British Gas has launched what it claims is a ‘supplier first’ trial to encourage its customers to manage energy demand.
Last Sunday (30 April), British Gas offered members of its PeakSave scheme – consisting of over 150,000 customers – half price electricity in a one-off session between 11am and 4pm.
Customers that were able to shift their demand usage away from peak hours to 11am to 4pm on Sunday are now set to be rewarded with bill credit within seven working days. This will provide 50% off their tariff unit rate for any electricity used during this period.
British Gas said that this trial aims to test whether discounted electricity rates on Sundays could shift demand away from peak weekday evenings.
This means that customers could economically benefit from shifting regular energy-intensive activities to greener periods, such as on Sundays.
The trial builds on the energy supplier’s PeakSave scheme, which shifted a total of 147MWh of energy over the 2022/23 winter period.
“Over 200,000 customers signed up to the first 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 a British Gas spokesperson.
“Following the success of the scheme this winter, we are now the first supplier looking at other ways we can help manage demand. We will be contacting customers to let them know they have the option to get half price electricity from 11am to 4pm this Sunday and will soon be taking registrations to sign up more customers to upcoming trials.”
British Gas has said it will continue to run a number of trials to test demand flexibility possibilities.
