How to: Maximizing profits with demand flexibility for utilities

The European energy sector is undergoing a major transformation, with utilities playing a key role in developing services and innovations for a digital and low-carbon future. However, as decentralized energy generation and renewables grow, balancing supply and demand efficiently has become more critical.

With the rise in cloud-connected home energy assets, real-time device control is now possible. For this reason, 'Demand Flexibility' now offers a solution that can automatically adjust household electricity usage in real-time based on price signals and grid conditions to help reduce congestion and stabilize supply.

This blog will explore the regulatory landscape and challenges shaping demand flexibility—and how it can become a revenue driver for utilities.

New regulations, programs and initiatives to develop flexibility markets

The EU’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy  highlights the urgency of reducing energy costs and strengthening the grid by leveraging demand flexibility. This is seen through the regulatory support for member states, such as streamlining of permitting times for projects to roll out grid infrastructure and incentivizing flexibility via remuneration in retail contracts for industries and households.

For example, in Finland, the government has outlined objectives to ensure a reliable and affordable electricity supply, even during periods of challenging conditions such as freezing temperatures with low wind availability. To achieve this, electricity and heat storage solutions are now being promoted to enable demand-side response, while flexible generation and consumption are coordinated to ensure grid stability prices and curb price fluctuations.

Fingrid is also developing electricity markets to consider the changing flexibility needs of the electricity system as it transitions towards the increase of weather-dependent electricity generation. For example, recently, Fingrid and Helen completed the public procurements of a trading platform supplier for the pilot project of the transmission management market. It selected NODES AS for its experience in maintaining local transmission management flexibility markets in, among others, Sweden and Norway.

Smart metering roll out supports demand response participation

By 2022, 12 of the EU member states had achieved an 80% installation rate of smart meters. Countries like Finland, Denmark, Estonia, and Spain recoded an impressive 98% rollout rate for smart metering deployment.

Smart meters provide consumers with real-time energy consumption data tracking that helps with load forecasting, which can better facilitate demand response participation. For example, a smart meter can be connected to demand response programs and adjust whole-home loads during peak demand periods. Moreover, they can enable automatic load shifting by integrating them with other devices like EVs or heat pumps. To summarize, smart meters provide access to  whole-home energy optimization!

Consumer interest for demand response programs is growing

Engaging households in demand flexibility is becoming crucial because they consume a meaningful share of electricity across all EU countries. In Finland, the share of household  consumption is 20-25% of Finland's electricity consumption. Although the large-scale integration of consumer households into the demand response market is still in its infancy, consumer households have indicated that they are very interested.

In late 2024, Synergi conducted a survey on 170 Electric Vehicle owners (consumers) in Finland to learn about their interest and willingness to participate in Demand Response programs. The demographics consisted of participants from a wide range of housing types and energy contract types.

• When asked if demand response is a familiar concept to them, an overwhelming 98% answered ‘Yes’.
• When asked if they would consider to participate in demand response if incentives for their flexibility is offered, 94% answered ‘Yes’.
• When asked what motivates them to participate in demand response, 40% of respondents answered ‘Reduced Energy Bills’, while 15% answered ‘Flexibility Related Incentives’, another 15% answered ‘Contribution to Grid Stability’, and 10% answered ‘Reduced Carbon Footprint’.

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"It is encouraging to see strong interest from Finnish EV drivers in participating in demand response programs. This enthusiasm highlights the potential for significant energy savings and grid stability and underscores the importance of collaborative efforts across all energy industry stakeholders", says Antti Hämmäinen, CEO & Co-Founder of Synergi.

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Synergi is the easiest solution to unlock value from household flexibility

As consumer households are taking part in the green transition by adopting electric cars, solar panels, heat pumps, and batteries, it also comes with increased pressure on the electricity grid. That’s where Synergi steps in.

We work with utilities to empower households to participate in flexibility markets and reap tangible benefits— lower electricity bills and rewards for consumers while decreasing  profile risk.

With Synergi’s platform and managed energy programs for households, utilities can reduce profile costs, improve electricity procurement, decrease price volatility, thereby creating over €100k of savings simultaneously. In summary, here is how your business can benefit from our turnkey ready-to-deploy flexibility platform:

• Cloud-based device connections: We facilitate remote connection to all devices in the home (400+).
• Consumer experience expertise: With a simple and user-friendly app, maximising savings at the core, we have 10,000+ satisfied users in 10+ countries.
• Energy market connections for flex: After successfully deploying a sufficient volume on the platform, we have established our first market connections in the Nordics.
• Speed to market: Fastest launch in the industry - we can onboard your customers to the platform today, reducing the cost of waiting and inaction.
• 24/7 customer and marketing support: While you focus on your core business, we are hands-on in customer & marketing activities with our best-in-class adoption tools and systems.

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Want to explore our smart energy offering? Contact us here.