In the case of the energy cost crisis, SERL studies showed that consumers in the observatory sample paid more for their energy in Winter 2022-23 despite using 10% less energy. The study was carried out with analysis of the results of a survey sent out the SERL participants. The research also showed that those who reduced their energy consumption japan rcs data most were those who reported financial and well-being problems, suggesting that reducing energy consumption was more through necessity than choice. Identifying fuel poverty and looking at ways to alleviate it has been a key theme of numerous SERL research projects.
In the case of the Covid study the findings again illustrated the value of having near real-time data from real households to find out what is happening ‘on the ground’. Findings showed that average electricity consumption rose by 8% in the first year of lockdown and gas consumption rose by 6%. In the 2021 winter lockdown electricity rose by 12% and gas by 9%.
In addition to these impacts SERL is also working with DESNZ on several projects which look to extract the full value of SERL as a public funded resource by providing up to date energy consumption statistics and potentially linking SERL to other large datasets to add further value.