Households to be paid to reduce electricity usage as UK faces cold snap
Some households will be paid if they reduce their electricity usage during peak hours on Monday as part of efforts to avoid potential power blackouts - as the UK faces its biggest test yet with the current cold snap.
Customers of some of Britain's biggest energy suppliers including British Gas, EDF Energy and Eon will be taking part in the demand flexibility service (DFS) programme run by the National Grid.
The test scheme pays businesses and households to cut their energy consumption at peak times, such as between 5pm and 7pm, to reduce the strain on the grid.
This comes as the country faced freezing temperatures overnight with snow in many areas – ramping up demand for power at a time when supplies are tight.
National Grid says that the DFS service is just a test and had already been planned for today, however, the timing will likely still be useful on a day when energy prices have shot up.
Octopus Energy has promised that its customers can save more electricity than other suppliers, with Drax and Eon also saying they can provide significant savings for the grid.
UK next day electricity prices surged yesterday to help attract power imports through interconnectors from Europe and record prices are expected during the peak demand hours on Monday.
Energy watchdog Ofgem approved proposals last month for National Grid electricity system operator (ESO) to launch the programme DFS scheme from November until March.
Households will be paid around £4 for every unit of electricity that they reduce their consumption by during specific times.
Who is eligible for the demand flexibility scheme?
The service is currently only available to people with smart meters from providers that can provide data in 30 minute increments.
Households are sent a text by 6pm the day before to let them know when to switch off their ovens and TVs and go for an hour-long walk.
Customers can then come back home and use their appliances again as normal. There is no obligation to take part.
Earlier this month British Gas said that it hoped 100,000 customers would sign up as it launched the scheme for the households that it supplies.
The announcement came after the head of Centrica, which owns British Gas, told ITV News there are new signs of customers struggling to pay their energy bills.
However, its ambitions for participation are lower than Octopus Energy, which has so far signed up more than 400,000 customers to its version of the scheme.
National Grid warned in October that a combination of factors such as a cold spell and a shortage of gas in Europe, related to the war in Ukraine, could lead to power cuts in the UK.
Britain’s electricity grid operator has also asked two of its coal-fired power stations to start warming up as freezing weather conditions heap pressure on the UK’s power network.
National Grid said it had asked the winter “contingency” plants to prepare for operation to “give the public confidence in Monday’s energy supply”.
The grid expects that the coal-fired stations will be ready for use if called upon for the evening between 5pm and 9pm, when demand is set to peak.
The stations are operated by Drax in North Yorkshire and are two of five put on standby under so-called winter contingency contracts, with others run by EDF and Uniper.
The two units are each said to be capable of generating around 570 megawatts – adding more than 1.1 gigawatts to the grid if used.
The instruction for the coal-fired plants marks the first since they were put on standby.
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