Strategic Innovation Fund

Flex Direct

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What the project is about How we’re doing it What makes it innovative What we’re learning Reports & Documents

Project Data

Start date:

01/11/2024

End date:

30/04/2025

Budget:

£533,674

Summary

Flex Direct aimed to make energy flexibility markets more accessible by developing new commercial arrangements. This enabled social landlords to provide flexibility through energy‑efficiency retrofits.

What is the project about?

Flex Direct aimed to close the gap that had prevented social housing owners, such as Local Authorities, from benefiting from energy flexibility systems by developing new collaborative approaches.

The government funded energy‑efficiency upgrades in social housing, including measures such as insulation and storage heating, to reduce overall energy use. This shift in when energy was consumed, known as peak reduction, was a form of energy flexibility. At the time, the Distribution System Operator (DSO) contracted organisations to provide this flexibility in exchange for payments. However, social housing owners faced barriers that prevented them from taking part.

The project enabled UK Power Networks to access greater flexibility, reducing the need for costly upgrades to the electricity network. It also helped social landlords unlock new income streams while supporting tenants, many of whom were at risk of fuel poverty, ensuring they were not left behind in the transition to Net Zero.

 

How we’re doing it

We ran a series of work packages to collaboratively address this challenge. Together we:

  • Held workshops and interviews with local authorities and social housing providers. These helped us understand their awareness of energy flexibility, the challenges they faced in delivering it, and the options the DSO could offer to support them.
  • Modelled the typical energy savings from different energy‑efficiency measures. This allowed us to estimate the impact of retrofit work in social housing and predict how much flexibility it could provide.
  • Carried out a cost–benefit analysis to understand who the arrangement could benefit and in what ways.
  • Developed a new business proposal, outlining the data and commercial requirements.

What makes it innovative

Flex Direct explored new commercial and contractual arrangements between social landlords and DSOs. We adapted the typical approach to energy flexibility to make it easier for social landlords to participate, while also building on learnings from projects such as Socially Green. 

To do this, we modelled the impact that energy‑efficiency measures could have when retrofitted in homes. This helped both the DSO and social landlords estimate the peak reduction in energy use across retrofit schemes without relying on smart meter data.

Flex Direct not only enabled tenants in social housing to participate in flexibility, but also helped ensure that UK Power Networks met its commitment that no one was left behind in the transition to Net Zero.

What we’re learning

Through the project we learned more about:

  • The challenges social landlords faced in providing flexibility to the energy networks.
  • What more UK Power Networks could do to support local authorities in delivering flexibility.
  • The information and case studies that could encourage more organisations to participate in flexibility.
  • How enabling social landlords to provide energy flexibility could also benefit their tenants.

Reports & Documents

Flex Direct Discovery - Show & Tell
Flex Direct Discovery - End of Phase

Flex Direct Alpha - Show & Tell
Flex Direct Alpha - Mid-Point Review
Flex Direct Alpha - End of Phase
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