Metering reforms to help businesses benefit from flexibility

More businesses will be able to benefit from flexing their energy use following changes to metering rules.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) said the updates will enable businesses and households with electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps or batteries to participate more easily in flexibility markets.

Until now, most devices were unable to benefit due to metering requirements but with electricity demand projected to treble by 2050, NESO the changes would help unlock the greater flexibility needed.

The changes mean that if generation is high, EVs or batteries could be charged faster with surplus clean energy energy, or heat pump temperature could be temporarily increased to pre-warm premises.    Conversely, if national demand is high, consumers might agree to have their EV charging automatically paused or slowed down or opt to have their battery export small amounts of stored energy.

Fintan Slye, Chief Executive of NESO, said: “Abolishing outdated metering requirements to allow millions of households and businesses to benefit from rewards for flexing their energy use is an exciting and historic milestone in the way Britain is powered.”