Energies 16 06069

energies
Review
The Use of Real Energy Consumption Data in Characterising
Residential Energy Demand with an Inventory of UK Datasets
Lesley Thomson * and David Jenkins
Institute of Sustainable Built Environment, School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society,
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
* Correspondence: [email protected]
Abstract: The availability of empirical energy data from Advanced Metering Infrastructure
(AMI)—which includes household smart meters—has enabled residential energy demand to be
characterised in different forms. This paper first presents a literature review of applications of mea-
sured electricity, gas, and heat consumption data at a range of temporal resolutions, which have
been used to characterise and develop an understanding of residential energy demand. User groups,
sectors, and policy areas that can benefit from the research are identified. Multiple residential energy
demand datasets have been collected in the UK that enable this characterisation. This paper has iden-
tified twenty-three UK datasets that are accessible for use by researchers, either through open access
or defined processes, and presents them in an inventory containing details about the energy data
type, temporal and spatial resolution, and presence of contextual physical and socio-demographic
information. Thirteen applications of data relating to characterising residential energy demand have
been outlined in the literature review, and the suitability of each of the twenty-three datasets was
mapped to the thirteen applications. It is found that many datasets contain complementary contextual
data that broaden their usefulness and that multiple datasets are suitable for several applications
beyond their original project objectives, adding value to the original data collection.
Keywords: residential energy demand; real energy consumption data; energy demand dataset
application; energy policy
Citation: Thomson, L.; Jenkins, D.

The Use of Real Energy Consumption
1. Introduction
Data in Characterising Residential
Energy Demand with an Inventory of In accordance with agreements such as the 2015 Paris Agreement and 2021 Glasgow
UK Datasets. Energies 2023, 16, 6069. Climate Pact, countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), have targets to reduce green-
https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166069 house gas (GHG) emissions [1]. A portion of these reductions are expected to be attributed
to the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, but a simultaneous
Academic Editor: Seung-Hoon Yoo
component is a requirement to reduce overall energy demand.
Received: 24 July 2023 Despite upgrades to the housing stock and improvements in the efficiency of heating
Revised: 2 August 2023 systems and appliances over the last two decades, the residential sector accounted for 33%
Accepted: 17 August 2023 and 21% of the UK’s 2019 annual final energy consumption [2] and GHG emissions [3],
Published: 19 August 2023 respectively. The built environment has been identified as a cost-effective sector to make
energy demand and CO2 savings [4–6], and upgrades to the housing stock are particu-
larly important in the backdrop of market volatility to limit fuel poverty and improve
occupant comfort.
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), initiated through the introduction of the
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
European Union’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2002 [7], is one of
This article is an open access article
the main vehicles in Europe for rating energy efficiency and gathering data on the residential
distributed under the terms and
building stock. It captures some aspects of modelled residential energy demand (in the
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
UK, for example, lighting is the only type of electrical appliance considered) and outputs
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
performance indicators. The indicators are typically annual energy demand per unit floor
4.0/).
area (kWh/m2 ) and annual CO2 emissions (kgCO2 /m2 ). An EPC is commonly produced
Energies 2023, 16, 6069. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166069 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

Energies 2023, 16, 6069 2 of 29
on the basis of a steady-state calculation, with simplifications of thermodynamics [8] and

standard assumptions about use and occupancy [9] to give a rating of the ‘asset’ rather
than of its ‘operation’ [10]. While this approach allows for a level of energy assessment
standardisation and inter-building comparison, discrepancies have been identified between
calculated and actual energy demand [11–14], referred to as the performance gap. Older,
less efficient buildings, in particular, have been shown to have their energy demand
overestimated [15,16]. The implication of this is that if real residential energy demand is
lower than that modelled, the potential energy savings across the sector through retrofit
and renovation are overestimated, and energy efficiency measures are less cost-effective
than predicted. This has been partly addressed by some European Union (EU) Member
States, which have implemented alternative frameworks within which measurements of
real energy consumption can form the basis of the EPC performance rating [17,18].
Although not generally used to generate an EPC energy rating—with the exception
of lighting and auxiliary devices such as those in ventilation systems (note that what is
included in the EPC calculation is country-dependent)—the energy used for household
electrical appliances is an important component of residential energy demand and is an
active research area. With an increase in non-dispatchable renewable energy sources,
gaining an understanding of the potential for demand flexibility—which has several sub-
topics such as load shifting and load shedding—with regard to appliance use is of interest
to researchers.
Research into residential energy demand—whether it be for heating or electrical
appliances—has been facilitated by the rollout of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
in households, which includes ‘smart meters’. By 2024, there are expected to be ~225 million
(77% of consumers) electricity and ~51 million (44% of consumers) gas smart meters in the
EU [19]. Alongside providing a record of real energy consumption, an advantage of smart
meter data is the high temporal resolution of the recordings (30 min in the UK). From a
researcher’s perspective, the volume and resolution of data from AMI (of which household
smart meters are one example) open up opportunities for the large-scale study of transient
energy demand characteristics and building energy performance [20–22]. There are barriers
to accessing household smart meter data, data privacy regulations being one. However,
empirical energy demand datasets have been collected for academic research in the UK
and are now in open access. Nevertheless, there is a balance between aligning energy data
with contextual metadata (and therefore providing crucial context for purposes of analyses)
and data privacy (where such contextual data can cause barriers to anonymisation).
To make confident predictions of energy savings that can be achieved through upgrad-
ing the energy efficiency of the building stock and understanding the impact of introducing
an increasing climate-based renewable energy supply, reliable measurements of current
energy demand, load patterns, and their driving factors are needed. Therefore, there has
been an effort to research the ways in which real energy consumption data can be used to
characterise residential energy demand.
The aims of this paper are to (i) review the applications of real energy consumption
data in characterising residential energy demand in practice and in research, (ii) identify
user groups, sectors, or policy areas that benefit from the outputs of such characterisation,
(iii) present a detailed inventory of UK residential energy demand datasets available to
researchers, and (iv) categorise the identified datasets by their suitability to different data
applications. Assessment of the useability and quality of each dataset is beyond the scope
of this review. It is intended that this paper brings together an introductory overview
of groupings of a wide variety of applications of real energy consumption data that are
commonly presented in the literature for interested parties. There are future applications
of data that could be formed by obtaining feedback from end users of energy demand
data—this is intended to be a focus of future research. The datasets considered here are
from the UK, but the applications of the datasets are relevant internationally.
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 3 of 29
2. Applications of Real Energy Consumption Data

This section presents a selection of applications of real energy consumption data in
practice from a range of different countries. This includes examples of heating (e.g., gas)
and non-heating (e.g., appliance electricity demand) energy demand data, but also recorded
contextual data that are used to provide further meaning to empirical energy demand data.
The review is categorised in order of increasing temporal resolution of the data being
collected, where low resolution is defined as annual or monthly, medium resolution is
defined as data on a daily scale, and high resolution is hourly or better. Table 1 summarises
the applications of real energy consumption data and the criteria that are considered to
make a dataset suitable for the application. Each application is described in turn throughout
the section.
Table 1. Applications of real energy consumption data.
Data Resolution Application Dataset Suitability Criteria

Annual energy consumption data that could be used for
Develop, monitor, and
Low policy development and/or to evaluate the effect of
evaluate energy policies
implemented policies (Section 2.1)
Annual energy consumption data that could form a
Benchmarking annual
database used to benchmark the energy performance of a
energy consumption
residential building against similar types (Section 2.2)
Variability in overall
Annual energy consumption data coupled with contextual data
consumption (including
that can be used for the applications described in
enabling analysis of drivers of
Section 2.3
consumption)
Datasets that record heating patterns over at least 1 full year or
include internal temperature measurements that can be used to
Validating assumptions in EPC
Low-to-high evaluate if assumptions made in EPC calculations (about
calculations
variables such as length of heating season, number of
heating hours and internal temperature) are valid (Section 2.4)
Data that have been collected in field trials with the aim of
Prediction of building
Medium inferring building thermal properties or are suitable for use as
thermal properties
input data to the Deconstruct method (Section 2.5)
Variability in consumption
Energy data recorded at a resolution higher than
patterns (including enabling
Medium-to-high annual coupled with contextual data that can be used for the
analysis of drivers of
applications described in Section 2.6
consumption)
Research into heating load
profiles (This does not have a separate
section here as it is considered a Electricity consumption data for electrically heated dwellings
subsection of ‘Variability in consumption (including heat pumps) or gas consumption data for dwellings
patterns (including enabling analysis of with gas-fired boilers
drivers of consumption)’ but is included Only datasets where energy for heating is available separate
as a separate item for the purpose of from other loads are considered suitable
identifying datasets that collected heating
data (presented later in the paper))
Datasets that can be used to model the impact on the
Impact of electrification of heat existing electricity network from the electrification of
domestic heating systems (Section 2.7)
Datasets that can be used for research into demand-side
Demand flexibility and
response or reduction, load flexibility and/or the
dynamic electricity tariffs
influence of time-of-use tariffs on energy use (Section 2.8)
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 4 of 29
Table 1. Cont.
Data Resolution Application Dataset Suitability Criteria

Datasets that enable the timing of peak energy demand across
households to be established, including those that contain
contextual data that can be used to understand the drivers of
peak demand and its relationship with outdoor temperature
Magnitude and timing of peak demand
(if applicable)
Datasets are considered suitable if the temporal resolution is 1 h
or better, and measurements are available for at least 1 year
(Section 2.9)
Datasets that contain information on time use of household
Linking time use with
occupants such that these activities can be linked with energy
energy demand profiles
demand profiles (Section 2.10)
Datasets that record electricity consumption of appliances
Energy disaggregation
through sub-metering (Section 2.11)
Datasets with energy load profiles that can be used to test
Evaluating machine
machine learning algorithms to investigate the suitability of
learning methods
different techniques (Section 2.12)
Low resolution
2.1. Develop, Monitor and Evaluate Energy Policies

With the aim of improving the quality of residential buildings to both reduce GHG
emissions and energy consumption and alleviate fuel poverty, governments have im-
plemented policies and schemes designed to encourage the uptake of energy efficiency
technologies and retrofit measures. Examples in the UK (past and present) include The
Warm Front Scheme, Green Deal, Energy Company Obligation, Domestic Renewable Heat
Incentive, Smart Export Guarantee, and Boiler Upgrade Scheme. To develop, monitor, and
evaluate these types of policies, evidence of their effectiveness is beneficial, and metered
energy data are one such source [23]. Annual electricity and gas consumption is one form
of data that has been used to quantify the energy savings that can be achieved by the
implementation of energy efficiency measures. One example is the annually published
National Energy Efficiency Database [24], which collects annual gas and electricity con-
sumption data for residential buildings in Scotland, England, and Wales. An estimate of
the energy savings achieved through certain energy efficiency measures installed through
government-funded schemes is quantified. This allows the effectiveness of the measures in
reducing energy demand to be understood, including the variability by property type and
how energy savings change over time.
2.2. Benchmarking Annual Energy Consumption

Measured annual energy consumption is used in practice to output energy perfor-
mance indicators and assign ratings to residential buildings. In this section, the implemen-
tation of this in three European countries will be described, and its limitations. Measured
annual energy consumption is also used to build databases against which dwellings can
be compared to assess their energy efficiency. This form of benchmarking is the basis of
schemes in the USA and Australia, both of which will be described.
2.2.1. Energy Performance Certificates

As permitted by the EPBD, measured annual energy consumption is used to assign
energy efficiency ratings to residential buildings in Sweden, Germany, and Poland.
In Sweden, real energy consumption can be used to generate an EPC for a newly
constructed building or one that has undergone renovation. The non-heating electricity
consumed and the energy used for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water (DHW) in
one year (collected by an independent assessor within two years of the building being
completed) are aggregated, corrected to primary energy, and divided by the heated surface
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 5 of 29
area of the building. A correction is made to the heating energy consumption to account for
the regional climate [17]. To produce a rating, this energy consumption is compared to the
obligatory requirements of new buildings built in the present day. The rating system is on a
scale from A to G, where A is ≤50% and G is >235% of the new building’s requirement [25].
Germany’s ‘usage certificate’ is based on the actual energy use of a domestic property
over the previous three years. Only the energy used for heating is considered, and the usage
certificate is only permitted for residences constructed after 1978 [26]. The energy demand
is weather-corrected and divided by the heated floor area to calculate the kWh required to
heat 1 m2 . In the rating system, ≤50 kWh/m2 is considered ‘good’ and ≥400 kWh/m2 is
considered ‘poor’ [27].
In Poland, 36 continuous months of utility bills measuring gas, electricity, or heat can
be used to generate an EPC for a dwelling [18].
Weather correction is common for isolating the impact of weather on space heating,
cooling, and, to some extent, DHW (usually using the heating or cooling degree day
method), as described for the Swedish and German examples. To enable inter-building
comparison in the same way that calculation-based EPC methodologies do, the measured
energy use should be corrected to standard user behaviour, but the data required to carry
this out are not always easily accessible [28]. Therefore, while this measured approach
can make the process of constructing an EPC simpler, because data collection can be
less invasive and there is no need to make assumptions about properties of the building
fabric, it has limitations in terms of standardisation. From 1 July 2021, the French national
framework moved from allowing energy ratings to be constructed based on measured
energy consumption to solely a calculation methodology, which takes into account the
property characteristics, such as the level of insulation [29]. A limitation cited as one reason
for the change was the inability to produce an EPC rating for holiday homes as the required
data were not available [29] (the metered energy data from three previous years were
required [10]).
2.2.2. Other Schemes

In the Swedish example described earlier, an energy rating is calculated by comparing
or benchmarking the measured energy consumption against that expected from a theoretical
building of a similar type. This comparison against a reference building is one method
that can be used to benchmark energy performance. Other benchmarking approaches
are historical energy performance, energy performance based on the results of dynamic
simulations [17], comparing against national averages [30], and, the primary focus of this
review, comparing against the real energy consumption of similar buildings.
The USA Energy Star ‘Home Energy Yardstick’ scheme allows homeowners to compare
their 12-month actual energy use with similar homes in an online tool. The result is
displayed on a ‘Yardstick’ with a scale from 0 to 10. The higher the score, the better
the home performed (used less energy) relative to a similar home over the 12-month
period. Linear regression analysis is used to identify the building and occupant variables
(data on which are collected as part of a periodically updated Residential Consumption
Survey database) that have the greatest impact on energy consumption [31]. Energy
consumption is adjusted for the highest impact variables, and the adjusted samples are
ranked in the database [31]. This adjustment allows for inter-building comparison and is
used by the Home Energy Yardstick online tool when a householder enters the required
information. The householder’s adjusted annual energy use is compared with the database-
ranked samples to determine a score on the 0 to 10 scale [31]. The NABERS (National
Australian Built Environment Rating System) scheme in Australia also uses measured
annual energy consumption and linear regression to benchmark the energy performance of
similar buildings, including aspects of residential apartment buildings [32,33].
In research, Lomas et al. [13] propose a Domestic Operational Rating scheme for
UK dwellings where measured annual energy consumption normalised by floor area is
benchmarked against national averages and used to rate their operation. Separately, a
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 6 of 29
measured energy performance indicator has been proposed by an EU Horizon 2020 project
as an innovative feature of a next-generation EPC. The methodology determines the real
energy consumption of a building based on measured annual energy use, which includes a
weather and standard use correction to enable comparison between buildings [17].
Real energy consumption data also have applications in other benchmarking ap-
proaches, including those based on the results of dynamic simulation. Simulation re-
sults can be improved by calibrating models with measured annual energy consumption
data [14]. By using actual energy data, inputs to simulations are a better match to reality,
and the performance gap at the individual building and stock level can be reduced [34].
2.2.3. Benefitting Sectors

The rating and benchmarking approaches described here have the following advantages:
• There is evidence that calculation-based EPCs are viewed as untrustworthy, and
recommended measures are disregarded [5,10]. Introducing real energy consumption
could mitigate this;
• A comparison of energy use against that of similar dwellings has been shown in
research to be perceived as being beneficial to household occupants [35];
• Capturing measured data gives a better characterisation of the true energy consump-
tion of the residential building stock and as-built energy performance, allowing a more
reliable estimate of annual energy savings and the economics of retrofit and renovation.
2.3. Variability in Overall Consumption (Including Enabling Analysis of Drivers of

Overall Consumption)
Real energy consumption data at the low-resolution scale coupled with household
survey data have been used in research to understand the drivers of overall residential
energy demand. This is predominantly through statistical analysis (regression methods),
which is used to determine the factors that have the greatest influence on overall energy
consumption. Five sets of variables are predominantly considered in the literature:
• Dwelling physical characteristics (e.g., dwelling type, dwelling age, and floor area);
• Socio-demographic factors (e.g., household size, income level, and employment status);
• Occupant behaviour;
• Electric appliance stock;
• External conditions (location and weather).
There exists a large body of research investigating the factors that influence overall
residential energy demand. The focus of the existing literature differs, and different factors
are investigated across studies. Many studies focus on electricity consumption [36–40],
with or without heating or cooling loads, whilst others also investigate the drivers of
gas consumption [41–43]. Some studies have focussed solely on the factors influencing
the energy demand for space and DHW heating [44–47]. In several worldwide studies,
dwelling physical characteristics are found to have a significant influence on energy con-
sumption [37,41,48]. However, research focusing on the drivers of heating energy demand
emphasises that multiple factors are influential, and the contribution of occupant behaviour
is particularly important [44,45]. The relevance of such studies is in identifying the fac-
tors that are important contributors to energy use so that they can be targeted for energy
efficiency improvement through policy and regulation [49].
Low-to-high resolution
2.4. Validating Assumptions in EPC Calculation

The EPC calculation engine used in the UK makes standard assumptions about energy
use to output a relative comparison of energy performance between households. Different
authors have used annual energy consumption data and internal temperatures to gather
evidence on the heating behaviour of households and validate the assumptions made in the
EPC calculation. One example is Hughes et al. [50], who compared the results of EPC-based
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 7 of 29
modelling with measured annual gas consumption data at the average and individual
household levels. They showed that a better agreement between modelled and actual
annual gas consumption could be obtained by changing the assumptions about internal
demand temperature (from 21 ◦ C to 20 ◦ C), number of heating hours (from nine hours per
day on weekdays and sixteen hours per day on weekends to ten hours per day on all days),
and heating season duration (from eight months to six months).
Datasets that include empirical measurements of internal temperature have been used
to gather evidence on the heating behaviour of households in studies by Huebner et al. [51],
Huebner et al. [52], and Oreszczyn et al. [53]. Their results from monitoring heating patterns
are in agreement with Hughes et al. [50] in that some EPC assumptions, including a bimodal
heating pattern, different heating durations on weekdays and weekends, and a living room
heated to 21 ◦ C, commonly do not hold true.
Medium resolution
2.5. Prediction of Building Thermal Properties

Residential energy demand is driven partly by the properties of the building enve-
lope [21,54,55]. Crawley et al. [10] are referred to for an overview of static and dynamic
methods to empirically determine a building’s heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and heating
power loss coefficient (HPLC). Both parameters are a measure of thermal performance
and, therefore, influence energy demand. The HTC and HPLC (W/m2 K) are defined by
Equations (1) and (2), respectively [22]:
q
HTC = (1)
∆T
HTC
HPLC = (2)
η HS
where q is the heat flow rate (W/m2 ), ∆T is the internal-to-external temperature difference,
and η HS is the efficiency of the heating system.
2.5.1. Heat Transfer Coefficient

The HTC is a key input to the calculation engine to produce an EPC in the UK [56].
For a given HTC, annual energy demands are calculated based on standard use, occupancy
and climate assumptions. Required inputs can be based on default values for the given
construction type if they are not known. Errors in these assumptions contribute to the
performance gap. Therefore, a more robust measurement of the HTC could bring the
EPC-calculated annual energy demand performance indicator closer to reality.
A measure of the HTC can be obtained through a co-heating test, but the dwelling
is required to be vacant during the test, and the monitoring period is in the order of 1 to
3 weeks [57]. A less intrusive method of quantifying this parameter would be beneficial.
This was recognised by the UK Government, which initiated the SMETER (Smart Meter
Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings) Innovation Programme [58], where organisations
were invited to demonstrate technologies that can record data that can be used to infer the
HTC of dwellings. This included real energy consumption data recorded through AMI. An
analysis of the results found that two of the twelve approaches were able to provide a more
accurate prediction of the HTC than that produced by an expert EPC assessment [56].
As implied by Equation (1), the HTC requires a measure of the heat delivered, which
is not directly measured in a typical gas-fired boiler central heating system (an assumption
would need to be made for the conversion efficiency from gas demand to heat [10,59]).
The requirement for a direct measure of heat does, however, lend itself to district heating
systems. These are prevalent in Denmark, where 63% of space and DHW heating in private
homes is provided through district heating [21]. Publications by Gianniou et al. [21] and
Leiria et al. [60] propose methodologies using smart heat data from homes connected to
Danish district heating networks to estimate the HTC and building thermal characteristics,
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 8 of 29
respectively. The methodologies presented by both studies are useful to utility companies to
identify inefficiencies in dwellings and in the district heating system itself, and to optimise
user behaviour and the network. It has been highlighted that smart heat data research is
still at a relatively early stage [60].
2.5.2. Heating Power Loss Coefficient (HPLC)

While the HTC takes into account the thermal performance of the dwelling fabric only,
the HPLC additionally considers the efficiency of the building’s heating system to fully
characterise heating performance (Equation (2)) [22]. The HPLC metric was first introduced
in the ‘Deconstruct’ method by Chambers and Oreszczyn [10,22]. Deconstruct employs
steady-state grey-box modelling and requires the daily total metered gas and electricity
use (and therefore does not require a back calculation from energy to delivered heat) to
estimate the HPLC to within ±15% [22]. Its application enables the use of smart meter data
to characterise, at scale and unobtrusively, the in situ thermal performance of residential
buildings—a key driver of energy demand. This is proposed to be an improvement on
the current methods of assessing the as-built performance of dwellings, including the
calculation-based EPC.
2.5.3. Benefitting Sectors

The following are areas that could benefit from estimates of HTC and HPLC based on
measurements of real energy consumption:
• A quantification of as-built thermal performance is provided, which can be different
from the designed thermal performance, that could form the basis of an ‘empirical
EPC’ [61];
• A measure of the parameter(s) could be kept live (e.g., reassessed annually), giving oc-
cupiers information about their homes to inform decisions on making energy efficiency
improvements [61];
• Evidence can be collected on the effectiveness (or not) of retrofit measures, supporting
energy policy [22].
Medium-to-high resolution
2.6. Variability in Consumption Patterns (Including Enabling Analysis of Drivers of

Consumption Patterns)
The medium-to-high-resolution data obtained from AMI facilitates research into tran-
sient energy demand characteristics. This section is a review of the applications of energy
demand data that record the temporal variability of energy load profiles.
2.6.1. Electrical Load Profiles (Non-Heating)

Following on from the analysis of overall residential energy demand in Section 2.3,
the study of the temporal variability of electricity load profiles is another active area of
research. In this regard, real electricity consumption data are being used to study consumer
electricity behaviour and the factors influencing it to identify opportunities for interventions
in electricity use practices [62].
There are an extensive number of studies worldwide that have used data mining
techniques to group consumers into user groups based on the similarity of electricity
load profiles [63–69] and define profiles that are representative of the overall population’s
electricity use. Groups could be characterised by the timing and magnitude of peak and
minimum demand, relative difference in peak-to-trough magnitude, demand ramp-up time,
and daily and seasonal variation. Differences between groups are influenced by physical
dwelling and occupant characteristics. Statistical analysis (including regression) is used to
understand the most important factors in determining the electricity load profile of a given
consumer [62,63,66,67,70]. With the most likely influencing factors identified, dwelling
and/or household characteristics can be inferred from consumption data for other homes,
or vice versa (the consumption pattern can be inferred from dwelling and/or household
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 9 of 29
characteristics). Tureczek and Nielsen [71] conducted a comprehensive literature review on

the classification of electricity consumption patterns obtained from smart meter data.
2.6.2. Heating Load Profiles

There are fewer published studies that have applied these types of analyses specifically
to residential heating load profiles. This is because (i) if a dwelling is electrically heated,
the heating load needs to be disaggregated from the electricity profile unless separately
sub-metered, and (ii) natural gas boilers are the most common form of heating in some
countries (85% of, or 23 million, residential buildings in the UK [72]), but the rollout of
smart gas meters is less advanced and the data less accessible than that of electricity [59].
Table 2 summarises the existing research for residential buildings. Locations in Scandinavia
have been the subject of several studies to date. Sample sizes tend to be limited relative to
the overall size of the building stock.
Table 2. Studies into the temporal variability of heating load profiles based on measurements of real
energy consumption (residential buildings only).
Data
Heating
Ref. Country Number of Sites Temporal Aim
Technology
Resolution
To identify heating load profiles and
Ground source heat pump
how they correlate with household
[73] Denmark 139 1h (GSHP) and air source
socio-technical
heat pump (ASHP)
characteristics.
To develop a methodology to
randomly generate simulated thermal
Not
[74] Denmark 25 15 min power demand
specified
profiles from the actual typical
load profiles.
To record electricity and DHW energy
use at 6 s frequency to obtain a
DHW only (no space
higher-resolution dataset than
heating), not specified
[75] Sweden 72 6s was previously
how heat is
available. To analyse the impact that
delivered
data resolution has on the
consumption values measured.
(i) To propose a clustering
approach for analysis of district
heating consumption data; (ii) to
study the correlation between
consumption intensity and building
[76] Denmark 8293 1h District heating
and occupant
characteristics; and (iii) to cluster
normalised daily consumption
profiles to identify representative
patterns and study their variability.
To propose a methodology using
clustering to define representative
[77] Ireland >1000 30 min Gas-fired boiler
consumption profiles of
consumers of natural gas.
Gas-fired boiler:
Great mean sample size Gas-fired boiler and air To model present and future national
[78] 30 min
Britain (GB) of 6401. Heat and GSHP domestic heat demand in GB.
pumps: 716
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 10 of 29
Table 2. Cont.
Data
Heating
Ref. Country Number of Sites Temporal Aim
Technology
Resolution
Gas furnace, electric
furnace, and heat pump
To develop a method that uses smart
USA and (USA); heat pump and
[79] 408 and 480 1 day meter data to extract building thermal
Canada resistance
characteristics for retrofit analysis.
heating
(Canada)
To conclude if variations in 1 h
electricity consumption data can be
15 min used as a proxy for the
Electric heater for space
(integrated occupants’ space cooling and heating
[80] Portugal 19 heating and cooling (gas
to 1 h for behaviour, and the influence of
for DHW)
analysis) different minimum and maximum
external
temperatures.
2.7. Demand Flexibility and Dynamic Electricity Tariffs

The predicted wider electrification of heat, described in the previous section, and other
sectors, such as transport, will increase electricity demand [67]. To meet decarbonisation
targets, the GHG emissions of the electricity supply itself will continue to decrease. This will
mean that increasing proportions of electricity will be generated by renewable sources [81].
Climate-based sources of renewable energy can be intermittent; therefore, coupled with
expected greater electricity demand, energy demand flexibility strategies could be necessary
to ensure supply and demand balancing [82].
Demand flexibility could take different forms, for example, demand side management
(DSM) or offering consumers time-varying (dynamic) electricity tariffs. Energy consump-
tion data at the medium-to-high-resolution scale have been shown to have applications
in this space. More accurate load profiles that are based on true consumer behaviour can
be generated, which is of benefit to utility companies [64,66,68]. Research shows this can
enable better classification of new customers [64], design of tailored energy efficiency cam-
paigns [68,70], and supply and demand management [83] by identifying sets of customers
that could be eligible for DSM schemes [63,67,68]. With the knowledge of how energy
is being used by groups of consumers, time-of-use tariff structures can be designed and
tailored to particular energy-use patterns [62,63,84].
Research into demand flexibility of heating is mainly centred around the use of
simulation modelling. With the availability of high-resolution residential energy demand
datasets, there is now an effort towards attempting to quantify and generate metrics
for heating energy flexibility using measurements of gas and electricity use and internal
temperature [85].
2.8. Magnitude and Timing of Peak Demand

Of particular interest in the area of demand flexibility is the issue of peak demand.
Load shifting and load shedding as demand flexibility strategies have received considerable
attention in publications to date [86]. These have the potential to reduce the magnitude
of peak power, which can, in turn, save energy and reduce system operating costs and
GHG emissions [86]. To enable these types of demand flexibility in the residential sector, an
understanding of peak demand—and the factors that drive it—is required, but Torriti [82]
highlights that little is known about this.
While energy demand data analysed at the medium-resolution scale can quantify the
magnitude of peak demand, high-resolution energy demand data (hourly or better) can give
insights into the timing of peak demand and how this varies across groups of consumers.
Coupled with qualitative data about the household, greater insight into peak demand can
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 11 of 29
be obtained. Examples of studies include the following: using 30 min smart meter electricity
data collected in Ireland to identify the dwelling and occupant characteristics with the
greatest influence on timing and magnitude of peak demand and the electrical appliances
with the greatest load shifting potential [36]; using 1 h district heating smart meter data
from Denmark to categorise profiles based on the characteristics of their peaks and applying
numerical modelling to investigate peak load shifting and quantify the potential rate of
peak load reduction [87]. The relationship between peak load and external temperature is
also of interest—heat pump field datasets have been used to model the impact that different
external temperatures and different penetrations of heat pumps have on peak load [88].
2.9. Linking Time Use with Energy Demand Profiles

In addition to the influence of dwelling and/or occupant characteristics on energy
demand profiles (described in Section 2.6), it is desirable to have an understanding of
the occupant activities that drive particular demand profiles—particularly the peaks—
if demand side management is to be achieved [68,89]. To characterise the relationship
between occupant activity and residential energy demand, research has been carried out
into linking activity to energy demand with the objective of identifying the key activities
that drive energy consumption and help identify where demand reduction or response can
be implemented [68,82,90–92].
The UK Household Electricity and Activity Survey, 2016–2019 [93], had the objective of
collecting data to provide an understanding of the relationship between occupant activities
and electricity demand patterns [68]. Several publications have stemmed from the dataset,
exploring the activities that have the greatest influence on electricity demand, prediction of
household electricity consumption, peak demand reduction and load shifting, the influence
of different electricity tariff structures, and the effect of energy efficiency interventions on
household occupants [68,94,95].
The UK Household Electricity and Activity Survey dataset fits within the broader cate-
gory of time-use surveys (TUSs). These have been used by researchers to link occupant ac-
tivity to energy demand and generate deterministic and probabilistic occupancy-dependent
energy demand profiles that can be used in dynamic building simulation tools [96,97].
The IEA-EBC Annex 66 [98] states the importance of integrating occupant behaviour into
building simulation because the accuracy of building energy demand predictions will be
improved if the energy behaviours of occupants are more realistic [97]. TUSs are, however,
carried out infrequently [82], and the information is typically collected over short periods
(one or two days) [91]. Real energy consumption data from smart meters, for example,
offer an improvement over TUSs in that they could be used to derive data-driven transient
occupancy schedules for input into a dynamic simulation [20,99]. This is less intrusive than
conducting a TUS because the data can be gathered over longer periods and for a larger
number of buildings. Anonymisation of this type of data at the individual building level
would be important, however, due to the level of detail that could be ascertained relating
to a household’s day-to-day schedule.
2.10. Energy Disaggregation

The availability of data at the individual appliance level has numerous benefits across
the value chain. Armel et al. [100] describe the benefits of data at this granularity at the
consumer (e.g., appliance level feedback has been shown to result in energy savings), re-
search and development (e.g., appliances could be redesigned to improve energy efficiency),
and policy (e.g., targeting energy efficiency programmes) levels. However, sub-metering
of appliances can be impractical [101]. Most commonly, energy use is monitored at the
whole house level. Thus, to obtain end-use data, disaggregation techniques can be applied
to extract it from the aggregated signal [90]. UK datasets that have appliance-level data
contain a relatively small number of buildings in the samples [101–105]. So, although sub-
metering can be intrusive, datasets containing this information are necessary to validate
disaggregation techniques that are used to extract appliance-level consumption from over-
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 12 of 29
all load profiles [101,106]. And in turn, where appliance-level data are not available, these
real-data-informed disaggregation techniques can be applied to aggregated whole-house
energy use to target efficiency improvements or demand management [90].
2.11. Impact of the Electrification of Heat

Following on from the previous section regarding variability in energy consumption
patterns, a specific application of this type of research is in investigating and predicting
the impact on heat and electricity demand and on electricity generation, transmission, and
distribution requirements through the electrification of heat at local or national levels. This
is in the context of an expected increase in the use of heat pumps as a technology to provide
space and water heating in the effort to decarbonise heating systems.
Rather than using building simulations with synthetic load profiles to model the effect
of heat pump uptake, measured energy data can be used, which captures the real intra-
building diversity of consumers [59]. Knowledge about the current timing and magnitude
of consumption is important for planning grid requirements as the gradual electrification
of heat will increase demand on existing electricity networks [78,107].
Data from other forms of heating (for example, conventional gas heating, direct electric,
or potentially other forms such as district heating) could theoretically be used to inform
predictions of future electricity demand from the widespread rollout of heat pumps [108].
However, authors argue that due to the difference in the operation of a heat pump compared
to other technologies (for example, operating at a lower temperature and longer operating
period), real-world datasets monitoring the energy consumption of heat pumps themselves
are then the most reliable to predict future demand scenarios [78,107].
2.12. Evaluating Machine Learning Methods

To facilitate the study of large high-resolution energy demand datasets, advanced
data analysis techniques using machine learning can be employed [63,109]. A popular
analysis technique for energy demand research is clustering, which provides a data-driven
grouping of previously unknown patterns of consumer energy load profiles [110]. An
overview of worldwide research on the clustering of electric load profiles is presented by
Satre-Meloy et al. [68]. Datasets with large sample sizes have been used to test different
machine learning algorithms to explore the differences in results and make recommenda-
tions for applicability to other studies [63,65,111,112]. These types of investigations help
direct and advance future research. The high-resolution UK IDEAL (Intelligent Domestic
Energy Advice Loop) household energy dataset [113] was collected, with one of the primary
aims being to advance and evaluate methods of machine learning that can be applied to
residential energy demand data [102].
3. UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets and Their Applications

This review has shown that there are numerous applications of real energy consump-
tion data across a range of temporal resolutions that have been used to characterise and
develop an understanding of residential energy demand. This section will present residen-
tial energy demand datasets that have been collected in the UK and identify their suitability
for the applications described in Section 2 and presented in Table 1.
3.1. UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets

Residential energy demand datasets collected in the UK were identified through the
review presented in Section 2 and a search of the UK Data Service (UKDS) [114]. The
twenty-three datasets are listed in Table 3. It should be noted that the scope is limited to
datasets that are openly accessible to researchers or accessible through defined processes;
proprietary datasets are excluded. None have been excluded based on useability or data
quality. The temporal resolution of the available data ranges from annual to 1 s. Further
detail on the datasets, including if any additional contextual information was collected (i.e.,
on the categories of dwelling characteristics, occupant characteristics, electrical appliances,
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 13 of 29
and weather or internal temperatures), is provided in Appendix A. All but one dataset
contains at least one category of contextual data, with five datasets collecting data related
to all five categories.
Table 3. UK residential energy demand datasets accessible to researchers.
Temporal Resolution of
Dataset Notes on Accessibility
Energy Data
National Energy Efficiency Data Annual gas and electricity Consumption data tables are available for
(NEED) framework [115] consumption download from UK Government website
Annual gas and electricity Data are available through the UKDS for
Energy Follow Up Survey (EFUS),
consumption; 10 s electricity for a registered users subject to the End User
2011 [116]
subset of 79 homes Licence Agreement
Data accessed through the UKDS SecureLab.
Researchers are required to achieve
Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) Daily and 30 min gas and electricity
accreditation through an
Observatory Data, 2019–2021 [117] consumption
approval process and the data can only be
accessed inside a secure environment [118]
SMETER Technologies Project Phase 2 30 min gas and electricity Data are available for download through the
Data [119] consumption UKDS. No requirement for registration
DEFACTO (Digital Energy Feedback
30 min (gas); 2 min
and Control Technology Data held by Loughborough University [120]
(electricity)
Optimisation) Field Trial [120]
Data are available for download from CLNR
Customer Led Network 30 min electricity
website through Creative Commons
Revolution (CLNR) [121] consumption
Attribution-ShareAlike Licence [121]
30 min (household electricity
CLNR enhanced profiling of domestic Data are available for download from CLNR
consumption) and 1 min (heat pump
customers with air source heat pumps website through Creative Commons
and household electricity
(ASHP) [121] Attribution-ShareAlike Licence [121]
consumption)
Data are available for download through the
REFIT Smart Home Dataset [122] 30 min gas consumption
Loughborough University repository [122]
SmartMeter Energy Consumption Data are available for download from London
30 min electricity consumption
Data in London Households [123] Datastore [123]
Data are available through the UKDS for
registered users subject to the End User Licence
Energy Demand Research Project 30 min gas and electricity
Agreement. Issues
(EDRP), 2007–2010 [124] consumption
reported with data management and processing
during project [59]
Domestic Heating Data from
15 min gas and electricity registered users subject to the End User Licence
the Energy Systems Catapult Living
consumption Agreement. Access is restricted to users residing
Lab [125,126]
in European Economic Area
Solent Achieving Value from Data are available through the UKDS for
Efficiency (SAVE) Data, 15 min electricity consumption registered users subject to the End User Licence
2017–2018 [127] Agreement
Low Carbon London (LCL) Project Data are available for download from London
(9 sites); 10-minute electricity
Heat Pump (HP) Load Profiles [128] Datastore [128]
consumption (10 sites)
Household Electricity Survey 10 min and 2 min
registered users subject to the End User
2010–2011 [103] electricity consumption
Licence Agreement
North East Scotland Energy Data are available through the UKDS for
Monitoring Project (NESEMP), 5 min electricity consumption registered users subject to the End User
2010–2012 [129] Licence Agreement
Renewable Heat Premium Payment registered users subject to the End User Licence
(RHPP) [107,130] Agreement. Systematic errors have been
reported within the dataset [131]
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 14 of 29
Table 3. Cont.
Temporal Resolution of
Dataset Notes on Accessibility
Energy Data
Cornwall Local Energy Market (LEM)
Residential Electricity Dataset with Data are available for download through the
1 s and 1 min electricity consumption
Solar Production and Battery Storage, UKDS for registered users
2018–2020 [132]
1 min (electricity, gas, and DHW Data are available for download through
Low Effort Energy Demand
consumption); 1 s (gas and DHW the Loughborough
Reduction (LEEDR) [104]
consumption) University repository [104]
One-Minute Resolution Domestic
1 min electricity consumption registered users subject to the End User
Electricity Use Data, 2008–2009 [133]
Licence Agreement
Data are available for download through
REFIT Electrical Load
8 s electricity consumption University of Strathclyde [105]
Measurements [105]
Data are available for download through the UK
6 s electricity consumption. Three
UK Domestic Appliance-Level Energy Research Council Energy Data Centre
homes also have 1 sec whole-home
Electricity (UK-DALE) [101] under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
active power and apparent power
International license [134]
Measuring and Evaluating Time-use
registered users subject to the End User
and Electricity-use Relationships 1 s electricity down
Licence Agreement
(METER): UK Household Electricity sampled to 1 min and 10 min
Additional activity data can be accessed by
and Activity Survey, mean values
UK-based users through a Secure
2016–2019 [93,135]
Access application
Intelligent Domestic Energy
Advice Loop (IDEAL) Household 1 s (electricity); 1 reading per 1 dm3 Data are available for download through The
Energy Dataset or 1 ft3 (gas) University of Edinburgh [113]
[113]
The project timeline, temporal resolution, and type of energy data available for the
datasets are shown in Figure 1. Where datasets comprise measurements at different
temporal resolutions (for example, DEFACTO and Cornwall LEM), the end points of
the black dashed lines in Figure 1 represent the highest and lowest temporal resolution.
The project timeline, indicated by the x-axis bars, is the overall project duration or the
timeframe for which data have been made available, but individual sites may have different
monitoring periods within this timeline. The x-axis bars are coloured by order of magnitude
of the number of sites monitored by the project, and the pattern of the bars indicates the
type of energy data collected (gas, electricity, or both).
The majority of datasets contain data that have a temporal resolution of up to 30 min,
and five datasets recorded data at 1 s resolution over relatively long time periods, albeit
for lower spatial resolution (number of sites in the tens-or-fewer to hundreds scale). It
can be noted that there are more datasets with a number of sites in the order of tens or
fewer to hundreds than datasets with larger numbers of sites (Figure 2); just slightly over
one-quarter of the twenty-three datasets have sample sizes in the order of thousands or
more. To put this into context, in 2021, there were estimated to be 28.1 million households in
the UK [135]. To investigate this further, data temporal resolution was cross plotted against
the number of sites (Figure 3). Although there is scatter of the data points, in general, the
higher-resolution datasets tend to have been collected for fewer sites. This may suggest that
project investigators are cognisant of the trade-off between collecting data at high temporal
and spatial resolutions. The choices made within this trade-off, and ensuring statistically
representative conclusions can be made from a manageable data collection exercise, will
tend to be linked to the specific outcomes of any associated project.
Energies
Energies2023,
2023,16,
16,x6069
FOR PEER REVIEW 1615ofof32
29
Figure 1.
Figure Temporal resolution
1. Temporal resolution versus
versusproject
projecttimeline
timelinefor UK
for residential
UK energy
residential demand
energy datasets
demand listed
datasets in Table
listed 3. For3.clarity,
in Table overlapping
For clarity, datasets
overlapping have been
datasets haveshifted
been
shifted
slightlyslightly on the y-axis.
on the y-axis.
Energies 2023, 16, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 32
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 16 of 29
10
10 39.1%
of siteswith given
9 39.1%
34.8%
Number of datasets with given

9
8 34.8%
8
7
number of sites
7
6
of datasets
6
5
number 5
4
4 13.0%
3 13.0%
8.7%
Number
3
2 8.7%
2 4.3%
1 4.3%
1
0
0 Tens or fewer Hundreds Thousands Tens of Millions
Tens or fewer Hundreds Thousands Tens of
thousands Millions
thousands
Number of sites
Number of sites
Distribution of
Figure 2. Distribution of number
number of
of sites monitored in the datasets listed in Table
Table 3.
3. Percentage
Figure 2. Distribution
contributions within of
thenumber
sample of
sizesites monitored inare
of twenty-three the datasets listed in Table 3. Percentage
shown.
shown.
contributions within the sample size of twenty-three are shown.
Figure 3.
Figure Data temporal
3. Data temporal resolution
resolution versus
versus number
number ofof sites.
sites. Datasets
Datasets are
are plotted
plotted more
more than
than once
once if
if
Figure 3. Data
data were temporal
collected resolution
at different versus number
temporal of sites. Datasets are plotted more than once if
resolutions.
resolutions.
data were collected at different temporal resolutions.
3.2. Mapping Dataset to Application
3.2. Mapping Dataset to Application
3.2. Mapping Datasetlisted
The datasets to Application
in Table 3 were often collected to meet particular project objectives,
The datasets listed in Table 3 were often collected to meet particular project objec-
butThe
thedatasets
data resolution
listed inand duration
Table 3 were ofoften
the collection
collected period
to means
meetperiod thatproject
particular datasets could
objec-
tives, but the data resolution and duration of the collection means that datasets
be
tives, used
but in applications outside of their original intended focus. Section 2 and Table 1
could bethe
useddata resolution and
in applications duration
outside of the
of their collection
original period
intended means
focus. that2 datasets
Section and Table
presented
could be usedgroupings
in of thirteen
applications applications
outside of of real energy
their original consumption data.2 For example,
1 presented groupings of thirteen applications of intended focus.
real energy Section
consumption and Table
data. For
1 applications related toofdemand
presented groupings thirteenreduction,
applicationsresponse,
of realmanagement, flexibility,data.
energy consumption or investi-
For
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 17 of 29
gating the effect of time-of-use tariffs were grouped into ‘Demand flexibility and dynamic
electricity tariffs’.
The suitability of each UK residential energy demand dataset (listed in Table 3) for
each data application (listed in Table 1) was determined. This was based on the suitability
criteria described in Table 1, which includes the temporal resolution of the data collected
and the time period of data collection. Although covered in this literature review, the
application of smart heat data has not been included here because the most common
heating systems in the UK do not enable direct measurement of delivered heat.
The suitability of each identified energy demand dataset for a given application is
shown in Figure 4. The application for which the greatest number of datasets are found
to be suitable is in analysing the variability of consumption patterns and the factors that
influence this variability. The LEEDR, DEFACTO Field Trial, and Household Electricity
Survey datasets are found to be useful to the greatest number of applications identified here.
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 18 of 29
Figure
Figure 4. UK
4. UK residential
residential energyenergy
demanddemand
datasetsdatasets that
that could could beforsuitable
be suitable forapplication.
each data each data application.
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 19 of 29
4. Discussion and Conclusions

As identified in this review, at a top-down, non-granular level, real energy consump-
tion recorded at annual resolution can be used to benchmark energy consumption and
rate the energy efficiency of an in-use residential building. With datasets available in
the UK that are coupled with contextual data, there could be an opportunity to create a
scheme that would output an operational rating and enable households to compare their
energy use with other buildings of a similar type. Performance indicators (such as annual
kWh/m2 ) would then be based on actual energy demand rather than on a theoretical
calculation where the underlying assumptions might misrepresent the energy use practices
of a household. Datasets forming the basis of such a scheme would need to be checked for
their representativeness of the residential building stock as a whole. However, it has been
highlighted that in the EU, there are instances of a deliberate move away from this type of
energy rating scheme, seemingly due to the problems that this presents for purposes of
standardisation and cross-comparison.
The high temporal resolution of data obtained from AMI has been used to provide
insights into both the as-built thermophysical properties of the building fabric and en-
ergy use patterns (including the physical and socio-demographic driving factors of those
patterns) across residential buildings. It has been highlighted that research focusing on
electricity use is prevalent, but smart heat data and heating loads, particularly in terms of
the diversity of heating patterns, have been less widely studied. More than half of the UK
energy demand datasets identified in this paper collected electricity data only, and although
there will be some occurrences of electric heating within these samples, sub-metering to
isolate the heating load is uncommon. However, thirteen datasets that could be used for
some form of research into UK heating load profiles have been identified, primarily for
gas-fired boiler heating systems or heat pumps, with fewer instances of electric space or
DHW heating. Datasets that can enable research focused on the use of direct electric heating
technologies, such as electric radiators and storage heaters, are mostly missing from the
datasets identified here.
This paper has aimed to review the applications of real energy consumption data in
characterising residential energy demand. To present a comprehensive review, this was not
restricted to any particular energy end use; heating and non-heating energy use and elec-
tricity, gas, and heat data have all been included. The review encompasses what could be
considered well-established applications of real energy data (for example, in generating an
EPC in some EU Member States) to state-of-the-art applications that take advantage of mod-
ern computing power (for example, through machine learning and dynamic simulations).
Complementary to this first aim, UK residential energy demand datasets available for use
by researchers have been comprehensively reviewed and inventoried. Again, this was not
restricted to a particular data type—the inventory includes datasets that collected data on
electricity, gas, or both. Twenty-three UK datasets, with temporal resolution ranging from
1 s to annual, have been identified, and the inclusion of any additional data that can provide
context to the energy data itself has been noted. Through this review, thirteen applications
of real energy consumption data were identified. To combine the findings, energy data
type, temporal and spatial resolution, and the existence of contextual information of each
energy demand dataset were considered to determine its suitability for each of the thirteen
applications. The LEEDR, DEFACTO Field Trial, and Household Electricity Survey datasets
were deemed to be useful for the greatest number of applications. It is hoped that this
data inventory and mapping to applications will be of benefit to researchers by increasing
awareness of UK datasets that are available upon which to carry out studies related to
characterising residential energy demand. Furthermore, where potential applications for
datasets beyond the original project objectives have been highlighted, this could add value
to the dataset and enable greater insight to be extracted.
This paper has attempted to highlight gaps in the currently available datasets and
show where future data collection efforts may wish to focus. Higher temporal resolution
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 20 of 29
datasets tend to be collected for a smaller number of sites; therefore, future projects may
endeavour to achieve both high temporal and spatial resolution to enable deeper demand
analysis. Another point to note is that despite data being released into the public domain,
it is not a given that the data quality will be adequate for immediate use. It is possible that
substantial data processing could be required to obtain a dataset that is suitable for analysis,
and so issues of useability and data quality could be obstacles to use. The accessibility
of each dataset has been described, and there are instances where access must be sought
through formal approval processes. A second challenge in relation to access is that there
may be a time delay between the collection of a dataset and its release to the wider research
community until the data collectors have maximised value from the dataset themselves.
Although there are many areas of research that propose ways to take advantage of the rich
content of empirical energy databases, few are in widescale practice within the UK. Sectors
or policy areas benefitting from the characterisation of residential energy demand have
been identified from across the value chain, ranging from individual consumers to utility
companies and government bodies. However, more research is required to determine
the outputs from energy demand data that would benefit end users in terms of the data
resolution required by different end users and its visual representation. These are intended
to be the focus of future research.
Author Contributions: Conceptualisation, D.J.; methodology, L.T.; formal analysis, L.T.;

writing—original draft preparation, L.T.; writing—review and editing, D.J. and L.T.; supervision, D.J.
All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Acknowledgments: This work is part of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-
funded PhD project.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 21 of 29
Appendix A. Inventory of UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets
Table A1. Residential real energy consumption datasets collected in the UK, ordered from lower to higher temporal resolution. Individual sites can have different
monitoring periods within the overall project timeline. ‘Appliances’ includes data collected through questionnaires on ownership and use of electrical appliances.
Dw.—dwelling; Occ.—occupant; App—appliances; and Tint—internal temperature. Weather data include data that were collected by project investigators or
third-party data. The “x” indicates availability of a particular type of data within the dataset.
Number of Data Temporal

Dataset Location Electricity Gas Heating Loads Heating Technology Project Timeline Contextual Data Gathered
Sites Resolution
Space DHW Dw. Occ. App. Weather Tint
National Energy
Not detailed but
Efficiency Data England and
>4,000,000 x x x x includes gas-fired 2005–2012 Annual x
Framework Wales, UK
boiler
(NEED) [115]
Annual gas and
Gas-fired boiler; electricity; 10 s
Energy Follow Up 1345
electric storage electricity for
Survey (EFUS), England, UK (electricity); x x x x Dec. 2010–Jan. 2012 x x x x x
radiator; and gas or subset of 79 homes
2011 [116] 1197 (gas)
solid fuel fire between Apr 2011
and Jan 2012
Gas-fired boiler;
Smart Energy electric storage
Research Lab Scotland, radiator; electric
(SERL) England, and >13,000 x x x x radiator; heat pump; Aug. 2018–Dec. 2021 Daily and 30 min x x x x
Observatory Data, Wales, UK district heating; oil;
2019–2021 [117] solid fuel; and
biomass
Technical
Evaluation of
SMETER Halton, England,
15 x x x x Gas-fired boiler Jan. 2019–Aug. 2020 30 min x x x x
Technologies UK
Project Phase 2
Data [119]
Digital Energy
Feedback and
393 at
Control Technology Midlands, 30 min (gas); 2 min
beginning and x x x x Gas-fired boiler 2015–2018 x x x x x
Optimisation Field England, UK (electricity)
155 at end
Trial (DEFACTO)
(main study) [120]
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 22 of 29
Table A1. Cont.

Sites Resolution
x (External
Customer-Led temperature
Network Not detailed but recorded for
GB ~11,000 x x x 2011–2014 30 min
Revolution includes ASHP properties
(CLNR) [121] with ASHP
only)
CLNR-enhanced
profiling of 30 min (household)
domestic GB 89 x x x ASHP May 2013–Apr. 2014 and 1 min (HP and x
customers with household)
ASHPs [121]
REFIT Smart Home Loughborough,
20 x x x Gas-fired boiler Feb. 2014–June 2014 30 min x x x x
Dataset [122] England, UK
SmartMeter Energy
Consumption Data London,
5567 x Not detailed Nov. 2011–Feb. 2014 30 min x
in London England, UK
Households [123]
Energy Demand
Scotland,
Research Project Gas-fired boiler;
England, and 18,370 x x x x 2007–2010 30 min
(EDRP), 2007–2010 electric heating
Wales, UK
[124]
Domestic Heating Newcastle,
Sep. 2017–Sep. 2018;
Data from the Manchester,
Gas-fired boiler; Oct. 2018–Sep. 2019;
Energy Systems South Wales, and 100 x x x x 15 min x x
ASHP and Oct. 2019–Oct.
Catapult Living the West
2020
Lab [125,126] Midlands, UK
Solent Achieving Hampshire,
Not detailed, but heat
Value from Southampton,
sources are electric,
Efficiency (SAVE) Portsmouth, and ~4000 x x x Jan. 2017–Dec. 2018 15 min x x
gas, solid, biomass,
Data, 2017–2018 Isle of Wight,
and ‘other’
[127,136] England, UK
Low Carbon Dec. 2011–Mar. 2014
London (LCL) London, (9 sites); Jan. 15 min (9 sites);
19 x x x ASHP; GSHP x
Project Heat Pump England, UK 2014–Mar. 2014 10 min (10 sites)
Load Profiles [128] (10 sites)
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 23 of 29
Table A1. Cont.

Sites Resolution
250
(26 sites were
monitored for
one year, and
Household the remainder Gas-fired boiler;
Electricity Survey England, UK were moni- x x x electric heating (less May 2010–July 2011 10 min and 2 min x x x x x
2010–2011 [103] tored for common)
one-month
periods
throughout
year)
North East Oil-fired boiler; LPG
Scotland Energy Aberdeen and fired-boiler; gas-fired
Monitoring Project Aberdeenshire, 215 x x x boiler; electric 2010–2012 5 min x x x
(NESEMP), Scotland, UK heating; biomass; and
2010–2012 [129] solid fuel fire
417 (Those that
met thresholds
for quality and
Renewable Heat completeness
ASHP (318);
Premium Payment UK of data (“B2 x x x Dec. 2011–Mar. 2015 2 min x x x
GSHP (99)
(RHPP) [107,130] dataset”)
[130]–full
sample is 703
sites)
Cornwall Local
Energy Market
Gas-fired boiler;
(LEM) Residential
electric storage
Electricity Dataset Cornwall,
100 x x x heater; other electric; Apr. 2018–Dec. 2020 1 s and 1 min x x x x
with Solar England, UK
ASHP (5); and
Production and
GSHP (1)
Battery Storage,
2018–2020 [132]
Space: gas-fired
Low Effort Energy boiler. DHW: 1 min (electricity,
Loughborough,
Demand Reduction 20 x x x x gas-fired boiler; hot 2011–2014 gas and DHW) and x x x x x
England, UK
(LEEDR) [104] water cylinder; and 1 s (gas and DHW)
electric shower
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 24 of 29
Table A1. Cont.

Sites Resolution
One-Minute
Resolution Space: gas or oil-fired
Domestic East Midlands, boiler. DHW: gas or
22 x x Jan. 2008–Dec. 2009 1 min x x x
Electricity Use England, UK oil-fired boiler;
Data, 2008–2009 electric shower
[133]
REFIT Electrical
Load Loughborough,
20 x Gas-fired boiler Oct. 2013–June 2015 8s x x x
Measurements England, UK
[105]
6 s. Three homes
UK-DALE (UK
also have 1 s
Domestic London,
5 x Gas-fired boiler Nov. 2012–Jan. 2015 whole-home active x x x
Appliance-Level England, UK
power and
Electricity) [101]
apparent power
METER
(Measuring and
Evaluating
Time-use and 1 s. Down sampled
Electricity-use to 1 min and
GB 264 x Not detailed Feb. 2016–Jan. 2019 x x x
Relationships): UK 10 min
Household mean values.
Electricity and
Activity Survey,
2016–2019 [93,135]
255 (39 sites
had sub-
IDEAL (Intelligent monitoring of a
Edinburgh,
Domestic Energy selection of 1 s (electricity);
Lothians, and
Advice Loop) electrical x x x x Gas-fired boiler Aug. 2016–June 2018 1 reading per 1 x x x x x
south Fife,
Household Energy appliances and dm3 or 1 ft3 (gas)
Scotland, UK
Dataset [113] other more
detailed
monitoring)
Energies 2023, 16, 6069 25 of 29
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energies

Citation: Thomson, L.; Jenkins, D.

Energies 2023, 16, 6069. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166069 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

on the basis of a steady-state calculation, with simplifications of thermodynamics [8] and

2. Applications of Real Energy Consumption Data

Table 1. Applications of real energy consumption data.

Data Resolution Application Dataset Suitability Criteria

Data Resolution Application Dataset Suitability Criteria

2.1. Develop, Monitor and Evaluate Energy Policies

2.2. Benchmarking Annual Energy Consumption

2.2.1. Energy Performance Certificates

2.2.2. Other Schemes

2.2.3. Benefitting Sectors

2.3. Variability in Overall Consumption (Including Enabling Analysis of Drivers of

2.4. Validating Assumptions in EPC Calculation

2.5. Prediction of Building Thermal Properties

2.5.1. Heat Transfer Coefficient

2.5.2. Heating Power Loss Coefficient (HPLC)

2.5.3. Benefitting Sectors

2.6. Variability in Consumption Patterns (Including Enabling Analysis of Drivers of

2.6.1. Electrical Load Profiles (Non-Heating)

characteristics). Tureczek and Nielsen [71] conducted a comprehensive literature review on

2.6.2. Heating Load Profiles

2.7. Demand Flexibility and Dynamic Electricity Tariffs

2.8. Magnitude and Timing of Peak Demand

2.9. Linking Time Use with Energy Demand Profiles

2.10. Energy Disaggregation

2.11. Impact of the Electrification of Heat

2.12. Evaluating Machine Learning Methods

3. UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets and Their Applications

3.1. UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets

Table 3. UK residential energy demand datasets accessible to researchers.

Number of datasets with given

Energies 2023, 16, 6069 18 of 29

4. Discussion and Conclusions

Author Contributions: Conceptualisation, D.J.; methodology, L.T.; formal analysis, L.T.;

Appendix A. Inventory of UK Residential Energy Demand Datasets

Number of Data Temporal

Table A1. Cont.

Number of Data Temporal

Table A1. Cont.

Number of Data Temporal

Table A1. Cont.

Number of Data Temporal

27. Shoemaker, T. Germany’s Energy Certificate. 2011. Available online: http://homeenergy.org/show/article/nav/auditing/id/788

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