- More than £17m was paid to two fossil fuel power plants
- Households received £900 per MWh
- This is less than six times the amount
Octopus Energy has called on the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to pay households to shift their energy usage away from peak times to reduce the burden on the National Grid instead of turning on polluting fossil fuel plants.
The energy provider said NESO paid more than £17m to two fossil fuel power plants for backup power amid a cold weather snap last week instead of calling on the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS).
The service acts as an enhanced action, in addition to the normal electricity market, that is to be used to access additional megawatts (MW) during times of high national demand, particularly on days when the system could have been placed under stress.
Petrol stations received payments of up to £5,570 per MWh of power between 12pm and 7pm.
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, said in contrast, households participating in its owner DFS, ‘Saving Sessions’ during the same time period were offered just £900 per MWh.
“‘Saving Sessions’ allow customers to get paid for shifting their energy use out of times of peak demand, helping to balance the grid,” Jackson added.
He explained that by increasing the rate offered to households, more customers would be encouraged to take part in the scheme, “dramatically lowering balancing costs that are paid for by all billpayers”.
Last winter, people received £2,850 per MWh shifted, on average, but the reduction in payments has seen participating households drop by 50%.
“Millions of pounds were added to bills in just a few hours to pay a handful of gas power plants for a modest amount of electricity,” Jackson claimed.
“It’d have been far cheaper to pay customers who chose to use a bit less instead. This was incredibly successful last year, but has been crippled by bureaucratic wrangling.
“Yesterday shows we need to redouble efforts to make the system work for customers, not against them.”
