RetroMeter

RetroMeter has been awarded funding through Ofgem's Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) Round 2 Discovery Phase.

Watch our 60-second project summary video here.

Electricity North West began delivery of this project in April 2023 alongside partners Energy Systems Catapult, Energypro Ltd, Carbon Co-Op and Manchester City Council. 

With electricity demand from homes set to double by 2050, DNOs are faced with a significant capacity problem, leaving networks either to reinforce the network in constrained areas or procure flexible services such as end-user energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency is considerably more attractive for consumers with home retrofit measures providing health and comfort benefits in addition to reductions in volatile energy bills. Historically, however, high capex has hampered consumer investment in residential retrofit, leaving them reliant on limited subsidy programmes or supplier obligations seen as a regulatory requirement rather than a business incentive. Established 'pay-for-performance' (P4P) schemes in the US offer a compelling alternative solution. In using advanced Measurement and Verification (M&V) techniques to accurately baseline energy usage, aggregators sell pooled savings from retrofitted homes to long-term finance providers in return for upfront investment in the cost of retrofit. This spreads the consumer's costs, enabling them to experience the multiple benefits of energy efficiency upfront; meanwhile the finance provider generates returns through savings. This approach -- Metered Energy Savings (MES) -- could unlock massive investment in UK retrofit, and has been subject to considerable sector attention including from the Green Finance Institute (GFI) and BEIS.

According to the GFI:

"A home-grown approach to MES is critical for this valuable tool to gain traction in the UK. While seeing the concept demonstrated in other markets is helpful, and software and programme designs have matured as a result, a MES protocol in the UK must explicitly meet the demands of the UK market and engage with industry if it is to build awareness and acceptance."

RetroMeter proposes the first MES demonstrator project in the UK, piloting baselining methods and verifying savings in a live retrofit scheme in Manchester.

This project addresses SIF Round 2, Challenge 4: “Accelerating Decarbonisation of Major Energy Demands: Improving energy efficiency at all levels in the system”.

This page will be updated with any project learning as we move through the SIF process.