Octopus Energy has announced that its customers collectively shifted 1.86GWh of electricity demand throughout its 13 ‘Saving Sessions’.
Introduced in October 2022, Octopus’s ‘Saving Sessions’ – enabled by the National Grid ESO’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) – the scheme offered financial incentives for consumers to reduce electricity demand over peak periods.
With the final DFS test event taking place on 23 March, Octopus has released its finalised results from the trail:
- An average of 128MW of electricity demand was shifted per hour
- Octopus customers delivered an estimated 50% of the demand shift required by the National Grid
- At 700,000 participants, Octopus said it had the most consumer engagement of any UK energy supplier
- £5.3 million was paid in total to Octopus customers
- The top 5% of Octopus participants saved an average od £41.24 over the winter
“The last five months have been a huge step in the right direction for our future green grid. We’ve proven that households can play a significant role in balancing the grid and moving us away from dirty fossil fuels,” said Alex Schoh, head of flexibility at Octopus Energy.
“It’s now time to reflect, learn and develop this scheme further before next winter. We have the chance to kick coal plants into the history books, and the more households in the UK take part, the faster we will get there.”
At the beginning of March, Octopus stated that the success of the DFS trail in providing security and stability for electricity generators should end the use of coal as backup energy.
