Posted in district heating, engineering, tagged DECC, EED, NMO on March 11, 2015| 6 Comments »
In January I wrote a post about the fact that, contrary to expectations, no meters will be retrofitted under the new Heat Network Regulations. This is because the assumptions in DECC’s meter viability tool mean almost no install will pass the financial viability test.
After hitting publish on that post, things moved pretty fast.
Posted in district heating, tagged DECC, EED, Energy Efficiency Directive on January 9, 2015| 3 Comments »
In the last post, I flagged up the fact that no heat meters will be fitted to homes on heat networks under the Energy Efficiency Directive. This is because, no matter what inputs you feed into DECC’s calculation tool, the output is always the same: heat meters aren’t viable.
As a result, around 300k homes with unmetered connections will continue to pay a flat fee regardless of how much heat they use, robbing them of control over spending and giving them no incentive to save.
In this post, I’ll show that heat meters are viable in a typical block of flats. I’ll also show how a single unrealistic assumption in the DECC calculation tool pretty much guarantees that the computer says no, every time.
Posted in district heating, tagged DECC, EED, Energy Efficiency Directive on January 5, 2015| 2 Comments »
That’s right. None. Zero. Zilch.
This is because, using DECC’s calculation tool, there are no cases in which the retrofit of residential heat meters is considered “financially viable.” No matter what numbers you feed into the calculation tool, the output for homes on heat networks is always the same:
Heat meters are NOT viable on an average building(s) of this type.
This means that the EU Energy Efficiency Directive has just been rendered toothless. Huge savings from behaviour change and efficiency improvements will not be realised. The 75% of people on heat networks with unmetered connections will continue to pay a flat fee regardless of how much heat they use, robbing them of control over spending and giving them no incentive to save. At the same time, heat network operators will be forced to engage in needless calculations and reporting, the outcome of which was decided before they even downloaded the calculation tool.
Posted in district heating, smart metering, utilities, tagged EED, Energy Efficiency Directive, Inside Housing on May 19, 2014| 1 Comment »
The EED: genuinely dangerous or just misunderstood?
Inside Housing published an article last week about the “significant costs” that will be imposed on heat network operators (HNOs) as they are forced to install heat meters under new regulations that come into force next month.
Designed to grab the attention of housing associations, the article focuses on the costs of complying with the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) – and it completely ignores the key benefits: huge improvements in energy efficiency, cost savings for DH customers and greater transparency in how these networks are performing.
While I think the Inside Housing article completely lacked balance, I agree that a wakeup call is overdue. A few organisations are planning for the EED but most don’t even know it’s coming. People need to get informed, and fast – because the implications for operators and consumers of district heat are huge.
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