Power-based pricing: A key to balancing the electricity system in the electrified era

As society moves away from fossil fuels and towards electrification, the energy system faces new challenges. Increasing the use of electricity requires not only the expansion of electricity generation and grids, but also a more intelligent use of resources. One of the major challenges is managing power peaks, which occur when many people use electricity at the same time for different purposes, such as charging electric cars or starting large fan systems when businesses start up in the morning.

To manage these peaks and ensure the stability of the electricity system, electricity network companies have started to introduce capacity-based pricing. By linking the price of electricity to demand at different times of the day or at different load levels, customers are incentivised to help smooth out peaks. This means that customers who can shift their electricity use to times when demand is lower can benefit financially while helping to reduce the load on the electricity system.

To make it easier for customers of electricity network companies to monitor and adjust their own electricity consumption, requirements have been introduced to replace the property's main electricity meter with a new smart electricity meter with HAN-P1 port, also called HAN port or customer interface. The port enables property owners to obtain real-time information about their own electricity consumption. By 2025 at the latest, all electricity meters in Sweden will be equipped with the HAN-P1 port.

How to get the electricity meter data?

The M-Bus protocol is often used in building automation as it is an open and standardised protocol. PiiGAB has developed a product to read out the electricity meter data and convert it to M-Bus to control and optimise the property.

Want to read more on the subject:

• Electricity use caps cut power peaks in Gothenburg