National Grid to pay consumers to switch off twelve times this winter

National Grid to pay consumers to switch off twelve times this winter

Proactive Investors - Consumers will be offered the chance to save money on energy bills through twelve demand flexibility events this winter, system operator National Grid PLC (LSE:LON:NG.) has said.

Squeezed fuel supply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw National Grid’s system operating wing (ESO) introduce the service last winter.

This saw smart meter customers offered the chance to save on bills, or even be rewarded for reducing energy usage at certain times.

National Grid confirmed on Friday that the service would once again run from November to March this winter, with 12 test events planned.

Suppliers will be guaranteed £3 from National Grid per kilowatt hour of energy saved for at least six of these, the operator added.

“The ESO will be reintroducing the demand flexibility service for this winter and is keen for more consumers, both large and small, to get involved,” ESO director Jake Rigg said.

“We want to work with industry to build on the past success of this new and innovative service.”

Some 22 demand flexibility events took place last winter, which saw consumers avert from using enough energy to power almost 10 million homes for an hour.

British Gas and Octopus Energy were among the suppliers to take part meanwhile, with a total of 1.6 million households saving a combined 3,300MWh of energy over the events.

Octopus paid £5.3 million to the near-700,000 of its customers that took part, accounting for roughly half of the required demand shift, while British Gas shared out £1.8 million to 200,000 households.

National Grid reassured that margins between supply and demand were looking better for this winter, but said the move would help “build further resilience” in the UK’s network.

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