Introduction: This project is exploring a method to look to customers to shift their electricity usage to times of the day or night when demand on the network is traditionally lower. This involves changing people’s routines and habits until they feel they are getting all of the electricity they need, for minimal inconvenience, while also avoiding peak usage times when possible. This project will explore this specific problem and trial a novel commercial arrangement as part of a potential solution. This will run through the Ofgem initiative “Innovation Link”, set up to promote innovation through a regulatory sandbox environment.

Objectives: 1. Demonstrate the impact of DSR for local balancing and its ability to manage constraints ahead of safety critical active network management schemes at LV. Demonstrate how flexible solutions and business models benefit the network and deferment of reinforcement. Model of the impact at scale.
2. Demonstration of how readings from meters at remote points of the network and forecasts of demand and generation can be used for network management or planning, and provide more accurate planning and lower cost connections.
3. Development of new parameters to quantify the impact of DSR for planning purposes and how these can be used in network planning in future. This can defer reinforcement via flexible solutions.
4. Test a practical framework (a penalty and reward scheme) to encourage efficient behaviour on the network and demonstration of how it can be implemented within dataflows. Evidence for the impact of reward and penalty scheme for Ofgem. This will encourage more efficient behaviour to reduce network reinforcement.
5. Demonstration of how DSR and flexible solution can help tackle fuel poverty and transport poverty.
6. Better interaction and understanding of the network by communities.

Expected Benefits: 1. New parameters developed and demonstrated successfully to quantify the impact of DSR for planning purposes and how they can be used in network planning in the future to defer reinforcement.
2. Application of a practical and novel commercial framework demonstrated to be successful in encouraging efficient behaviour on the network, and how it can be implemented to reduce peak demand and reduce network reinforcement requirements.
3. Successful demonstration of how DSR can proactively help tackle fuel and transport poverty.
4. Improved interaction and understanding of the network by the local communities.

Financial benefits would be calculated on a case by case basis based on:
·        The potential network reinforcement required
·        The required level of demand side flexibility to avoid such reinforcement