Putting People at the Heart of the Energy Transition:
HEXERGY’s Contribution to HARMONISE
HARMONISE Voices | Partner Story: HEXERGY
The transition towards more sustainable energy systems is not only a matter of developing smarter buildings, advanced technologies or more efficient energy-management solutions. It is also about ensuring that people can understand these systems, make informed decisions about their energy use and actively participate in the transformation of their communities.
This people-centred perspective is an important part of HARMONISE, a project working towards the transformation of traditional districts into Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) through interoperable, scalable and user-centred solutions. Within this framework, HEXERGY contributes to the development of a digital tool designed to bring energy information closer to the people who use it every day: the HARMONISE user-centred and gamification app.
By connecting technical innovation with user experience, HEXERGY’s work addresses a central question for the energy transition: how can sophisticated energy-management technologies become understandable, accessible and meaningful in everyday life?
From Complex Energy Data to Meaningful User Experiences
HEXERGY is responsible for developing the HARMONISE user-centred and gamification app, identified as Project Result PR6 / IP12, within Work Package 3, Task T3.4. The app is intended to provide an accessible interface through which users can better understand their energy-related activities and their implications.
Energy systems generate information about consumption, prices, savings and the effects of different user actions. However, the availability of information alone does not guarantee that people will understand it or use it to make informed choices. Presenting this information clearly, connecting it with everyday decisions and enabling users to interact with it are therefore important elements of user-centred energy innovation.
The HARMONISE app is designed to help bridge this gap. Its planned functionalities include allowing users to monitor their energy-related actions, consumption and savings, as well as follow energy prices. The app is also intended to enable users to configure preferences concerning comfort and privacy, which are relevant when energy-management services support automated management within Positive Energy Districts.
In addition, the app is intended to incorporate interactive, gamification-oriented engagement features and AI-based awareness functionalities, including personalised notifications and advice linked to users’ consumption. These features aim to help users understand the relationship between their actions and energy outcomes, making energy information more actionable and encouraging more active participation in the energy transition.
The objective is not simply to display data. It is to create a user-facing digital experience that helps people understand energy information, retain control over relevant preferences and engage more meaningfully with the systems operating around them.
Building on Experience and Advancing Innovation Through HARMONISE
An important starting point for HEXERGY is that the app concept has been under development since 2021 and has already been validated with a range of stakeholders. The HARMONISE project provides an opportunity to advance this existing work within a broader framework of interoperable Positive Energy District solutions.
This context is significant because the app is not intended to operate as an isolated digital product. Its role is to complement the project’s wider technical capabilities, including energy monitoring, forecasting, optimisation and management services.
By connecting user-facing functions with these wider capabilities, HARMONISE seeks to make the benefits of its technical solutions more visible and accessible to end-users. The app’s development therefore requires attention to both the quality of its individual functions and its integration within the wider project ecosystem.
HARMONISE brings together complementary expertise in energy technologies, interoperability, forecasting, control, business models and citizen engagement. This multidisciplinary approach creates opportunities to consider technological development alongside the practical questions of how people understand, trust and use the resulting solutions.
For HEXERGY, this is a defining aspect of the project: the energy transition depends not only on smart infrastructure, but also on interfaces and services that people can use in their everyday lives.
Designing for Usability, Comfort and Privacy
Developing a user-centred energy app involves more than translating technical information into a digital interface. One of the main challenges is presenting complex information in a way that is clear, relevant and useful to different types of users, without overwhelming them with unnecessary detail.
The app must also fit into a wider technical environment while taking account of individual preferences, comfort and privacy. These considerations are particularly important when digital tools interact with energy-management services and automated processes.
Gamification and engagement features present another design challenge. They need to support understanding and participation rather than introduce additional complexity or distract users from the information they need.
The approach outlined in the HARMONISE Grant Agreement combines the identification of user requirements with a tailored, interactive interface and coordination with the wider HARMONISE solution. HEXERGY’s contribution is informed by the project’s user-centred methodology and collaboration with partners working on user engagement, technical development and demonstration activities.
This approach helps ensure that the app’s functions are considered in relation to users’ needs and the capabilities of the wider platform. It also reinforces an important lesson for digital energy innovation: user engagement should be integrated from the beginning of technology development, rather than added as a final step.
Clear information, meaningful feedback, appropriate personalisation and user control over relevant preferences can make complex energy services more approachable. Equally important is regular coordination between technical developers and partners who work directly with users, helping to keep solutions relevant, usable and adaptable to different contexts.
Connecting Technology with People and Communities
The value of HEXERGY’s contribution extends beyond the app’s individual functionalities. At the project level, the app supports HARMONISE’s ambition to make Positive Energy District solutions more understandable, acceptable and accessible to end-users.
By helping users view consumption, savings and energy prices, and by providing tailored awareness information, the app is intended to support more informed energy choices and complement demand-response and energy-management activities.
For end-users, its planned functionalities offer a clearer view of energy-related actions and outcomes, together with the ability to set comfort and privacy preferences. For stakeholders and PED managers, stronger user awareness and engagement can support participation in energy communities and contribute to the acceptance of energy-management solutions.
This connection between technology and participation is particularly important in the transformation of traditional districts into Positive Energy Districts. The transition requires not only technical capabilities, but also solutions that people can understand, adopt and use in ways that are appropriate to their circumstances.
HARMONISE’s emphasis on co-creation and stakeholder involvement provides an important framework for this work. By bringing together expertise in energy systems and user engagement, the project creates opportunities to connect technological development with the everyday experiences of the people expected to benefit from it.
An accessible and user-centred interface can also help make PED solutions easier to communicate and potentially replicate in different districts and energy-community settings. The extent of these benefits will depend on continued integration, user feedback and validation through the project’s activities.
Looking Ahead: Learning, Integration and Further Development
As HARMONISE progresses, HEXERGY looks towards further integrating and validating the app within the project ecosystem and learning from its use in demonstration activities.
These next steps offer an opportunity to examine how users interact with energy information and engagement features, and how their feedback can inform further refinement. Strengthening personalisation, usability and engagement will remain important considerations, alongside maintaining clear user control over comfort and privacy preferences.
Further alignment between the app, HARMONISE’s energy-management services and stakeholder engagement activities could also support future exploitation and replication in other Positive Energy Districts and energy-community settings.
These opportunities reflect the broader purpose of the work: to ensure that digital energy solutions are developed not only around what technology can do, but also around what people need to understand, trust and use.
A Shared Vision for a People-Centred Energy Transition
For HEXERGY, HARMONISE demonstrates the importance of developing technological capabilities and user experience together. A digital energy app should be more than a display layer for energy data. It should help people understand information, make choices in line with their preferences and participate more actively in the energy transition.
Through the development of the user-centred and gamification app, HEXERGY contributes to the human-facing dimension of HARMONISE, connecting energy monitoring, management and awareness with the needs of end-users and stakeholders.
The wider lesson is clear: the success of smart energy solutions depends not only on their technical sophistication, but also on how effectively they connect with people and communities.
As Positive Energy Districts continue to develop, placing users at the centre of innovation will remain essential to creating solutions that are understandable, usable and capable of supporting a more sustainable energy future.
“The energy transition is not only about making buildings and districts smarter; it is also about helping people understand their energy use and take part in the change. Through HARMONISE, HEXERGY is working to make energy information more accessible, personal and actionable for the people at the heart of Positive Energy Districts.”