With a history dating back over 150 years, East of England Co-op has grown to become one of the largest consumer co-ops in the UK serving local communities across Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex with food stores, travel agents, pharmacies and more. The company has an ambitious energy policy and its target is to reduce total CO2 emissions by at least 3% year on year over a 5-year period from January 2010. In order to achieve, and indeed exceed this target, it is constantly looking for smarter ways to monitor and manage its electricity use.

Open Energi has been working with East of England Co-op since 2011. Our Dynamic Demand technology has been installed at the company's Wherstead Park Head Quarters in Suffolk, where it interfaces with equipment through a Trend Building Management System. As a result, boilers and air handling units on the site are now acting as "smart devices"; invisibly adjusting their electricity consumption in  response to changes in UK electricity demand and supply.

This helps National Grid to manage peaks and troughs in electricity demand – for example, when millions of kettles come on at the end of East Enders – and significantly reduces CO2 emissions from power stations. As more of our energy comes from less  predictable,renewable sources such as wind, National Grid's requirement for 'intelligent' Demand Response solutions such as these is expected to rise.