People will be paid to use less electricity on Monday

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Chippy_Tea

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Up to a million households in England, Scotland and Wales will be paid to use less electricity on Monday evening as part of a scheme to avoid blackouts.
National Grid said its Demand Flexibility Service, which has only been used in tests so far, would run between 17:00 and 18:00 GMT.
Those who have signed up will get discounts on their bills if they do things like delay using their oven.
The cold snap has seen energy use rise as more people turn on the heating.
National Grid said that it plans to run the scheme again tomorrow from 16:30 to 18:00 GMT.

On Sunday it also asked for three coal-fired generators to be put on standby in case electricity supplies ran low, but it has since stood them down.

Could you get money off your bill?

According to National Grid, the first thing you should do is check whether your supplier is one of the 26 that has signed up to the scheme. You'll get a notification that it starts today.
People in England, Scotland and Wales who have a smart meter are eligible.
Customers will receive a discount if they reduce their electricity use between the times set by National Grid. On Monday the scheme will run between 17:00 and 18:00 GMT.
You can save by doing things like delaying using your washing machine or tumble dryer, or charging your electric vehicle.
National Grid says savings can range from a few pounds to as much as £20 depending on the amount of energy used.

This week's cold snap is expected to lead to high power demand, while wind power is forecast to be lower than usual.
It is also uncertain whether the UK will be able to import the power it needs via undersea cables from Europe.
To try to reduce demand, National Grid has activated its Demand Flexibility Service.
But the scheme is only available to homes with smart meters, and the BBC has been contacted by several people who are frustrated that they cannot participate due to not having a smart meter.

Tonight will be the second time Sarah Chambers from the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, takes part in the energy-saving scheme with her supplier Octopus.
The last time was during a test in October when she saved about £3 in a one-hour session.
The mum-of-three, 51, told the BBC she was "excited" about taking part on Monday and had even pre-charged smartphones and laptops for the family to watch TV and play games on.
"I won't be running the tumble dryer or the washing machine as I usually do when the children come home with dirty PE kits after school," she added.
"The dishwasher won't be running either as I won't be cooking tea - so no oven either."

Consumers are engaged'

According to National Grid's electricity system operator, more than a million households and businesses have now signed up to take part.
The scheme was introduced last year and is scheduled to run until March.
There were initially concerns it would not attract enough interest due to the level of discounts being offered. But Craig Dyke, head of national control at National Grid ESO, told the BBC that during the nine tests so far, consumers had saved more energy than forecast.
"To us, that tells us that the consumers are engaged," he said.
On Sunday, National Grid ordered three UK coal plants to begin warming up in case they were needed to generate electricity on Monday.
Power station operator Drax was asked to prepare two coal-fired units and EDF was warming up its West Burton plant.

National Grid - which has now stood the plants down - had said "people should not be worried" by the move and electricity supplies were not at risk.
A similar request to warm up coal plants was made in December last year, although in the event they were not used.
BBC climate editor Justin Rowlatt said the fact that it was deemed necessary to warm up coal-fired power stations is a sign of how far the renewable revolution still has to go.
As yet there are no economical grid-scale energy-storage solutions that can see the country through a spell of cold weather which coincides with a lull in the wind, he said, and that is unlikely to change for many years to come.
Last summer, the UK government asked Drax to extend the life of its coal-fired generators due to fears over the security of energy supplies following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The Drax plants had been due to close in September, but the company agreed to keep them online until March 2023.
National Grid's boss told the BBC last year that blackouts would be a last resort this winter if energy supplies run low.
John Pettigrew said National Grid's "base case" assumption was the UK would have enough supplies to meet heating and lighting demand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64367504
 
I signed up through Octopus so we’ll see what happens. Not sure I’ll get any money back but worth a go. I wonder if it compares your usual usage to the nights usage 🤷
 
So we have plently of 'leccy? This would imply not 🤔 or maybe infrastructure that cannot cope. I can think of only a few reasons....
in alphabetical order lest I be accused of bias....

Electric household heating instead of gas
Electric Vehicles
Lack of investment in energy infrastructure
Low renewable output due to weather conditions.

I truly have no clue how much each accounts for vs supply/demand but something is afoot here that we are not being told about.
 
I’m with OVO energy and signed up to their deal last month. It runs from January to March. For every month I use less than 12.5% of my energy between the hours of 16.00 - 19.00 I’ll get a £20 credit on my bill. I’m currently on track this month, just, at 11.75% but it’s difficult for me. They don’t take into account my solar panels. It only measures my imported energy, not total usage. So, as I put large appliances on during the day and use the free energy it ends up screwing the figures to look like I’ve used less during the day.
 
A pity they don't run a scheme like this in The Netherlands. I'd sign up in a heartbeat.

There used to be something similar in the city/privince I went to a technical school. There was a deal between the electrical company and the schools not to start up the electrical equipment on monday morning, so that they could use the excess power to start up e few major chemical factories and an aluminium smelter elsewhere in the province.
 
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So we have plently of 'leccy? This would imply not
The clue is in the OP.

This week's cold snap is expected to lead to high power demand, while wind power is forecast to be lower than usual.
It is also uncertain whether the UK will be able to import the power it needs via undersea cables from Europe.
 
I am with Shell Energy who say they are in the scheme. I haven't seen anything that as asked me to opt in and on their website all I can see is that it asks me to make sure I have opted into their communication preferences. The article is from November so all a bit rubbish really.
 
I already have energy efficient light bulbs and turn off standby appliances after use with the exception of mrs doj's pvr which uses 1w in standby as does our laser printer. our heating and cooking is using gas. Trying to get anywhere near a 10% in electric reduction means not using the pc - which is a gold efficiency 300w psu. If the 'leccy heater was being used for the conservatory then I'd have no problem, but removing 10% off a tight figure isn't achievable even if we had a smart meter. I've always tried to be energy efficient as i'm a tightwad anyway but they have to pay their way.

heavens forbid if you have to go from a 60min boil to 30min wink... to get a bonus. At that point the AG brewers could afford to use DME and just a hop tea with the savings.
 
Update from Shell.

They will he sending emails out in the next few weeks asking people to join. I hope any savings are backdated as the scheme would have finished time it gets going
 
Asked Shell for more details and not happy. I assume that companies will be paying less at these core times or at least claiming money back, and that should be passed onto customers, all at the same rate regardless of supplier.

Shell inform me that they won't be giving any discount instead for every 0.1kwh saved you get one entry into a monthly draw, 100 prizes of £100. With the final draw being a electric car and charging point installed. Rather save a weekly amount
 
The results are in!

Screenshot_20230127_161201.jpg


£7 not bad for an hour
 
How!? The best I've managed is about £1 of savings and that was by sitting with just one lamp on for the hour and no appliances running.
It all depends on how much you normally use in that time slot. So if you normally run the dishwasher, washing machine, grainfather and oven during that time slot and you go to the pub instead, you will save a lot!
 

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