Last Sunday, 13 March 2016, *El Comercio* published an article about the NATCONSUMERS project, whose objective is the reduction of energy consumption in households, and in which Izertis has now assumed technical leadership.

Surely none of the readers could say that they are not interested in the topic discussed in this article. Energy-related expenditure (mainly electricity and gas) in our homes probably ranks as the fourth or fifth most significant category in our annual household budget.

This fact becomes more evident during the winter and summer periods due to the intensive use of heating and air conditioning. In this context, it is clear that reducing energy consumption in the residential (domestic) sector must play an important role in all energy efficiency programmes and policies at the European level. This is also stated in the European Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU. Residential energy consumption accounts for 28% of total EU energy use.

Considering commercial buildings, this percentage rises to 40% (representing 36% of all EU CO2 emissions). There is a growing social and political need for the design of methodologies, products, and services that inform, educate, and raise citizens' awareness about their energy consumption (consumer empowerment), promoting efficient and sustainable usage habits. In this regard, the Resolution of 2 June 2015 by the Secretary of State for Energy requires electricity distributors to provide a website to deliver the disaggregated data obtained from smart meters.

There is abundant literature and experience demonstrating that, by providing users with detailed consumption information accompanied by small day-to-day efficiency tips, reductions in consumption of between 5% and 20% can be achieved. Despite this, current methods are limited to providing general information, which is not relevant to individual consumers, and do not facilitate the proper exploitation of the vast amount of data collected by meters.

It is at this point that the NATCONSUMERS initiative arises, aiming to establish a comprehensive, user-centred methodological framework for the promotion of sustainable energy habits in households through personalised consumption reports presented in natural language.

These reports will provide direct actions to be implemented in homes for energy savings. The key components of the product are:

1. An advanced classification and characterisation of residential energy consumers
2. The computational exploitation of the disaggregated data currently provided by smart meters.
3. The development of a virtual energy advisor that identifies the most relevant consumption information and advice for the specific profile of the end user. Our approach is based on a comprehensive characterisation of energy consumption in the EU, and the design of specific, personalised actions tailored to each detected consumption pattern. Actions aimed at raising user awareness are based on the use of personalised recommendations in natural language and the incorporation of emotional content. NATCONSUMERS is a collaborative project involving eight different countries (CSA – Coordination & Support Action H2020-LCE-2014-2) funded by the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. The total project budget is €2,048,278, and the implementation period is two years, from 1 May 2015 to 1 May 2017.