PAS 1879:2021

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What is PAS 1879:2021 about?

BSI is working with the UK Government to encourage the uptake of safe, secure and interoperable Energy Smart Appliances (ESAs). These are needed for the active management of demand on the electricity network demand, known as Demand Side Response (DSR). PAS 1879:2021 is a pivotal component in this because it sets out minimum recommendations to perform DSR-based activities involving electrical appliances used in domestic or small business settings.

Who is PAS 1879:2021 for?

The PAS is intended for use by all actors operating within the domestic energy supply chain, including:

• transmission system operators (TSOs);
• distribution network/system operators (DNOs);
• electricity suppliers and aggregators.

It might also be of interest to:

• manufacturers of ESAs and customer energy managers (CEMs);
• maintainers of ESAs;
• manufacturers and maintainers of interfacing products; and
• software developers and other service providers.

What does PAS 1879:2021 cover?

This PAS is aimed at those organizations responsible for providing and delivering energy services to domestic (e.g. individual households) or small business (i.e. SME) premises, which are collectively referred to as consumers.

It sets out a common definition of demand side response (DSR) services for actors operating within the consumer energy supply chain, and recommendations to support the operation of energy smart appliances (ESA).  The specific appliance categories in scope for domestic DSR service are:

a)  heating, ventilation and air conditioning appliances (HVAC);

b)  cold appliances;

c)  wet appliances;

d)  battery storage;

e)  smart EV chargepoints; and

f)   energy generating appliances.

Why should you use PAS 1879:2021?

It enables standardized control, subject to an explicit consumer consent, of energy smart appliances (ESAs) on an electricity network in order to:

• match the short-term availability of intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar;
• decrease the peak load on the electrical transmission and distribution networks to alleviate the need for network upgrades to handle new domestic appliance types;
• allow control of electricity network characteristics, such as grid frequency, system inertia and network voltage, and help prevent network and generation outages; and
• allow electricity suppliers to offset their short-term market imbalance by controlling flexible load on the network. 

PAS 1879 forms part of the ESA programme led by BSI, find out more about the programme here