Power Off & Save Pilot Programme Frequent Asked Questions September 2016 1 P a g e
Electric Ireland in association with EirGrid have a new and exciting opportunity for our Smarter Living Trial members which will mean a small group of customers will be first in Europe to be part of a pilot programme whereby we will attempt to reduce electricity use at peak times while rewarding participants for doing so, based on the level of their involvement. To be involved in this innovative pilot programme, participants will also have to be part of the Electric Ireland Smarter Living Trials and have a dedicated piece of Smarter Living Trial equipment installed in their home or have an existing electric Ireland Smart Pay As You Go meter installed. The following Smarter Living Trial members will be invited to participate: Smart Energy Control Smart Hot Water Control What is this pilot programme about? Power Off & Save is a new pilot programme that will reward customers who agree to reduce their energy use when electricity demand is high. The Power Off & Save pilot programme will involve up to 1,500 residential customers all over Ireland taking part in an 18 month pilot to switch off appliances for about 30 minutes on 10-15 occasions. Customers will be asked via SMS message to switch off appliances in the home where possible without affecting their comfort in return for financial incentives based on their level of participation. What is involved in this pilot programme? We require Customers take part in events where we ask them to reduce electricity in their home (for approximately 30 mins) where possible without affecting their comfort home. In order for the electricity consumption reduction to be measured, Participants may be required to have a qualifying monitoring technology in their home such as a Smart Energy Controller, Smart Pay As You Go meter etc. Participants that also have additional technologies such as smart hot water controls will be requested to heat their hot water using electricity only for the duration and will be given additional incentives to do so. Participants will also give consent to give control to Electric Ireland of the heating of their hot water cylinder. Depending on the technology provided by Electric Ireland to you, there may be opportunities where the technology can be powered down automatically for the Power Off & Save event. For example, your immersion or smart plug. Participants will be required to give feedback on the trial from time to time via email surveys and SMS message surveys; as and when requested by Electric Ireland for the duration of the trial. Some of the great benefits that participants will enjoy are: Be the first in Ireland to trial exciting innovative technologies developed by Electric Ireland Be financially rewarded for reducing your electricity consumption The ability to save energy and reduce costs of electricity Help the environment in optimising the use of renewable energy when its available 2 P a g e
Frequent Asked Questions Contents What is the pilot programme in association with EirGrid?... 5 What notice period will I receive as part of the pilot programme?... 5 What other electricity saving actions can I take?... 5 What s in it for the Participant?... 5 What s in it for Electric Ireland?... 5 How long is an event?... 6 How long is the trial period?... 6 Do I have to sustain the reduction for the duration of the event?... 6 What level of participation is required?... 6 Why is it necessary to take part in surveys during the trial period?... 6 What specific messaging can I expect to receive from Electric Ireland during this trial?... 6 What happens after the trial?... 6 Do I have to own my house to be considered suitable for this trial?... 7 What will I be getting as part of the trial?... 7 I am a Smart Pay As You Go Meter user, what else do I require to participate?... 7 Can I choose what technology is installed in my home?... 7 What do I need to do to remotely access the installed equipment?... 7 Why do I need to have an Android or Apple device?... 7 Where is my data going?... 7 Will my profiles of electricity usage be analysed?... 8 Can I get a payment if don t turn on appliances during the event?... 8 How and when will payments be made?... 8 What happens to my price plan?... 8 I am not an Electric Ireland Customer, but I am interested in this trial. How do I get involved?... 8 I m very energy conscious already so how am I going to be able to contribute?... 9 What happens if I m not in the house when a Power Off & Save event is called?... 9 When will Power Off & Save events be called?... 9 If the project is oversubscribed already, how do I get my name on the waiting list?... 9 What is a fixed line broadband connection and why is one required?... 9 Why do you need to know my broadband supplier?... 10 Why do I need to leave my broadband connection on all the time?... 10 3 P a g e
What is a port on my router and why do I need to have one?... 10 Why do I need to have a free plug socket next to my router?... 10 What is the box that will be next to my router?... 11 What works will be carried out in my home?... 11 Why do I have to use electricity only to heat my hot water?... 11 Will I have use of my water and heating during Smart Hot Water technology installation?... 11 How long will the works take to complete?... 12 How much will the equipment and installation cost me?... 12 Who do I contact if I have any more questions?... 12 4 P a g e
What is the pilot programme in association with EirGrid? Electric Ireland are launching a new pilot programme to communicate to householders to reduce their electricity consumption at high demand times. This is called Demand Response. Demand response enables electricity customers temporarily to reduce their electricity consumption in response to requests from Electric Ireland, resulting in savings on their bills and incentives. There may be up to 15 demand response events over the 18 month period of the programme. This pilot project will benefit up to approximately 1,500 householders, who will see their annual electricity bills cut by an average of 100 by participating in this scheme. What notice period will I receive as part of the pilot programme? When Electric Ireland issues the notice that we are looking to save electricity, it will be an instant response. This means that any pre-nominated equipment in your home and that is controllable will be switched off, however, if you so wish, you will have access to this equipment locally and via an app and you can switch it back on if you cannot participate in the electricity saving event. What other electricity saving actions can I take? When we issue the notice that we are looking to save electricity, you can help even further by turning off any unnecessary electrical appliances that are running at that time. Or you can decide to defer from using that kettle over the net 30 mins etc. Some of the larger users in your home are: Dishwasher Kettle Washing Machine Immersion Dryer Electric Cooker/oven Power Hose Hairdryer Other appliance such as lights, TV, chargers, etc. are considered low energy users but are also helpful in reducing your electricity consumption if you turn them off for 30 minutes. What s in it for the Participant? By taking part in the pilot programme, you will receive a high tech piece of equipment which is yours to keep. You may also be rewarded for each of the short events in which you participate. You are not only being more energy efficient and hopefully saving money, you will also be environmentally friendly by taking advantage of sustainable energy. What s in it for Electric Ireland? At Electric Ireland, we are constantly striving to be more energy efficient and encourage our customers to be the same. This trial will enable us to learn the patterns of use of your electricity as well as help us test (in conjunction with EirGrid the national grid operator) if we can help reduce demand on power generation at particular times of the day by rewarding our customers not to use unnecessary energy. 5 P a g e
How long is an event? Events may last for approx. 35 minutes. There will be a notification via text SMS messaging and via an app to let participants know an event is occuring. There will also be a notification to let you know the event is over. Within 48 hours, we will ask you to partake in a free SMS survey to see how you got on with the event. How long is the trial period? Electric Ireland expects the trial to last for approximately 18 months from the date of the first event. During this period, we expect that you adhere to the Terms and Conditions of the trial. Do I have to sustain the reduction for the duration of the event? Yes to gain the benefit of the reward the participant must partake in the full event. Also, your reward will be based on reduction in usage from the time the event is called, If you decide not to use equipment during the event, this cannot be measured. What level of participation is required? Electric Ireland will reward Power Off & Save pilot participants who reach the required threshold of electricity savings during these events. Participants will be rewarded based on the level of reduction in their electricity use during each event also a bonus for participating in 70% or more of the events over the 18 months. Why is it necessary to take part in surveys during the trial period? It is important that Electric Ireland receives feedback through our surveys in order to improve our services and to learn from our customers experiences. After an event, there will be a free SMS survey that we will ask you about the power Off & Save event. After a number of events, there may be some Online Surveys that we may ask you to take part in. What specific messaging can I expect to receive from Electric Ireland during this trial? While on the trial, you will receive a number of messages from Electric Ireland via email, push notifications and text messaging. What happens after the trial? If Electric Ireland does not continue the service, we may offer you the option to keep the equipment (however, we can not guarantee the app will be supported post trial). If you so wish, we can also remove all trial equipment. You will be required to be present when this takes place to allow a technician access to your home to remove the equipment. 6 P a g e
Do I have to own my house to be considered suitable for this trial? It is necessary that you are the home owner, or have permission from your landlord, in order to give permission to Electric Ireland to install any necessary equipment for the trial. What will I be getting as part of the trial? If you are not a Smart Pay As You Go Meter user, you will receive: 1. A dedicated piece of technology (dependent on what we deem most appropriate for your home). 2. A gateway, no bigger than a small router, that communicates to the installed equipment and enables Electric Ireland to gather usage data. 3. Access to an app that will interact with the above devices and provide you with information on your electricity usage. I am a Smart Pay As You Go Meter user, what else do I require to participate? If you are a Smart Pay As You Go Meter user, you will require no further equipment to be installed in your home. Can I choose what technology is installed in my home? Electric Ireland will carry out online surveys and analyse your answers. In some cases we will then carry out a home survey. We will then make a decision on what technology is most appropriate for your home. What do I need to do to remotely access the installed equipment? We will have a dedicated app for you to use through which you will have informational and control options. You will be required to download this app for your smart phone for the duration of the pilot. Why do I need to have an Android or Apple device? A smartphone or tablet with ios or Android will enable you to access Electric Ireland s service s related to the trial via a dedicated app. Where is my data going? All data collected from Participants including data on registration forms, research questionnaires and other sources during the Research Period will be stored on secure servers for no longer than 12 months from the end of the Research Period, provided that Electric Ireland may retain anonymised data. Electric Ireland may use this data for market research purposes including, but not limited to: helping Electric Ireland understand customer habits and to provide participants with relevant tailored offers by email, SMS or post. Participants will have the opportunity to opt out of such 7 P a g e
communication. Individual Participant data will only be used by Electric Ireland and will never be sold on to third parties. Will my profiles of electricity usage be analysed? Profile data will only be analysed were Electric Ireland will compare usage before an event and during a demand response event. Can I get a payment if don t turn on appliances during the event? Payments will be based on measured reductions. No payment will be given for not turning an appliance on. For example if an event is taking place at 16:00 16:35, the participant will not receive payment for not using an appliance during the trial. Payments will be rewarded for reducing the electricity used when an event is called. How and when will payments be made? Payment will be in the form of a credit on your electricity bill or as a credit on your Smart Pay As You Go meter and has no monetary value. Customers will be paid on their level of consumption reduction per event, so the more appliances turned off as soon as an event is called, the more a financial return you will get. Payments are expected to be made every 2-3 months. It is worth keeping in mind that the more events you participate in, the more you will receive per event and also be in line a bonus payment for taking part in 70% in the events at the end of the trial. What happens to my price plan? There will be no change regarding your price plan. Whatever price you were on prior to commencing the trial, you will remain on during the trial period and when the trial period has elapsed. I am not an Electric Ireland Customer, but I am interested in this trial. How do I get involved? Electric Ireland will have emailed you an online survey to complete. Following this stage, we will assess your responses and see if you can comply with the basic requirements to take part in the trial (for example, do you have fixed line broadband). We then may request you to fill out an additional survey for Smart Hot Water Control and see if you are suitable for these technologies. Following successful completion of this additional survey, we will then notify potential participants that they are suitable for a particular technology if they are willing to switch electricity supplier to Electric Ireland. We cannot however guarantee that if you move to Electric Ireland, you will be part of the trial as technical issues may arise during installation of the required equipment that may not be know until the time of installation. 8 P a g e
I m very energy conscious already so how am I going to be able to contribute? In some cases, you may not be able to contribute much to the trial. If this is the case, this will be a learning of the trial. What happens if I m not in the house when a Power Off & Save event is called? Electric Ireland will be providing Participants with technologies that may enable them to power off appliance remotely, for example a smart plug or an immersion. Electric Ireland will be also be requesting that you give control to smart plugs and immersions when an event is called so that appliances can be powered off automatically. When will Power Off & Save events be called? Power Off & Save events will be spontaneous to the Participant. The majority of them will be during business hours with the others in the morning or evening times when there is a peak demand on the electricity grid. It is envisaged that there will be no events called between 9pm and 8am. If the project is oversubscribed already, how do I get my name on the waiting list? At the moment, Electric Ireland has a list of interested customers to take part in the Power Off & Save trial and will contact this cohort to explore if they are suitable customers for the trial. If for any reason that we do not get the required amount of suitable candidates, Electric Ireland may carry out another recruitment drive in association with EirGrid. It is worthwhile keeping an eye on both EirGrid and Electric Irelands websites for updates on the project. What is a fixed line broadband connection and why is one required? Fixed line broadband is what most people have at home. It s a fast internet connection delivered by telephone wire (ADSL) or fibre optic cable, through service providers such as Sky, UPC, Vodafone and Eircom. If you use a dongle provided by Meteor, 3 or other, this is not a fixed broadband solution (see images below). The communication equipment will only work on fixed line and is therefore a requirement. Typical mobile WiFi set-up which is not suitable 9 P a g e
Why do you need to know my broadband supplier? To better understand the internet setup in your home. This will give us an understanding of the type of router system you may have prior to visiting for the installation. Why do I need to leave my broadband connection on all the time? It is necessary to leave your broadband connection on at all times in order for Electric Ireland to communicate with equipment in your home. If you turn off your connection, it will cause a break in the communication of data and may affect the quality of information that Electric Ireland can provide back to you as part of this service. Leaving on your broadband connection overnight is safe and does not incur any large charges. What is a port on my router and why do I need to have one? A port on your router is a specific place for connecting Electric Ireland s gateway in order to transmit and receive data in relation to the trial (see image below for spare LAN Port on router). Most routers have a few spare ports. Why do I need to have a free plug socket next to my router? A plug socket is required close to your router as the equipment we will connect to the router will need to be powered. This will need to remain on at all times also. 10 P a g e
What is the box that will be next to my router? The box that will be next to your router is called a gateway. It communicates to the cylinder and enables Electric Ireland to collect data. The gateway is about the same size as a standard router and can sit next to it, i.e. requires no mechanical fixing (see image below). Gateway What works will be carried out in my home? The works will be dependent on the equipment to be installed, and this will be determined after the completion of the questionnaire; Electric Ireland will then determine what equipment is most suitable for your participation in the project. Most installations are very non-invasive and require some small pieces of technology installed, other equipment (for example a new hot water cylinder) may require more works to be carried out. Why do I have to use electricity only to heat my hot water? If you are part of the Smart Hot Water Trial with Electric Ireland and the Power Off & Save Trial, we require that you use only electricity to heat your water in order to take part in the trials. In the situation where you were previously heating your hot water using oil or gas, and if you qualify for a new cylinder, this will have the ability to switch back to oil or gas at the end of the trial, however, we are looking to trial hot water via electrical means, so it is therefore a vital requirement of the trial. We will also provide an incentive so that you do not spend more on your heating of hot water using electricity during the trial period than you would have if you were previously using oil or gas. Will I have use of my water and heating during Smart Hot Water technology installation? Electric Ireland will install either a new hot water cylinder or the retrofitted smart immersion switch on your existing cylinder in as timely a manner. However, during this period of installation, it will be necessary to turn off your water and heating system to allow for the fitting of a new hot water cylinder. Installation of the retrofitted smart immersion switch may also require that your water be turned off for a period of time to allow for the installation. 11 P a g e
How long will the works take to complete? Dependent on the equipment to be installed, it can be from an hour up to 8 hours (but most likely less) to install the equipment. You, or a responsible adult with ability to make decisions on the installation on your behalf, will need to be present for the duration of the installation of the equipment. How much will the equipment and installation cost me? There will be no cost whatsoever to you. Electric Ireland will cover the cost of supplying and installing all of the equipment for duration of the trial. Who do I contact if I have any more questions? You can contact Electric Ireland dedicated email inbox at smarterliving@electricireland.ie 12 P a g e