – 3:30pm, Brussels ENTSO-E, National Energy Action and the Florence School of Regulation The Clean Energy for all Europeans package rightly emphasises the need to put consumers at the centre of the...