Opening Energy Flexibility to Social Housing

Distribution system operators (DSOs) are preparing their networks for the large-scale electrification of heat. To avoid costly network reinforcement, they need greater flexibility from all customer types, meaning customers who can shift or reduce their electricity use when the network needs it.

Not every customer can take part. Social housing providers and their disadvantaged tenants often lack access to the funding or technologies needed to participate in flexibility services. A leading DSO in Great Britain set out to change this.

The DSO wanted to make flexibility more accessible as networks electrify heat. It needed to:

• Remove the barriers that prevent social housing providers and their tenants from taking part in flexibility services.
• Understand how energy-efficiency measures and clean energy technologies affect energy use in social housing.
• Build a solution that other DSOs could adopt.

Sia ran an innovation programme with the DSO to address these barriers:

• Commercial framework: designing a new commercial framework and customer journey focused on social housing providers and tenants.
• Field trials: running trials that install insulation and heat pumps in 300 homes.
• Evidence: comparing previously modelled data with monitored, real-world flexibility.

The programme built a solution designed to scale across GB DSOs:

• A better understanding of the impact of energy-efficiency measures and clean energy technologies on energy use within social housing.
• A way for disadvantaged households to participate in, and benefit from, the energy transition.

By combining energy expertise, customer-centred design and real-world trials, Sia helps network operators make the energy transition fairer and more efficient.