- Britain spent almost £1.5 billion to shut down renewable electricity generation last year
- Households with smart meters can now receive free electricity during periods of surplus renewable energy production.
- Octopus customers have already saved millions with free experimental electrical flexibility sessions
The UK is producing more renewable electricity than ever before, but its grid often can’t use all of it: when the wind blows hard or the sun shines and demand is low, demand can fall below production.
Instead of using this excess energy more widely, the system has systematically paid wind farms to turn off their turbines while paying gas plants to stay on standby, a payment practice that has cost the country almost £1.5 billion in a single year – figures from early 2026 suggest the bill is still piling up quickly.
Now Octopus Energy is looking to change that by expanding its scheme to provide free electricity to its users across the UK.
What Octopus Energy is already doing
Octopus Energy has been using its own version of this idea for several years through a system called Saving Sessions.
In the future, the company will allow its 8 million customers to use more electricity when wholesale prices fall.
This approach has already saved its customers £4.6 million through free electricity sessions, and Octopus also paid £5.8 million to customers who reduced their consumption during peak times.
The company said: “Changes to the DFS scheme mean customers can benefit from increased energy consumption when renewables are high.”
British Gas already runs a separate scheme called PeakSave with half-price electricity on Sunday afternoons.
NESO said it may need to use its tools more, more often than in previous summers, to manage low demand.
More than 36,000 Brits have expressed an interest in joining Octopus Fan Club rates near local wind turbines.
Joining the Fan Club means your unit electricity rates can be reduced by up to 50% when a local wind turbine is spinning and producing electricity.
The project alone will not solve the network bottleneck, but it offers a practical way to immediately reduce waste.
Octopus says it is “excited” about this change and the company has a proven track record of implementing these sessions for its clients.
How the network changes its rules
Several energy companies are currently testing programs that pay households to use more electricity when renewable generation is high.
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has also updated its Demand Flexibility (DFS) program to provide a solution.
The update allows electricity providers to encourage customers to run their appliances, charge their vehicles or increase their consumption during periods of surplus.
Households with smart meters may be offered free or cheaper electricity at certain times, or rewards such as points convertible into gift cards.
The network manager decides when the project will be executed and pays the supplier if it meets the desired demand.
It remains unclear whether other providers will offer the same level of commitment.
Free electricity for washing on weekends is a real benefit, but the deeper problem of power line congestion still requires billions of dollars in new infrastructure.
For now, smart metered households benefiting from participating suppliers can claim a small victory against a very large and wasteful problem.
Via BBC
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds.
