DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-8666-7
title: Smart Energy Research Lab Observatory Data, 2019-2023: Secure Access
title: SERL

description: &lt;p&gt;The Smart Energy Research Lab (SERL) delivers a unique energy data resource to the UK research community that enables a broad range of multi-disciplinary, socio-technical research relating to energy consumption in domestic buildings.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The SERL Observatory is transforming Great Britain's energy research through the long-term provision of high quality, high-resolution energy data that provides a reliable evidence base for intervention, observational and longitudinal studies across the socio-technical spectrum.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The goals of the Smart Energy Research Lab are to provide:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A trusted data resource for researchers to utilise large-scale, high-resolution energy data
&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;An effective mechanism for collecting and linking energy data with other contextual data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;High quality data management to ensure fit-for-purpose data are provisioned to researchers&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Participant recruitment began in August 2019. Approximately 1,700 participants were recruited from central and southern England and from Wales as part of a pilot study that tested different recruitment strategies. The second recruitment wave took place in August-September 2020, and the third wave at the start of 2021. SERL recruited over 13,000 households which are regionally representative across England, Scotland and Wales. Recruitment is also designed to be representative of each Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile; an area-based relative measure of deprivation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For the latest edition (released in May 2024), all SERL data up to and including 31st December 2023 were made available. Users should note that this is the 6th edition of SERL data that has been released, though the citation may refer to the 7th edition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;All code provided with the data is now managed on the &lt;a href="https://github.com/smartEnergyResearchLab"&gt;
SERL GitHub&lt;/a&gt; website.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Smart meter data:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Daily and half-hourly energy (electricity and gas) consumption data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tariff data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Additional smart meter technical data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Contextual data:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;SERL survey (initial) completed by participant households on sign-up providing data on household information and building characteristics.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Weather data&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;SERL Covid-19 survey: sent to wave 1 participants in May 2020 to understand their circumstances during the first lockdown&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;SERL survey (Follow-up 2023): sent to all active participants in early 2023 to investigate the impact of rapidly rising energy costs in 2022/2023&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;SERL data will be updated and made available to researchers on a quarterly basis. SERL is an evolving data resource and thus new editions of the data might include:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;additional records – more smart meter data, since the previous edition&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;additional participants – more participants recruited since the previous release&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;additional variables – where new variables become available to SERL&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further information about SERL can be found on &lt;a href="https://serl.ac.uk/" target="_blank"&gt;serl.ac.uk&lt;/a&gt; and in the associated documentation. The 'Key Documents' section of the SERL website, which links to all publications that use SERL data, can be found at &lt;a href="http://serl.ac.uk/key-documents"&gt;serl.ac.uk/key-documents&lt;/a&gt;. If you do not see your SERL-data publication listed, please contact the SERL team via info@serl.ac.uk.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
For the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 data users should note&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;that neither the European Commission nor the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts will be held responsible for any use that may be made of the&lt;a href="https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/licences/copernicus/"&gt; Copernicus information&lt;/a&gt; or data it contains.&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;The Energy Performance of Buildings Data is also included and users must read and abide&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;by the &lt;a href="https://epc.opendatacommunities.org/docs/copyright"&gt;Copyright Information Notice&lt;/a&gt;, provided by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, that covers the use of Royal Mail information and non-address data provided under the &lt;a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/"&gt;Open Government Licence v3.0&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br&gt;