More than a million households and businesses received money to slash their electricity use.
Twenty-six suppliers which had previously joined the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service paid their customers to switch off their devices and save on energy.
The group of participating energy companies include Octopus, EDF, British Gas and OVO.
A spokesperson for EDF told ELN “Out of the nearly 34,000 customers signed up to ‘Beat the Peak’, EDF’s Demand Flexibility Service, around 18,000 participated in Monday’s event and approximately 21,000 participated in Tuesday’s event.
“We don’t yet have the data to share on how much our customers reduced their demand by. Customers are offered £3 per kilowatt hour as part of the scheme. We look to credit our customer’s bills within two weeks of the event.”
Octopus estimated that nearly 600,000 signed up to reduce their usage for cash.
A British Gas spokesperson told ELN: “We will be contacting the customers in our Peak Save scheme to let them know if they have the option to take part in this saving event.
“We will also be doubling the payments made to customers this winter to provide a greater incentive to shift demand. For instance, if you save 1Kwh in energy and National Grid pays you £3 then we will double this to £6 and it will all go as a credit on your energy bill.
“We will also boost customers who make small savings to make sure they earn at least £1 from each event.
“The electricity grid is facing increased pressure and smart technology will play a key role in managing peak demand. During this trial, we are testing how we can use this scheme to reduce consumption whilst having the added benefit of helping customers save on their energy bills.”
A spokesperson for Octopus told ELN: “Over 400,000 Octopus customers opted in to Monday night’s event – customers were paid 2,700 OctoPoints per kWh reduced, equivalent to around £3.37.
“Initial data projects that Octopus reduced the UK’s energy usage by around 200MWh – the same as the city of Bristol going off grid for an hour. The average customer was paid between 1,000-2,000 OctoPoints (£1.25-£2.50) for the hour, while the top 5% were paid over 7,000 OctoPoints (around £8,75) for the hour.”
The energy company said on Tuesday’s event, run between 4.30pm and 6pm, it paid 3,200 OctoPoints (around £4) per kWh reduced.
It is estimated that 7,989 OVO customers took part in the DFS on Monday and 9,698 on Tuesday. – the energy supplier paid a total of £8,500 to customers, with the highest-earning participant making £22.41 in credit for one hour of energy shifted on the first day of the live event.
An estimated £14.18k was rewarded to customers in total on Tuesday, with the highest earning participant making £31.47 in credit for the 90 minutes of energy shifted.
