Elering introduces possibility of using anonymized power consumption database

Elering has developed a new database, aggregated from Estonian Data Hub’s power consumption data, which provides the total consumption by private consumers for each postal code in Estonia with a resolution of one hour. The data can be of use for companies and universities for the purpose of electricity system modelling. The new database will also allow market participants to obtain statistical data on power consumption for specific geographic areas.

Elering considers it important to create an option for reuse of data collected in the process of providing public service, so that market participants can use the data for developing new and innovative digital solutions. As power consumption data are initially gathered as individually registered data, Elering had to create an aggregated database to enable reuse – i.e., it the data anonymous so that they cannot be converted back to personal data.

The anonymous database was created based on the following principles:

• consumption data for small consumers by postal code – the system does not contain data for any specific individual consumer;
• postal codes with fewer than 10 metering points were omitted;
• a visual inspection of the consumption schedule for one representative week was carried out for postal codes with more than 10 metering points. In this step, postal codes were removed if their consumption profile displayed anomalous fluctuations:
  • significantly lower consumption on weekends compared to within the week, which may indicate that there is a business operating under that postal code;
  • unusually extensive fluctuations in consumption, which may indicate extensive switching on and switching off of equipment.

Estonia has a total of almost 5,000 postal codes. As a result of applying the measures described, data for a total of nearly 1000 postal code were omitted from the database. The database has the following appearance:

The database contains a total of about 35 million rows – for every hour in 2017, the consumption for that hour and the number of metering points (consumers) under the relevant postal code. There are about 4,000 postal codes. The file size takes up under 400 MB compressed.

Market participants can purchase the data for one year for one postal code for one euro, or the complete data for one year for approximately 4,000 euros. Please contact Georg Rute at georg.rute@elering.ee if you are interested in this product.

The development of the anonymized database is one of Elering’s activities aimed to make Estonian consumer data available both for consumers themselves and also allow innovative services and products to be developed on the basis of the data. Previously, starting from September 2017, consumers have been able to securely share individually registered metering data through the Estfeed platform. This anonymized database supplements Elering’s Estfeed platform also in the services and product developer view, allowing statistical analysis and modelling to be conducted based on the database.