The £54m study aims to find out how customers can reduce carbon emissions and save money, by examining 14,000 homes in the North East and Yorkshire.
The partners will be utilizing data from 14,000 British Gas Smart Meters that have already been deployed in the North East and Yorkshire.
Around 2,500 customers will also be deploying low-carbon technologies to control energy use and help the partners understand how the addition of these technologies would affect the grid, the company said.
Northern Powergrid president Phil Jones said, "The prospect of smarter networks opens up a whole new set of possibilities – customers can generate their own energy and use home-based technology to regulate how and when they use it."
The initiative will also address new pricing models, with the aim of finding out how the energy industry can best meet the needs of customers at the minimum cost.
