Octopus Energy, OVO Energy, British Gas and E.On will pay customers not to use electricity and help avoid blackouts this winter.
National Grid's scheme is designed to encourage customers to switch the time that they use electricity to off-peak hours during some days when supply is tight. Most customers use electricity at similar times, with a particularly big spike in the evening when people get back from work, start cooking and switch the TV on.
Several companies have either signed up to the National Grid's scheme or created their own.
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OVO Energy
In October, OVO, announced the launch of Power Move. The trial rewards customers up to £100 in total for moving non-essential energy use to times when the grid is greener and less congested.
OVO has used customer data to determine that between 4pm to 7pm is usually when demand on the energy grid is usually the highest. OVO participants are asked to cut their average consumption during these hours to less than 12.5%. For the average household, that could be the equivalent of moving three loads of washing per week from peak time to a greener time of day.
£20 will be rewarded for each month that this is achieved on average. The trial started on November 1 2022 and will end on March 31 2023.
E.On
E.On Next has invited customers to sign up to its scheme. It said households will see savings of £100, based on £3 per kWh, if they reduce their energy usage 29 times over winter. Credit will be paid into their energy account.
British Gas
British Gas has said it intends to sign up to the National Grid's scheme but has not confirmed any details. Customers will likely be asked to reduce electricity use by around 30% between 4pm and 7pm.
Octopus Energy
Octopus Energy is thought to have started to sign up customers to the National Grid scheme. ‘Saving Sessions’, as the new scheme is called, will allow Octopus’ 1.4 million smart meter customers and around 5,000 of its business customers to reduce their usage during times of peak demand and get paid to do so.
For every unit of energy customers save compared to their normal usage during a specific timeframe, Octopus expects to pay customers £4 on average, potentially saving customers around £100 over the course of the winter.
The scheme will run between November 2022 and March 2023.
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