3. What happens when you collide the data ambitions of two unrelated sectors?

The collision of Local Government open data and DNO open data offers a fascinating set of aligned needs...

Public services in the UK have started taking steps towards more open and collaborative use of interrelated data – there’s a lot to reflect on for those in the Energy sector thinking about the implications of the Energy Data Taskforce. We’re looking to explore how the collision of open data ambitions in two sectors might help us look beyond immediate data sharing actions for DNOs. 

Given the importance of local authorities in our work, we thought we’d start there. The relationship between a utility company and a local authority can surely go far beyond transactions related to planned and urgent work. And to better understand this, we are actively seeking the input of those outside of our organisation.

How can we use our data types to support local authority planning? For example, we have just launched ‘Heat Street’ which focuses on local system planning. We hope to be able to determine which green heating technologies are best-suited to different areas, from rural to urban. Secondly, how can we align DNO open data with councils’ approaches to decarbonising heat? For example, in the retrofitting of housing stock local authorities provide; in better understanding opportunities for new low carbon housing developments; in developing greater efficiencies in existing or planned district heating systems. 

These are some of the questions we would love to explore with analysts and data experts within local government, who could see secondary use of network and asset data as mutually beneficial. We would wholeheartedly welcome your reflections to co-develop our understanding on these shared topics.   

For data analysts in local authorities, what questions are you trying to quantify and what answers are you trying to develop, that an energy company could really support you with? And we would welcome your thoughts on whether our thinking is directionally helpful - might there be something hidden to us but barn-door obvious to you that we have missed?

4. Open Energy, meet Open Finance

Emulating Open Finance could spell a major shift in customer empowerment for the Energy sector. Let’s seriously think about how EDTF recommendations relate to Open Finance...

If the recommendations of the Energy Data Taskforce were packaged under the name, "Open Energy," perhaps we would more easily make the links to Open Banking and Open Finance and the journey our colleagues in the Financial Services sector have experience. In the EDTF document there is a shout out to finance, and healthcare, for data revolutionising a sector, but what does that specifically mean? And why is Open Finance so important to DNOs? 

Recently, the Financial Conduct Authority closed their 'call for input' (CfI) on Open Finance. Reading the CfI from a DNO perspective does make you think about whether we will be writing documents in response to something like this for ED3. You get a ‘find and replace’ sensation reading it - simply substitute energy into the sentences. 

In short, the EDTF-relevant story from Financial Services is that in less than five years, what started as Open Banking with major regulatory reforms, has evolved into Open Finance – with the accompanying development of a professional discipline and a sector mega-trend. At the heart of all this, is customer value and service innovation. 

Is there a role for the secondary uses of asset and network information in Open Finance? It may seem unlikely at first, but is that because we are unhelpfully and unconsciously biased through our work and experiences? And what is the role for the secondary uses of Open Finance data in what we might call ‘Open Energy’? How can our EDTF-related ambitions and actions align, for support and inspiration, with Open Finance for a shared destination of empowered customers?

For our Financial Services sector peers, we would love to hear your ideas for use cases, and your prompts for the lessons learned from the evolution of Open Finance, that we can use in Energy. 

What are some of your instinctive thoughts for the potential of the Energy sector to emulate Open Finance? And how can we pre-empt and proactively address the errors that energy companies are likely to make? We’re keen to learn the lessons from the journey from Open Banking to Open Finance, and what the financial services sector would do, if anything, with our open data.