What is the National Grid and Octopus smart meter trial and can I participate? Business

Households are set to be paid to ration their peak-hour energy use in a trial run by the National Grid, The Telegraph revealed on Tuesday.

What is happening?

From February 11 to March 31, up to 1.4 million UK households will be paid to reduce their electricity consumption at certain times of the day.

The “Domestic Reserve Depletion” trial conducted by National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) and Octopus Energy will see customers given a target of low power consumption during set two-hour periods, such as 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. If they can keep their consumption below these targets, all the electricity they use during this period will be provided free of charge.

What is the purpose of the trial?

The results of the trial will help National Grid ESO, which manages electricity supply and demand in Britain, determine how best to design and operate the power system.

The program is an experiment to see how easy it is to get households to change their habits and, by extension, their energy consumption. This could pave the way for a wider overhaul of Britain’s energy system as part of the transition to greener forms of energy.

As we reduce our use of fossil fuels to generate electricity, officials want to reduce the strain on the grid and limit the amount of new capacity needed. They proposed to do this by encouraging people to spread demand throughout the day and night, for example by charging electric cars or using household appliances at different times.

This could possibly be achieved by energy providers rolling out special tariffs offering discounts at certain times of the day, such as Octopus’ Agile tariff. Such tariffs would allow customers to buy electricity at cheaper rates during off-peak hours, perhaps using appliances or batteries programmed to automatically consume electricity at those times.

Who can participate?

Any household with a smart meter that buys electricity from Octopus Energy can participate. The trial is always open to new participants.

How do I register?

Existing Octopus customers wishing to sign up can email: hello@octopus.energy

I am not an Octopus customer. Can I switch and participate in the trial?

Those who are not already Octopus customers can theoretically switch to an Octopus tariff and then apply to participate in the trial once their switchover period is over. However, it should be noted that since the trial lasts less than two months, customers who sign up after the start date will benefit from a shorter period.