Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution has become the first Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to publish its full smart meter half-hourly consumption datasets, the company announced on 29 February 2024. The data is available through SSEN's Open Data Portal1.
SSEN said more than 1.8 million smart meters in its north and south licence areas record active and reactive half-hourly consumption, which it described as over 170 million readings per day. It said 54 per cent of meters in its patches are smart, a figure it expects to rise as the national rollout continues. The published data covers 84,000 low voltage street-level feeders and over 36,000 distribution substations, shared on a daily basis1.
The publication follows Ofgem's Data Best Practice consultation decision in August 2023 that permits DNOs to share consumption data. SSEN said it was the first DNO to obtain Ofgem approval of its updated Data Privacy Plan, setting out how it collects, aggregates and publishes consumption data while protecting consumer privacy. Working with other UK DNOs through the Energy Networks Association, it agreed an aggregation level of five or more smart meters from an individual low voltage circuit; anything below five meters, or sensitive sites identified through data triage, is excluded1.
Paul Fitzgerald, Smart Energy Systems Manager at SSEN, said:
"These are exciting times for accessing and utilising smart meter data. SSEN is delighted to be the first DNO to unlock the full consumption datasets at such a granular level, and to make them available on our Open Data Portal for interested parties to access."
He added that the work had been a collaborative effort with the DCC Adapter provider CGI, which developed the systems to process and aggregate the volumes of consumption data published daily1.
Why it matters for households
The datasets are aggregated, so they do not expose an individual household's consumption. The five-meter minimum means readings from a single home cannot be identified from the published files, and SSEN states that sensitive sites are excluded after triage1. Households wanting to understand what their own meter records, and who can see it, can read the site's guide to smart meter data.
The practical effect is on the network rather than the bill. SSEN says localised consumption data will let it and other parties, including local authorities, flexibility markets, academia and energy suppliers, model electricity demand with greater accuracy1. More accurate modelling of local demand is the groundwork for decisions about network reinforcement and for flexibility arrangements such as time-of-use pricing, which bear on when power is cheap to use. Households considering peak pricing with a smart meter are affected by how well such local demand is understood.
For a household weighing up solar, battery or a heat pump, the significance is indirect: the same half-hourly consumption records that SSEN aggregates are the kind of data an installer uses to size a system, but SSEN's published files are aggregated and cannot be used for an individual property. Households wanting their own half-hourly figures need to request them from their supplier, as set out in the site's guide to smart meters and energy independence.
What happens next
SSEN said it is seeking stakeholder feedback to inform future developments, with comments directed to stakeholder.engagement@sse.com. No further publication dates or dataset expansions have been reported1.