Consumer Energy Usage Data in Smart City Development

Empowering consumers to connect with their energy providers

Cities are becoming increasingly smart, dynamic, and complex composite systems – fundamentally changing the way we live and work, and improving the quality of life.

Firstly, the project proposes a knowledge-enabled, common data-driven platform based on a Common Information Model (CIM). This platform will allow consumers to analyse their energy usage information for active participation in the retail energy market and make better-informed decisions. In 2019, the Energy Market Authority liberalised the retail electricity market to allow consumers with more options to manage their energy costs. This platform will allow consumers to choose a retailer at a price plan that best meets their needs instead of buying from a single utility at the regulated tariff. This will empower consumers, foster innovation for a consumer-oriented energy grid, and provide more decarbonised, resilient and affordable electricity.

Secondly, the information provided by the common data platform opens the path towards a consumer digital-twin. This project therefore lays the foundation for an integration of consumer usage real-time data into city information modelling. The project contributes to improving interoperability among many different digital technological systems in the city and provides information to city planning authorities while respecting consumer privacy. Further, this project questions which policies need to be set in place to protect consumer data and at the same time provide information on how the platform’s data can be used in smart city planning in Singapore.

The overarching aims of the Consumer Energy Usage Data in Smart City Development (CEUS) project are:

1. A common language
We will provide new forms of consumer semantics to expand smart city planning of the future. A Singapore-specific Common Information Model will allow consumers to make better decisions about their energy usage.

2. More effective data sharing
We will develop a demonstrable usage case to test the feasibility and increased efficacy of having such common language at the consumer-level of the Singapore electricity grid.

3. Smart city energy policies
We will suggest amendments to the existing energy policy framework to implement the proposed technical solution in a smart city environment.