Some British Gas customers will be the first in the UK to trial a new half-price electricity scheme on Sunday (April 30).
More than 150,000 customers on British Gas’ PeakSave scheme will be invited to take part in a one-off session between 11am and 4pm this weekend, to monitor whether the incentive of cheaper energy is enough to make families rethink their habits and switch their peak use away from weekday evenings.
The trial is the energy supplier's first go at testing whether discounts on a Sunday can encourage a shift away from peak times, which will reduce reduce emissions during those periods. British Gas will be running a number of trials to build on the success of PeakSave and is asking customers to sign up if they want to take part in the pilot.
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British Gas, which is the UK's largest energy supplier with 10 million domestic customers, launched PeakSave this winter to trial energy reduction schemes in the National Grid demand flexibility service trials. Other energy companies such as Octopus and Ovo Energy also took part in the scheme, which tested the potential for reducing demand on the grid by asking households to reduce their usage during National Grid’s ‘turn-down’ events in return for a rebate on their energy bill.
The initial scheme trial ran between December 1 last year and March 31, and now British Gas is expanding on the testing by launching new products to explore the potential to save on bills and shift demand.
In the original trial, British Gas customers received a combined total of more than £1.8m and saved 147 MWh of energy – enough to power 750,000 homes for an hour. The savings to date equate to an average of £28.56 per customer – with the top two per cent saving £53 and the biggest saver making £332.
Customers who are interested in signing up to the trial schemes can apply here. There is no obligation to make any changes to normal routine if you sign up, although if customers are able to shift regular activities such as washing, cleaning, charging or cooking they could save on their energy bill. To take part in this session, eligible customers will be contacted by email and will need to opt-in through this.
British Gas will issue a bill credit within seven working days of participating in the session, giving 50% off their tariff unit rate on all electricity consumption between 11am and 4pm. It is entirely free to take part in the PeakSave Sunday session and there is no impact on tariffs or normal energy payments.
A British Gas spokesperson said: “Over 200,000 customers signed up to the first PeakSave trial, providing us with invaluable insights on how we can manage consumption to support a greener grid, while also helping our customers to make significant savings. Following the success of the scheme this winter, we are now the first supplier looking at other ways we can help manage demand. We will be contacting customers to let them know they have the option to get half price electricity from 11am to 4pm this Sunday and will soon be taking registrations to sign up more customers to upcoming trials.”
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