In a six-part blog series, InEExS spotlights solutions to help accelerate Europe’s transition to a smart, resilient, competitive and more efficient energy system. Each blog will explore the solutions, technologies and approaches, from energy communities to the role of blockchain in energy management, that can make our homes and buildings smarter and more energy-efficient.
Steering EV Chargers and Boilers
As Europe works to decarbonise its energy system, making buildings responsive to grid needs is becoming increasingly important. The InEExS project, supported by the EU’s LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme, is demonstrating how smart technologies and user-friendly business models can enable homes to contribute to grid stability while reducing energy bills. In pilot sites across Greece, Finland, Sweden, and other countries, everyday household devices like electric vehicle (EV) chargers and gas boilers are being turned into flexible assets. These devices can shift their energy usage in response to signals from the grid or energy markets—helping integrate renewable energy, reduce peak demand, and maintain user comfort. The project is exploring how these smart systems can be scaled up and supported by EU policies on demand-side flexibility and digitalisation.
A Changing Energy Landscape
Europe’s energy landscape is undergoing rapid change. On one hand, the share of renewable electricity is increasing, which brings variability to supply. On the other, the electrification of heating and transport is raising overall demand. According to the European Environment Agency, over 2.4 million electric cars were registered in the EU in 2023, comprising about 22% of all new car sales. At the same time, cold winters trigger surges in heating demand, often driven by gas or electricity. Without smarter demand-side control, these trends risk creating new peaks that strain networks.
Instead of building costly new infrastructure to meet infrequent demand spikes, grid-responsive homes offer a flexible and cost-effective solution. Using connected technologies, household devices can shift when they consume energy. EVs, for example, can delay charging to avoid peak grid hours. Electric boilers or heat pumps can preheat water or rooms when electricity is abundant and cheaper, then pause during critical hours.
Smart Charging and Heating in the Nordics
In the Nordic pilot, InEExS partner tech company Hiven demonstrates the smart control of EV charging and electric heating. Hiven’s cloud platform connects to household devices via standard APIs, enabling real-time optimisation based on electricity prices, grid signals, or renewable availability.
For EVs, charging is scheduled to align with lower-cost or greener electricity—delaying or ramping up based on system needs. Similarly, electric heating is shifted to low-price periods, taking advantage of building inertia. This smart control allows users with spot-price electricity contracts to reduce heating costs by up to 50%, according to pilot data. The system also aggregates load adjustments from many homes to form a ‘virtual battery’ that can offer flexibility services to grid operators or energy companies.
This model fits well with the liberalised and digitally advanced Nordic electricity markets, where dynamic pricing and third-party aggregators are already established. It is being implemented via a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model: Hiven supplies the technology to energy retailers, who offer it to residential customers as a value-added service.
Unlocking Flexibility from Gas Boilers in Greece
The Greek pilot focuses on an often overlooked resource: residential gas boilers. Despite the push to electrify heating, many Greek households still rely on natural gas. These boilers typically operate with basic thermostatic control, turning on and off without regard to system conditions. InEExS addresses this by installing a smart IoT controller—developed by the Greek company DomX—on legacy boilers in five major cities.
The controller allows remote and automated optimisation of boiler use. It can reduce consumption at peak times or under high gas prices, improving both efficiency and flexibility. The platform links to a cloud-based interface used by the gas supplier Heron, another InEExS partner. Early results show energy efficiency gains of up to 35%, cutting household gas bills and emissions. At the same time, aggregated control across many homes provides a new tool for the gas grid operator to manage demand during periods of stress, such as cold snaps or supply constraints.
Beyond flexibility, the DomX controller offers remote monitoring and diagnostics, improving maintenance and safety. This aligns with EU objectives to integrate energy efficiency and demand response into supplier obligations under the Energy Efficiency Directive.
Ensuring Comfort and Consent
Maintaining user comfort is essential for any demand response solution. InEExS has designed its interventions to be non-intrusive. In the Nordic EV charging pilot, users can override smart charging schedules if they need the vehicle sooner. In the Greek demo with legacy gas boilers, indoor temperature is constantly monitored to ensure that short-term modulation doesn’t impact comfort. Surveys and feedback mechanisms ensure user satisfaction is central to service design.
The pilots show that when people see real savings or receive incentives, they are generally willing to allow some level of automated control. Transparency and control options build trust—key to encouraging participation in these new energy services.
Policy Support for Demand Response
The regulatory environment is becoming more supportive of grid-responsive solutions. The EU’s 2019 Electricity Market Directive requires Member States to enable demand-side flexibility and ensure consumers can benefit from dynamic pricing. It also mandates that independent aggregators be allowed to access energy markets without needing approval from the customer’s energy supplier. This removes a major barrier to third-party demand response services.
The rollout of smart meters is a key enabler. By the end of 2025, approximately 63% of EU electricity customers are expected to have smart meters. These provide the granular data needed to enable dynamic tariffs and automated control.
The European Commission’s Digitalisation of Energy Action Plan also emphasises the importance of interoperability and cybersecurity, ensuring smart home technologies can scale safely and effectively across the EU.
Market Design and Aggregator Business Models
Flexibility from residential demand is now being integrated into energy market design. Transmission system operators (TSOs) are opening balancing and ancillary service markets to aggregated small-scale resources, including in homes. In Finland, for example, demand response aggregators already provide frequency regulation using fleets of electric vehicles. The country has developed a comprehensive regulatory framework for independent aggregators, with most ancillary service markets already open to demand response participation. Both Frequency Containment Reserves (FCR-N for normal operation and FCR-D for disturbances) are open to demand response and aggregation. Automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) is also accessible to demand response resources, with plans to open it to independent aggregation following successful pilot programs with manual frequency restoration reserves.
Finnish smart charging infrastructure enables aggregators to use EVs as frequency containment reserves. When grid frequency drops due to high demand or low supply, EV charging power can be automatically throttled down through cloud-controlled charging points. As an example, an aggregator with 1,000 EVs charging at 22 kW could create an 18 MW reserve for grid stabilization by temporarily reducing charging to 4 kW during frequency drops. These responses typically last only a minute or two, having minimal impact on charging experience while providing valuable grid services.
InEExS is testing how business models can support such services. For instance, a utility using Hiven’s platform can earn revenue by bidding aggregated load reductions into balancing markets. They can pass some of these earnings to customers as rebates or reduced tariffs. This creates a virtuous circle: lower customer bills, better grid operation, and a revenue stream to sustain the service.
Tokenisation and Verification
In both the Greek and Nordic pilots, energy savings and flexibility events are verified using a secure digital platform. InEExS leverages blockchain to provide transparent and tamper-proof tracking of performance. For example, a household that shifts EV charging or boiler operation may have the associated energy saving tokenised as a digital asset. These tokens provide proof of action, enabling future use in compliance with Energy Efficiency Obligation schemes.
While not used for public trading, these tokens facilitate settlement between service providers, customers, and energy suppliers, supporting performance-based contracts. Blockchain ensures trust in the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of savings—vital for regulatory recognition and financing.
Looking Ahead
Grid-responsive homes are moving from concept to reality. The InEExS pilots demonstrate that flexible demand can be activated across different climates, energy systems, and user profiles. Whether it’s an electric car in Helsinki or a gas boiler in Athens, households can contribute to system stability without compromising comfort.
Scaling up will require continued policy support, investment in digital infrastructure, and consumer engagement. However, the potential is large: reducing peak demand by 10–15% through flexible consumption can defer costly grid investments, integrate more renewables, and lower overall energy system costs.
As the EU advances toward climate neutrality, demand-side flexibility will be a critical pillar, and InEExS is helping show the way, turning homes from passive consumers into active participants in Europe’s energy transition.
To find out more about the real-world applications discussed in the blog, follow the links below to our Business Case Factsheets:
Business Model 3: Energy efficiency and flexibility services for legacy natural gas boilers
Business Model 4:
Smart energy management for EV chargers and electricity- based HVAC appliances
