Energy Usage Categories

As consumers struggle to understand their energy usage, Eliq’s Energy Usage Categories (EUC) aim to help end users better understand their energy consumption by identifying, categorising, and presenting energy consumption in different segments. This unique feature leverages data from the Eliq Platform and machine learning algorithms to accurately learn, detect, and break down energy consumption into understandable categories. These insights can then be provided to the end user, supporting use cases such as (but not limited to):

• How much energy has been spent on heating.
• How much less energy has been spent compared to a previous period.
• Highlighting which energy-saving measures would have the greatest impact on energy usage categories.

How does it work?

For each location in the Eliq Platform, it is possible to obtain energy usage categories and present these to the end user, based on the location’s energy data and profile. The Eliq Platform's EUC algorithms will detect, calculate, and extrapolate the location's total energy consumption into categories, based on the request and available data.

API

The Insights API Endpoint Get location/{locationId}/euc is what is used to request and return Energy Usage Categories data.

Algorithm

Eliq can detect and break down energy consumption for any supported location (see requirements below). The Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring algorithm (referred to as NILM or disaggregation) interprets the location’s complete energy consumption, combined with each location's unique profile, to provide a more comprehensive overview of which categories consume what amount of energy.

The algorithm combines a statistical rule-based approach with end-user input and several disaggregation methods. This results in a reliable output that improves with user engagement and adjusts as the user's location profile is refined.

To ensure integrity and credibility towards the end user, it is important to present energy usage categories with a high chance of accuracy. End users who deviate from standard usage patterns or have a significant mismatch between our simulated values and their actual energy usage are flagged in our system, and the result is marked with "LOW" accuracy. The application layer should use this information to make informed decisions about how to manage the user’s expectations, such as adjusting the wording around how the data is presented or deciding what to show or hide.

Supported fuel types and Units

Eliq supports the return of Energy Usage Categories Insights for the following fuels and units depending on the request to the API. Results depend on available data for the requested Location and Period.

1. Electricity – Energy (kWh) and Cost
2. Gas – Energy (kWh), Energy (m3) and Cost
3. District Heating is currently not supported

For Cost to be available a Price Formula need to be setup for the location.

Available Resolutions

Energy Usage Categories can be requested on a Monthly Resolution (28 – 31 days) at a minimum and up to 1 year as as the maximum, to make it ease to request EUC data and to support a few important use-cases:

1. Show the Energy Usage Category breakdown for a completed, historic month to help end users understand how they used Energy for that period.
2. Show the Energy Usage Category breakdown for several completed months such as a calendar year or a quarterly billing period.
3. Show the Energy Usage Category breakdown of the current, incomplete month so far. From todays date and 28 days historically.

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Requirements

Eliqs ability to provide accurate Energy Usage Categories results depend on 2 things:

1. The Profile for the requested Location – how much has been filled in and which choice have been selected by the end user.
2. The available Energy Data for the requested Location- how much energy is available for the requested period and at which resolution.

Location profile requirements

Advice can are available for both Residential and Business Locations. For each Location, the following information must be provided before-hand. This information can be collected from each end user as part of the onboarding process some other way.

1. Geo-location: E.g. Geo coordinates, Street Address or Postal code. The more accurate, the better.
2. Location Profile Type (residential or business): This is set through the Location Profile feature and endpoints there-in. All Locations that are created using the Home Profile endpoint are automatically set to residential Location Profile Type.
3. Optional: As many additional Profile Properties as possible to improve the relevancy of the provided energy tips.

Energy data requirements

In order to generate accurate Energy Usage Categories insights, a minimum set of data is required for each location. Energy data is provided for each location through the Eliq Data Management API at different resolutions (monthly, daily, hourly, sub-hourly) and periods (month, day, hour, sub-hourly). The available energy data for each location will determine the level of accuracy and availability of EUC for each requested period, as detailed below.

To provide Energy Usage Categories for a location, the following minimum data must be available for the location in the Eliq Platform. Optimal data requirements will return more advanced and accurate EUC results.

If the minimum requirements are not met for a requested location and period, it will be flagged as incomplete, and an error will be returned as a result.

Minimum requirements for Electricity

1. Minimum one month of consumption data on a Daily resolution.
   • Minimum 23 completed days of energy data, i.e. we support up to 8 days of missing data in a month.

Optimal requirements for Electricity

1. Minimum one month of consumption data on hourly or higher resolution
   • Minimum 23 completed days of energy data, i.e. we support up to 8 days of missing data in a month.

Minimum requirements for Gas

1. Minimum 6 months of consumption data on a Daily or Monthly resolution.

Optimal requirements for Gas

1. Minimum 6 months of consumption data on a Daily or Monthly resolution.
2. Minimum 30 days days of energy data on hourly or higher resolution.

Energy Usage Categories

Below is a list of all the different Energy Usage Categories (EUCs) that we can identify and show energy consumption insights for including information about Location Profile Properties and fuel support. Each category is available for one or more fuels and for one or more Location Profile Types (residential and / or business).

Energy Usage Categories that are available for all business locations include Heating, Always on and Other. Additional EUCs are only available for locations in the UK with 5 specific types of business; Restaurants, Boutiques/Shops, Grocery stores, Primary Schools and Secondary Schools.

Heating

This category refers to all the energy that is used to heating the location. This includes a mix of different heat sources such as heat pump, radiators and electric floor heating.

Available Fuels: Electricity & Gas

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): heating

Washing

This category shows insights on all energy that is used for washing and drying, typically the washing machine and dryer.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential

name (key): washing

Water heating

Sorted under this category is all the energy that is used to heat water in the location related to showering and hygiene. The source for water heating could be a hot water boiler or a heat pump.

Available Fuels: Electricity and Gas

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): water_heating

Lighting

Sorted under this category is all the energy that is used for lights in the location.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): lighting

Consumer Electronics

The Locations Electronics category shows energy that is used for electronics in the location such as TVs, gaming consoles, phone chargers, computers and music devices.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential

name (key): consumer_electronics

Cooking

Energy shown under Cooking refer to energy that is in all kitchen related to to cooking food. Energy from stoves, ovens, microwaves, coffee machines and dishwashers are included in this category.

Available Fuels: Electricity and Gas

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): cooking

Always on

Always on, sometimes referred to as “stand-by energy” refer to energy that is constantly in use in the location. The sources of this could be several different devices. Some examples include TVs, Music devices and other similar appliances that never turn off. Also ventilation that is always on is included in this category.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): always_on

Fridges and Freezers

This category shows energy that is used by fridges and freezers.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): fridge_freezer

Cooling

During warm seasons, energy used for cooling is shown in this category. This usually refers to A/Cs that run during summer periods. In some cases heat pumps used for heating can also be used to cool.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): cooling

Electric Vehicle

Locations that have Electric Vehicles and that are charged at location can see energy used for EV charging in this category.

This category is only shown for Locations that have defined that they charge an EV in their Location.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential

name (key): electric_vehicle

Sauna

Locations that have an electric Sauna can see energy used for heating up their sauna in this category.

This category is only shown for Locations that have defined that they charge a Sauna in their Location.

Available Fuels: Electricity

Supported Location Profile Types: residential

name (key): sauna

Other

There are energy activities that are too small for their own category, activities like Vacuum Cleaning. There might also be some cases where Eliq may detect energy usage that cannot yet be accurately categorized. This energy is categorized under “other”.

Available Fuels: Electricity & Gas

Supported Location Profile Types: residential and business

name (key): other

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API Reference Documentation

Detailed information on how to implement Energy Usage Categories including API request or response calls and possible errors can be found in the API Reference Documentation for the Insights API EUC endpoint.

Note! There is another, deprecated endpoint called Insights API Breakdown endpoint that returns Energy Usage Categories insights from the Eliq Platform as well. This endpoint is supported but all new development should be done on the new endpoint called EUC. Eliq will continue to support the Breakdown endpoint until further notice but we recommend all existing customers to migrate to the new endpoint.

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Use Cases

Below are a few important Use Cases to show case a few important and possible implementations of Energy Usage Categories in an app including examples to best show case EUC Insights but also how to manage known error messages and more.

EUC summary

Energy Usage Categories can be used at a location-page summary where the users wants to get a fast summary of their energy consumption. On use-cases like this you could choose to display the category that consumed the most or top 3.

Show all categories

The energy Usage Categories could be displayed to end users for a completed month or year or for a custom period of time from now and minimum 28 days earlier.

Different units

EUC could be displayed in Cost, energy or m3(gas)

Keep your Location Profile up to date

To get the best results it’s important that users update their Location profile regularly.

No data scenarios

There are several reasons where it is not possible to present data for a selected requested period. It can be due to missing energy data, incomplete location profile data or other reasons where there is no data that can be shown. We call this a “No data scenario”. Below are examples of how to show information to an end user if that occurs.

Complete vs incomplete month

It is possible to provide Energy Usage Categories Insights for completed, historic months as well as for incomplete and ongoing months in an app. Since EUC can be requested for any period as long as the minimum n.o. days requested are 28 days, it is possible to show accurate EUC insights for any completed month by requesting data from the first until the last day of the month. This will give the end user the best insight into EUC for a completed, historic month regardless of the n.o. days for the month.

For ongoing months, it is recommended that end users are still presented with EUC data. But instead of presenting data from the first day of the month until today, it is possible to request EUC data from today and the previous 28 days. This will return EUC data that can be presented to the end user in an app.

Best practice is to differentiate the information presented to the end user between completed, historic months and incomplete, ongoing ones. A simple example can be seen below.

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