This research is centred on three pillars of EU energy policy that aim to improve: 1) energy efficiency, in order to reduce CO2 emissions and therefore limit climate change; 2) security of energy supplies, in order to protect economic output and vulnerable citizens in extreme weather; and 3) market integration, in order to increase energy supplier competition and consumer choice in each member state. To help deliver on these policies, the EU has recently mandated that: 1) gas smartmeters are to

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... be provided to consumers to help improve energy efficiency; 2) network operators ensure adequate gas supplies during extreme cold weather; and 3) network operators provide energy suppliers with forecasts of the volume of gas they should purchase each day in wholesale markets in order to limit the risk to suppliers when entering new markets. Gas Networks Ireland has part-funded this research and has provided smart-metering and network gas consumption data, so that bottom-up and top-down models of gas providing the applied residential smart-metering data.