The National Grid ESO will pay UK households who turn down their electricity at any time of the year, not just winter, in a revolutionary change for the UK energy system.

ESO is to build on its Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) with enhancements to the service so that it can be used across the year as a normal commercial service. The product will continue to support the ESO’s control room when demand is at its highest, providing participating households and businesses the opportunity to see continued value from using their electricity flexibly. Households will be able to benefit by simply turning off appliances for a couple of hours when notified by the Grid that energy supply is stressed and there is a risk of blackouts.
Last year DFS delivered over 3.7GWh of electricity with over 2.6 million households and businesses participating to reduce or shift their electricity consumption at key times.

To facilitate the continued use of DFS, the ESO will now consult with industry on its proposed design, before seeking regulatory approval from Ofgem ahead of winter.

Alex Schoch, global director of flexibility, at Octopus Energy said: “Octopus pioneered this simple form of power saving that rewards hard-working households for cutting their use at peak times, instead of paying big energy companies millions to burn more coal or gas. It’s great to see the system operator now recognises the role consumers can play in balancing the grid all year-round.”

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