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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Business
Kieran Isgin

British Gas confirms details of scheme to pay people to save electricity

British gash has confirmed that it will be one among many suppliers to pay customers that reduce their electricity-usage.

The energy supplier said that it hoped 100,000 customers would sign up as it launches the demand flexibility service for the housholds it supplies. It recently became the latest (and largest) supplier to sign up to the National Grid scheme. Despite this, it falls short of fellow supplier Octopus Energy which has signed up more than 400,000 customers to its version of the scheme.

British Gas also confirmed that customers that have smart meters installed in their home will be sent an email, inviting them to partake in the scheme.

Read more: Octopus Energy tells 'miffed' customers saving scheme is 'like Tesco Clubcard points'

“The electricity grid is facing increased pressure and smart technology plays a key role in managing peak demand – reducing consumption has the added benefit of helping consumers save on their energy bills,” said chief executive Chris O’Shea.

“We are exploring how to make this scheme work best for our customers so that it fits in with their habits around the home. This approach to help manage residential electricity demand is likely to become a major feature of the market in years to come.

“We’ll be taking learnings from this stage with the aim of using our scale to roll out to our wider customer base.”

Households taking part in the scheme will be paid roughly £4 for every unit of electricity they reduce during set times. They will be sent a text by 6pm the day before, informing them when they should switch off their ovens and TVS.

If successful, the scheme will take off a lot of presure on the energy grid, ensuring that there is enough electricity for everyone to do what they need, just not at the same time.

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