Horizon Power has been recognised by the national renewable energy industry for its pricing pilot project, which is designed to give our customers more choice and control around how they manage their electricity bills.
The Power Ahead research project was joint winner of the Innovation Award at the Clean Energy Council awards held in Sydney last night. The awards attract delegates from the around the world.
We shared the honour with the AusNet/GreenSync consortia.
The Power Ahead project involved a research pilot in Port Hedland from December 2016 to March this year, which was designed to reduce the use of energy during the peak and ensure customers have options to reduce their bill if they can lower their energy use during peak times.
More than 400 participants, 346 residents and 61 businesses, took part in the pilot, testing customer’s willingness and ability to change their electricity usage behaviour given the right tools and incentives.
Research findings for residential customers who made changes show that:
- 84 per cent reduced the amount of electricity they used
- 78 per cent reacted when they received an alert in peak times
- 82 per cent kept one or more air-conditioning units ‘off’ as part of peak routine
- 85 per cent could sustain the changes for six months every summer
Business customers also indicated a willingness and ability to make changes. However, the research shows that businesses have less flexibility to make immediate changes or responses to alerts.
Based on the findings of the research pilot, Horizon Power is developing a new, fairer and more sustainable way for charging for electricity similar to mobile phone and internet plans, called Power Plans.
We are discussing this new way of paying for power with the State Government to ensure pricing is fair and equitable as more customers take up renewable energy.
Horizon Power wants to reduce peak usage because 20 per cent of our generation costs are spent on covering these peak times which only account for demand about two per cent of the time.
Horizon Power Managing Director Frank Tudor said he was proud of the work that had been undertaken and it was exciting to be recognised by the Clean Energy Council.
“Horizon Power has led the country with this work as we are in the unique position of being able to offer pricing change because of our advanced metering infrastructure,” Mr Tudor said.
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Pictured above: CEC Chair Rachel Watson, Horizon Power General Manager Consumer Energy Mark Paterson and CEC Chief Executive Kane Thornton.