Overview

Integrate flex into your existing asset optimisation

What is price curve integration?

Price curve integration allows you to optimize your assets using localized flex prices provided by Axle, while maintaining full control over your optimization logic and constraints.

This allows you to retain your existing control systems, while unlocking new revenue streams by responding to market signals.

How it works

For each site, Axle provides a half-hourly price curve that combines different market incentives we’re exposed to. These prices reflect:

• Wholesale energy prices: Day-ahead and intraday market prices
• Ancillary services: Demand response and reserve products
• Local flexibility requirements: DNO flex opportunities localized to that site

You integrate these prices into your existing optimization logic, allowing you to make cost-optimal decisions while respecting all your local constraints.

How will Axle participate in markets with my assets?

When we use a price curve, we’re not directly controlling your asset. Instead, we bid into markets based on the flexibility we expect to be available, given the price-responsive behavior of your asset. Since we don’t know exactly how your asset will respond to price signals, we typically participate in a fairly conservative way which protects us from non-delivery risk.

For settlement, we participate via the site’s boundary meter where available. In addition, every Price Curve integration is required to send half-hourly asset consumption readings via POST /data/readings — see Asset and boundary metering for the accepted reading types per asset. We use these readings to verify delivery against the price curve and reconcile revenue back to your asset.

How should I interpret the price curve?

The price curve represents the gross marginal cost of electricity consumption at the site for each half-hour period. Breaking that down:

• Gross: these values do not reflect the revenue share between you and Axle. It is your responsibility to incorporate the contractual specifics in your use of the price curve. For instance, if you’re optimizing for user cost, and users are receiving 50% of gross value, then you probably want to multiply the price curve by 0.50

• Marginal Cost: these are not absolute values. They represent the value of consuming more or less electricity relative to your existing plan. If your default consumption is 6 kWh and the price curve gives you a value of 20p/kWh, then we’re stating that you will earn 20p if you consume 5kWh, and lose 20p if you consume 7kWh.

The price curve is a good guide as to the relative cost at different times, and we expect most clients to use it this way.

For instance, consider a situation where the price curve peaks at 12p/kWh at 17:00-18:00, but is only 8p/kWh at 16:00-17:00. If you expect your asset to consume energy at 17:00, shifting 1 kWh of expected usage at 17:00 to 16:00 will earn an additional 4p.

How do we know your “existing plan”?

Payment in flexibility markets is relative to your baseline - what would have happened had you not flexed the asset.

Defining the baseline is a complicated topic in demand-side flexibility. It’s implemented in different ways in different markets, and is often changed by market facilitators.

We abstract away the baseline in our price curve calculation. This won’t always be 100% accurate - if the baseline differs from your true plan from the asset, then our estimate of the marginal cost might be slightly wrong.

The price curve is indicative, but non-binding. We are not guaranteeing earnings. The best way to build confidence in the values provided in the price curve and how they materialize as revenue is to run a pilot with real assets and observe the result.

When should I use price curves?

Price curve integration is ideal when:

• You have existing optimization: You’re already running control algorithms for your assets
• Local constraints matter: You have constraints that are difficult to surface to external systems (e.g., minimum hot water tank temperature, user preferences, battery state of charge)
• You want control: You prefer to maintain direct control over asset operations
• Privacy is important: Local optimisation variables (state of charge, user preferences, tank temperatures, scheduling constraints) stay in your system. You only share the half-hourly consumption readings we need for settlement

With price curve integration, Axle doesn’t receive direct feedback on whether you’ve dispatched the asset as instructed. This means we bid more conservatively in markets, as our ability to compensate for non-delivery is lower. For maximum revenue potential, consider event-based or delegated control approaches.

Comparison with other dispatch methods

Event-based dispatch

Short-lived flexibility events in response to grid signals. Suitable for infrequent, temporary interruptions.

Delegated control

Axle takes full responsibility for asset operation over extended periods. Ideal when you want to fully outsource optimization to Axle.

Supported asset types

Price curve integration works with:

• Heating: incorporate into existing thermal optimization
• EV Chargers: incorporate into an existing smart charging algorithm
• Batteries: optimize for arbitrage within an existing optimization

Getting started

Ready to integrate? Our tutorial walks you through:

1. Onboarding a site with an asset
2. Retrieving your first price curve
3. Sending asset readings
4. Offboarding sites and assets

For detailed API specifications, see the API Reference section.