There is a significant increase in volatility of electricity prices as renewable energy capacities are growing rapidly in Lithuania and the region. Foreign practices have shown that price fluctuations offer opportunities for energy savings for consumers, but technical measures are required. One of the key measures is smart metering, which is already gaining momentum in Lithuania. These reasons were the main drivers for the implementation of the EnergySmart mobile application pilot project.

Initiation and objectives

Since the launch of Ignitis EnergySmart beta more than a year ago, the app allowed users to monitor their individual energy consumption and production, track energy usage by household appliance categories, provided the ability of smart charging electric vehicles (EVs) based on the cheapest energy market prices, and allowed monitoring of intraday and day-ahead hourly energy prices. The news about the app that was launched in April 2022 quickly spread in the market, so without significant marketing efforts, we already had over 10,000 users within a year. Once an active marketing campaign was initiated, this number quickly doubled.

One of the main objectives of the pilot project was to assess how providing energy insights to consumers through the mobile application would help reduce their expenses compared to the period when these specific users did not use the app.

The second objective was to create a direct access platform to consumers, where we could quickly and efficiently test various smart solutions and their market relevance. Having achieved both objectives, we are eager to share the project's results.

Results

During the study, we compared the period from April 2022 to March 2023 with the same period a year before to analyze how consumers used energy before and after using the EnergySmart application. To determine whether the app's usage resulted in reduced energy expenses, we compared the app users with Ignitis customers who did not use the application. Even though the sample size was relatively small, the result showed that non-users of EnergySmart saved 5.8% during the mentioned period, while users of the app saved an impressive 20.8%!

We have also investigated the potential savings from smart charging, which allows automated EV charging during off-peak hours. Based on the actual energy consumption profiles of the users who used this function, since April 2023, the application has been used for 105 electric vehicles, resulting in a combined savings of over EUR 660. Considering the scale and the charging session profiles, the potential savings for each electric vehicle over 12 months amounts to EUR 200. This is approximately 30% of the annual EV charging electricity cost in Lithuania.

The future

While the further development of the app is handed over to Ignitis' Digital Channels team, there are no plans to stray far from this tool. The new team already has a plan in place to improve the EnergySmart app with new functionalities so that its users can further reduce their energy expenses. The convenience of using the app itself is equally important, so we can expect regular updates and improvements in near future. In the long run, we firmly believe that the EnergySmart app will become the primary tool for enabling energy efficiency in every household, and not only for cost savings on electricity but also for reducing CO2 emissions.