As temperatures crept higher and higher on two of Hong Kong’s hottest nights of the year, something extraordinary happened: Electricity use in hundreds of thousands of homes across the city fell to lower-than-usual levels.

Soaring heat usually means soaring air conditioner use. But in a month when Hong Kong saw its highest ever summer temperatures, 600,000 smart meter customers were invited to take part in CLP Power’s Energy-Saving Missions, and 70% of them actually reduced their consumption.

They were alerted through their CLP apps, or by SMS or email, to save energy in the peak demand hours of 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm and cut their demand by 60MW.

In return for keeping their energy use down, participating customers earned reward points which they can redeem for a range of food coupons, supermarket vouchers, and electrical appliances.

The huge response to the Energy-Savings Missions programme demonstrates the effectiveness of incentive-based demand response initiatives that encourage consumers to reduce their carbon emissions and play a part in creating a more sustainable energy future.

It also shows how individual actions by consumers can have a meaningful impact on reducing energy use at peak times, not only cutting their energy bills but also lowering the need for an increase in electricity generation investment.

The peak demand dilemma

Peak demand is a dilemma for energy companies facing the challenge of decarbonisation. Use of air conditioners on hot summer days places grids under severe strain and puts pressure on energy providers to invest in additional infrastructure.

A greener and more sustainable alternative is to change consumers’ behaviour so that they take simple steps to reduce their energy use at periods of peak demand.

Those steps can be as simple as putting off doing the laundry or turning the thermostat on their air conditioners up by a couple of degrees at those peak demand times – generally the early evening hours of the hottest days of summer.

Smart meters – which are being rolled out across Hong Kong to every CLP Power residential and business customer – make it possible for consumers and providers to accurately monitor energy consumption at precise times.

Energy-Saving Missions is a demand response programme introduced in 2020 to encourage smart meter households to reduce their energy use during those critical times, relieving the stress on the grid and reducing the need for more electricity infrastructure.

CLP Power has more than two million residential customers who account for almost 30% of electricity consumption. So a small contribution by each customer with a smart meter can collectively make a significant difference to energy use.

A smart helping hand

As well as offering reward points to incentivise customers to save energy at peak demand times, CLP Power is providing practical help by offering smart air conditioner (AC) controllers to help them keep their energy use down.

CLP pioneered the automated devices which deploy artificial intelligence to optimise the reduction in energy use while keeping customers comfortable in their homes.

The smart devices were used in a pilot programme to test the reaction of hundreds of customers and demand cut certainty. The ground-breaking initiative won the 2022 Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) Regional Innovative Energy Project of the Year for Asia Pacific Rim Region.

The pilot programme showed that the device helped customers reducing demand by an average of 30% more than customers not using the devices.

Throughout the tests, customer comfort was carefully balanced against energy savings with the help of AI to ensure that users’ living environments remained comfortable and that they would not feel the need to readjust their air conditioner settings or quit from the programme.

The results were overwhelmingly positive with 88% of customers in 2020 and 98% of customers in 2021 saying they were happy with the rewards they earned and would be willing to join in future demand response programmes.

Participating customers said the smart AC controllers introduced by CLP Power helped them save energy and earn rewards without sweat. “The automatic control function of the device made it almost effortless for me to save energy and earn reward points by keeping a comfortable room temperature,” said Frankie Yip, a resident of Tuen Mun.

Another customer Ms Yuen, a Tung Chung resident, put labels on different appliances during the event to remind members of the family not to use them if they don’t really need to. “With a little effort, we managed to save energy and earn 600 reward points despite the very hot weather,” she said. 

The missions going forward

The success of the Energy-Saving Missions programme and the contribution played by smart AC controllers are only the first step in a broader drive to combine technology and public education to further reduce Hong Kong’s carbon emissions.

CLP Power intends to explore more variety of smart AC controllers and smart home devices to meet various customer needs along the technological breakthrough of smart appliances, and to extend the reach of its Energy-Saving Missions programme as smart meters are installed in every home and business in its supply area by 2025.

Smart AC controllers have proved to be a hugely effective tool in achieving the best energy-saving results, using advanced technology to ensure that customers keep their cool and stay comfortable while cutting energy bills and earning rewards.

* AI-powered smart AC controllers and an app are developed by Ambi Labs Limited. Ambi Climate and all related logos and icons are trademarks of Ambi Labs.