Cornwall Development Company ยท Energy and digital
Real-time energy data over superfast broadband
The DECS pilot: 24 million data points showing how households and businesses really use electricity.
Before
As part of the Superfast Cornwall programme, the Dynamic Energy Communications System (DECS) project set out to show how superfast broadband could give consumers and businesses real-time information about their energy use, and support better demand-side management.
What we did
We surveyed a mixed sample of homes and businesses, then installed remote monitoring on whole-premises consumption, individual appliances and on-site generation.
Minute-by-minute data was stored securely alongside weather, grid and property data, and participants could follow their own usage through an online portal.
What is stronger now
Monitoring went in at 50 homes and 5 non-domestic premises, with 124 appliance monitors and PV sensors at 16 sites. Over 24 million data points were collected in six months.
Participants changed their behaviour, mostly for the better, and the dataset is the basis for an appliance energy performance library and for testing demand-shifting strategies.