The impact of smart metering on energy efficiency in low-income housing in mediterranean

Abstract

Comparison between the EU’s 2020 energy efficiency targets and the forecasted energy saving indicates a gap for expected energy savings in 2020. One of the reasons lies in the lack of specific policies for low-income households, which represents about 40 % of Mediterranean households and are considered as far to reach through traditional public policies and requires innovative technical and financial approaches in order to help them reduce their energy consumption. Smart Metering has been identified as one of technologies where end-use energy efficiency can particularly be encouraged in low-income households through its impact on tenants’ behaviour. Analysis of current multi-energies Smart Metering projects in Mediterranean area indicates the potential for consumer benefits through demand response and consumption feedback services, which were recognised as most appropriate for low-income households. Implementation of dynamic pricing in combination with home automation and individualized consumption feedback using different efficiency indicators enables households to respond to energy prices and become more energy efficient. Activities presented in this paper have been evaluated within the EU project called ELIH-Med. Objective of the ELIH-Med project is to identify and conduct a large scale experimentation of cost effective solutions and innovative public and private financing mechanisms backed with Structural Funds to foster energy efficiency investment in low income households. Energy and costs savings prediction and verification flowchart is also presented, where different functionalities of Smart Meters in combination with energy efficiency measures and other influential factors are considered.