IN Brief:
- Elexon will launch the Smart Data Repository this autumn.
- The platform will provide open access to aggregated electricity consumption data, including half-hourly smart-meter data.
- The repository forms part of a wider digital infrastructure programme for a more flexible electricity system.
Elexon will launch the Smart Data Repository this autumn, creating a new route for access to aggregated electricity consumption data.
The repository will make half-hourly electricity data available through a digital platform, using aggregation and data protection measures to prevent individual consumer information from being exposed. It follows government and regulatory work on wider access to smart-meter data.
The platform is expected to support flexibility services, network planning, infrastructure assessment, social housing energy management, price comparison tools, and other data-led electricity applications. Smart, advanced, and traditional meter data will be included as the system develops.
Elexon’s role reflects its position in electricity settlement and market data. The Smart Data Repository will sit alongside other digital infrastructure being developed across the sector, including work by NESO and RECCo, as the electricity market moves towards more granular data and more active demand.
The project is also linked to the Consumer Consent Solution being developed by RECCo, which is expected to support controlled access where more specific data use requires customer permission. The distinction between aggregated open data and consent-based access will be important for privacy, innovation, and market confidence.
Half-hourly data is becoming more valuable because electricity demand is no longer a passive background condition. Heat pumps, EV chargers, commercial batteries, rooftop solar, industrial demand response, and flexible tariffs all depend on clearer visibility of when and where electricity is used.
For network planning, aggregated data can help identify local demand patterns, peak periods, load growth, and the effect of low-carbon technologies. For flexibility providers, it can support better targeting of services and stronger measurement of performance. For policy and social housing, it can help identify where energy interventions may deliver the strongest impact.
The technical challenge extends beyond the data itself. Useful electricity data infrastructure needs common formats, APIs, cyber security, access controls, metadata quality, auditability, and confidence that datasets are timely and accurate. Poorly structured data can create operational noise rather than usable insight.
The repository also arrives as the UK electricity system prepares for market-wide half-hourly settlement. More granular settlement increases the incentive to understand time-specific consumption and generation behaviour. It can support sharper tariffs, more accurate supplier balancing, and better alignment between market signals and system conditions.
Data access will not create flexibility by itself. Assets still need controls, commercial incentives, customer trust, and reliable routes into markets. The Smart Data Repository provides a foundational layer for services built around demand shifting, local energy planning, and distributed asset optimisation.
The electricity system is becoming more digital because physical reinforcement alone cannot solve every constraint quickly enough. The repository adds another tool for using existing assets more intelligently while new grid infrastructure is planned, financed, and built.
