As part of the demand flexibility service trial, energy company British Gas has paid out over £1.8 million since December 2022, saving a total of 147MWh of energy.
British Gas’ service, PeakSave, paid customers three times more for its final event, which occurred on 23 March. The cost savings equate to around £28.56 per customer for the scheme.
The demand flexibility service has generally been viewed as a success, highlighting the value of domestic demand flexibility in Britain. Because of this success, Octopus Energy called for the end of back-up coal generation given the potential of demand flexibility to scale to meet the total requirement.
The energy company said it was the “only supplier” to have paid customers double what’s being paid by the National Grid as part of the trial scheme.
Customers have seen the benefits in scaling this for the UK. Research conducted by British Gas highlighted that 98% of those surveyed said they would take part in the scheme again in the future.
British Gas confirmed it will be looking to explore the potential of the scheme throughout the year which could have “enormous benefits” for the grid and help consumers save on their energy bills.
“The electricity grid is facing increased pressure and smart technology has a key role to play in managing peak demand. Over 200,000 customers signed up to the PeakSave trial, providing us with invaluable insights on how we can manage consumption to support a greener grid, while also helping our customers to make significant savings,” said Catherine O’Kelly, managing director of British Gas Energy at British Gas.
“Our triple payment final session helped us to test this even further so we can understand the full potential of the scheme while passing on even bigger savings to our customers.”
Octopus Energy’s results for its demand flexibility service “Saving Sessions” saw its customers collectively shift 1.86GWh of electricity throughout the 13 trials.