University of Reading Focuses on Reducing Business Energy Costs as a Key Priority

Making energy bills cheaper for small businesses is the goal of a University expert recruited to help a government research project.

Dr Rory Jones, an Associate Professor in the University of Reading’s School of the Built Environment, and a range of partners, is part of a project led by Utilidex Ltd which has been awarded over £46,000 through the government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) to develop a cutting-edge solution that revolutionises the way customers compare energy tariffs.

Energy company SSE, Utilidex Ltd, SSE Utility Solutions Limited, SSE Energy Supply Limited and Unit 9 Limited will join forces with Dr Jones to investigate time-of-use (TOU) tariffs, which encourage consumers to use electricity at off-peak times when it is cheaper. By harnessing smart meter data, the project aims to create a data-driven tool that empowers non-domestic energy consumers – such as businesses or organisations – to make informed decisions when selecting the most suitable tariff for their unique requirements.

Dr Jones said: “The cost-of-living crisis has hit all of us hard and that includes small businesses and companies. Energy prices have surged and making time-of-use electricity tariffs easier to understand will empower bosses to manage their company’s energy consumption better and bring costs down.”

The research project is part of Phase 1 of the Non-Domestic Smarter Tariff Comparisons Innovation Programme, which provides up to £800,000 to support projects that identify, develop and test innovative solutions using customer data to provide energy tariff comparisons for smaller non-domestic energy consumers. The programme is part of the Flexibility Innovation Programme; part of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

Products funded by the programme aim to help drive take-up of time-of-use tariffs.