EQUINOX is a revolutionary money saving heat pump trial, brought to you by National Grid. By participating, you could be rewarded this winter (from November to March) for turning down your heating during peak evening hours.
EQUINOX explores how temporary changes to how we use heat pumps can help deliver a more flexible and future-proofed energy system. A more flexible grid system means more attractive tariffs, reduced expenditure on infrastructure and an improved way of looking at how we consume energy in our homes. EQUINOX aims to save consumers money by lowering energy bills and mitigating costly energy network upgrades, while contributing to a more resilient and equitable low-carbon energy system for everyone.
This will be the second of three planned EQUINOX trials. The first took place last year and had nearly 400 participating households. Collectively, these households were able to reduce their energy usage by nearly 11MWh (which is enough to run 1400 washing machine cycles).
What is the purpose of the trial?
The UK government aims for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed annually from 2028. Heat pumps are key to decarbonise home heating because they use electricity, which can be produced from renewable sources, and can be almost four times more efficient than a conventional gas boiler. However, the expected widespread adoption of heat pumps plus other low-carbon technologies like electric vehicles will mean a higher demand for electricity than ever before.
This increase in electricity demand could exceed the capacity of the cables and wires that form the network today. While new infrastructure is being built to meet this increase, innovative solutions to reduce electricity demand, especially during peak times, can help reduce the scale and cost to consumers of these network upgrades.
EQUINOX is trying to understand how to accomplish exactly that by incentivising changes to consumer behaviour with minimal disruption to daily routines and comfort. Heat pumps are an exciting technology option for this purpose as they warm a home more slowly and gently than boilers, typically allowing a home to stay warm for a while after the heating is turned down.
Moving the time at which heat pumps are running may be a way to manage busy periods of electricity demand on the network.
How will the trial work?
The trial will consist of a series of ‘EQUINOX events’ over the winter, during which you will be asked to turn down your heat pump for a two-hour period in the evening. Because heat pumps warm a home more slowly and gently than boilers, you can put your heating on for a while before events to build up warmth and your home should stay cosy during the turn down event.
You can choose to opt out of each event, either before it starts or during the event if you change your mind. You will be part of either one of two groups: if you are part of the first group, you will be asked to turn down your heating, either manually or through an app. If you are part of the second group, you will be asked to allow control of your heating to a trusted third party during the evening, with the ability to override or opt out. You will also be asked to fill out a short (about 3 question) survey after each event to explain what you chose to do and whether you experienced any problems.
Who is eligible to participate?
Eligible households for this trial must:
Be located within the National Grid’s Distribution Network license areas, which cover the South West, South Wales, the East Midlands, and the West Midlands. To find out if you are in National Grid’s license area click here.
Have an electricity smart meter operating in smart mode. You can check this by following the steps in this tool.
Be customers of one of the EQUINOX partners: Octopus Energy, Sero, or ScottishPower.
Already have a heat pump installed and operating.
Not be participating in any other demand flexibility trials or services running throughout winter 2023/24.
What are the benefits of EQUINOX?
Savings: By engaging throughout the trial, heat pump owners can save money through the billing schemes being trialled.
Promoting Sustainable Heating: Reducting heat pump running costs can help to make heat pumps a more attractive proposition for homeowners, making it easier for people to replace their gas boiler with a more sustainable heat pump.
A More Dynamic Electricity Network: As we move from gas heating to electric heating, and from petrol cars to electric vehicles, we will start using a lot more electricity. If this shift is not carefully managed, network operators may have to spend more money on equipment upgrades to account for the extra electricity demand. By finding ways to incentivise people to shift their heat pump usage whilst maintaining their comfort levels, EQUINOX will help us understand how to spread electricity usage for home heating across the day. This will create a more flexible electricity system, delaying or mitigating the need for costly cable expansions and network reinforcement, which are costly for everyone.
Who is delivering the project?
EQUINOX is led by National Grid (Electricity Distribution), in collaboration with Octopus Energy, Sero, ScottishPower, Passiv UK, SP Energy Networks, Welsh Government, West Midlands Combined Authority, National Energy Action, and Guidehouse.
How is the project funded?
EQUINOX is supported by Ofgem and funded through the regulator’s Network Innovation Competition.
This trial is expected to run from November 2023 to March 2024.
The trial will consist of multiple two-hour periods called “EQUINOX events” across the winter where you will be asked to turn down your heating to provide flexibility to the grid. You may want to have your heating on before the event starts to make sure your home stays cosy, but you don’t need to make any other changes (no need to avoid your electric cooker).
This process will be slightly different depending on the trial group to which you are assigned. You might be asked to turn down your heating, either manually or through an app, or asked to allow control of your heat pump to a trusted third party during these two-hour periods (with the ability to override).
You will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire after each event to confirm if you participated and provide feedback. Customer experience and satisfaction will also be captured via customer surveys, interviews, and focus groups to help us evaluate the trials throughout the trial period. Participation in these research activities will help us evaluate the trials.
Because we’re specifically interested in how much electricity your heat pump uses, you don’t need to make any other changes in your home during an EQUINOX event.
You will receive a notification from your supplier asking you if you can manually shift your heat pump usage or asking for permission to allow control of your heat pump, for an upcoming two-hour period. The exact message will depend on the trial group to which you are assigned.
It depends! You could be notified either one day ahead of the event, the morning of the event, or two hours before the event. With prior consent, customers who opt-into providing control to a trusted third party, may also have no notice events. The notification period will vary throughout the trial to simulate different needs of the grid at different times. Payment amounts for participating in EQUINOX events will also vary based on notification time.
There will be approximately 15-25 EQUINOX events between November 2023 and March 2024.
EQUINOX events will take place between 4-8 pm. This timeframe corresponds to evening peak electricity demand.
Event days will be selected primarily based on forecasted temperature so that we can understand shifting heat pump behaviour in different weather conditions. Selection is not necessarily aligned with live network demand as it would be in a future non-trial setting.
The methods are designed to empower you to save money by changing your heating behaviour without sacrificing your comfort. These savings will come in the form of energy bill credits. The trial is designed to ensure that you will not be worse off than you were with your normal energy bills.
We expect that customers will earn up to £50 for participating in the trial this winter, including project surveys.
You will be compensated based on how many units of electricity (KWh) you can reduce your heating related demand by during EQUINOX events. You may also be able to earn additional bill credits by providing feedback via surveys, interviews, and focus groups throughout the trial.
This project aims to be the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom. During last year’s trial we had almost 400 participants; this year we expect to have over 600 participants!
We will be collecting a variety of data throughout the trial including smart meter readings to understand how heat pumps impact household electricity usage, direct heat pump electricity usage (where this is possible to collect), your feedback on your experience in the trial and household demographic information to make sure benefits of heat pump flexibility can be fairly accessed by everyone.
We’ll let you know what information we need and how we’ll use it during the sign-up process. All data collected will be managed carefully in accordance with our privacy policies and in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The trial does not require anything new to be installed. We can conduct the trial based on the heating system already installed in your home.
However, select customers may be asked to have extra technology installed in their homes. This would provide you and the trial additional insights about your heat pump usage. This is not required, and customers can still participate even if they decline extra technology.
No, access to your property is not required. However, if you are a customer who opts in to having extra technology installed in their home (as mentioned in question 14) then access will be required.
You will not be able to remain in the trial if you move house or change energy suppliers during the trial.
We’re interested specifically in the electricity that your heat pump uses, so you don’t need to change anything else or avoid using your normal appliances during an EQUINOX event.
We recommend turning down your heating (i.e., turning down the thermostat) so that your heat pump doesn’t kick on rather than turning it off completely. This is because we found in trial one that a full heat pump switch off leads to a large spike in electricity demand when the heat pump is turned back on.
During last year’s trial some participants made use of apps and/or smart thermostats to turn down their heating, which allowed them to participate in EQUINOX events even if they were not at home. If you wish to consider this for the trial, there are lots of options available. However, it is not required to participate.
We’re interested in finding out how our EQUINOX events work for all kinds of households, including those already using other low carbon technologies like solar generation and home batteries.
The future energy network will include more households with these technologies, so your home can provide really valuable information for us if you stick to your usual routine, though you may find that your experience of the trial is a little different if you’re used to using different sources of electricity at different times of day.
Need more information?
You can visit our project webpage or the websites of the participating suppliers/ service providers:
You can find out more about the project from Octopus Energy here:
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