Night-time discount
In July 2022 Straumlind became the first electricity supplier to offer Icelandic households Night-time discount, that is a 34% discount of electricity usage between 02:00–06:00 AM. Here is some key information about the Night-time discount.
Night-time discount is an innovation- and developement project
A prerequisite for Night-time discount is a precise hourly measurement of electrictiy consumption sent to Straumlind by the distributer company. A smart meter measures electricity consumption every hour day and night. That is a big change from the current system of only one reading annually.
Straumlind‘s software is ready for all smart meters with hourly measurement
Straumlind’s software is ready for all smart meters with hourly measurement. That means that as soon as the distributor finishes installing, connecting and appropriately registering the smart meter, Straumlind can offer the Night-time discount.
Distributers are working on installing smart meters
All distributers in Iceland are working on installing smart meters, each within its area. The distributer HS Veitur is furthest along, and their area is currently the only one where the Night-time discount has been activated. According to information from the other distributers they are all getting prepared:
Distributer | Smart meters? | Night-time discount available? |
HS Veitur | Yes | Yes |
Veitur | In progress | First meters in June 2023 |
Orkubú Vestfjarða | In progress | 2023 |
Norðurorka | In progress | Installing necessary equipment in 2023 |
Rarik | In progress | No |
Data from the smart meter must be transmitted regularly to the distributer
To utilize the features of the smart meter for the Night-time discount, the data must be regularly transmitted to the distributer. In some cases, a smart meter has been installed, but the data is not being regularly transmitted to the distributer e.g., due to poor network connection. Therefore, Straumlind must always verify the quality of the network connection of a smart meter before the Night-time discount can be activated.
The smart meter must be registered as “measured by the hour” in a central database
How the smart meter is registered in a central database matters for the Night-time discount. It is common that the smart meter not registered as “measured by the hour” in the central database but as “reading”. That kind of registration results in the smart meter only sending one number at the end of each month (a reading) and not an hourly measurement as is needed for the Night-time discount.
Changing the registration status is still being done manually at the central database and therefore it is unrealistic to expect thousands of smart meters to be changed at the same time. Despite this, the project has been going well and Straumlind has had great cooperation with both the central database and the distributers.
Straumlind checks regularly with the distributers which smart meters of interested Straumlind customers meet the technical requirements and has those who do activated. Therefore, the number of customers who are active in the Night-time discount is constantly growing.
Societal benefits
Savings of Straumlind customers isn’t the only benefit of the Night-time discount.
More balance with load shifting | The Night-time discount supports load shifting of the public’s electricity consumption. One characteristic of the electricity distribution systems is that each power line can only handle a certain amount of strain. If additional strain is added due to increased demand at the hours of the day where the demand is already high, the distributer must restore and renew components of the system so it can handle the additional strain. Load shifting is a strategy that attempts decrease demand peaks and to fill up demand lows within the electricity system e.g., by spreading the same demand over a longer period of time, to shift the demand from peak demand hours to another time where there is lower demand or to decrease demand on peak hours. |
Better utilization of the energy system infrastructure | Load shifting leads to better utilization of the energy systems‘ infrastructure. With better utilization of the infrastructure there is less need for new, untimely and costly investments within the electricity system to be able to manage the demand during peak demand hours. |
Successful energy transition | General energy consumption is double during the day than during the night. If the increased strain on the system due to charging of electric cars is successfully moved to the night-time, then the distributers won’t have to do untimely renewal of components within the system. By offering customers a Night-time discount, Straumlind wants to support the important project of shifting the foreseeable increased strain on the system due to charging of electric cars to the night-time when there is less demand. |
