Why Researchers Need Better Access to Smart Energy Data
As the UK reshapes its energy system for a low-carbon future, data is becoming as important as infrastructure. Smart meters, connected devices, electric vehicles, heat pumps and digitally enabled networks can all provide a far richer picture of how energy is generated, moved and used.
Actions within this system are recorded and generate data. For researchers, access to this smart energy data is essential. It allows them to understand how the system is changing in real time, test what works, identify where support is needed most and provide the evidence that policymakers, regulators and industry need to make better decisions. However, the data is not readily available to researchers.
A system under pressure and becoming more complex
The evolving energy system faces overlapping pressures. Electricity demand is expected to rise as transport and heating are increasingly electrified, while more generation comes from renewable sources whose output varies with the weather.
That makes balancing supply and demand more complex and increases the need for flexibility across the system. Government, Ofgem and system operators have all highlighted that a cleaner power system will depend on much greater flexibility, better digitalisation and smarter use of data.
At the same time, the UK must reduce its exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets, strengthen energy security and make sure consumers see the benefits of the transition in lower costs and better services. Energy Systems Catapult made this very point in our latest Innovating to Net Zero research, highlighting that flexibility promises huge opportunities to scale up disruptive homegrown innovators, empowering consumers and slashing system costs.
Why smart energy data matters for research
Good research depends on good evidence. Traditionally, data collection has been a lengthy task, whether the data collected are technical, economic or behavioural.
Smart energy data provides detailed insight into demand patterns, network constraints, consumer behaviour, building performance and the interaction between technologies such as solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles and heat pumps.
With access to high-quality datasets, researchers can move beyond broad assumptions and study what is actually happening across households, communities and businesses. That means better modelling of peak demand, better forecasts of infrastructure needs, better evaluation of flexibility services and better understanding of how people respond to tariffs, technologies and policy interventions.
This matters directly to the transition to a low-carbon economy. The move to a cleaner energy future is not simply about replacing fossil fuels with cleaner generation, it’s about redesigning the whole system so that it is flexible, efficient and fair.
Recent UK policy work has recognised digitalisation and smart data as core enablers of that transition, while initiatives such as our Smart Energy Data Service (SENSE) are being developed to give researchers secure access to integrated data from power networks, electric vehicles and energy meters alongside national statistics and data on mobility and footfall around the UK.
These kinds of resources can help answer practical questions about where network upgrades are needed, how to improve the use of public charging infrastructure, how buildings actually consume energy and where carbon savings can be delivered most effectively.
Meeting social needs and delivering a fair transition
Access to smart energy data is also vital because the energy transition has a social dimension. The shift to cleaner technologies will only succeed if it works for everyone, including low-income households, people in poorly insulated homes, rural communities and those who may be less able to engage with complex tariffs or new technologies.
Researchers need robust data to identify where vulnerability is concentrated, how energy burdens differ across places and groups, and whether the benefits of innovation are being shared fairly.
Better evidence can support policies that target help more effectively, improve building efficiency, design inclusive flexibility programmes and avoid widening existing inequalities. Recent work on smart data has explicitly linked better data access with fairness, fuel poverty policy, energy security and support for households in need. For example, we’re collaborating with our colleagues at the Financial Data Service to link financial indicators of energy hardship with smart energy system data to develop a better, more responsive indicator of fuel poverty.
Of course, access must be built on trust. Smart energy data can be sensitive, especially where it relates to individual households or small businesses, so privacy, consent, security and clear governance are essential. The challenge is not whether to protect consumers, but how to enable safe, proportionate access for public-interest research while maintaining confidence in how data is used.
The UK already has frameworks governing smart meter data access and is actively exploring how a wider energy smart data scheme could work. For researchers, the goal should be secure, well-governed access to research-ready data that is useful enough to inform decisions while protecting the people behind the numbers.
From data access to better decisions
If the UK is serious about building a resilient, affordable and low-carbon energy system, it must also be serious about enabling the research that can guide that transformation.
Smarter access to smart energy data will not solve every challenge on its own, but without it, researchers are forced to work with partial evidence at the very moment when the system is becoming more interconnected, more dynamic and more socially consequential.
Giving researchers secure access to the right data is therefore not a technical detail. It is a practical foundation for better policy, better investment, better innovation and a more just transition to a low-carbon economy.
Get involved!
We at the Smart Energy Data Service, SENSE, are making smart data freely available to the research community enabling better research to inform better decisions. To get access today, visit the SENSE data catalogue, sign up for an account and use our data!