British Gas customers will be offered half price electricity every Sunday from this weekend until the end of September.
Through its PeakSave scheme, British Gas estimates that customers will save up to £5 million during the summer months.
The PeakSave scheme was devised as part of the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) during the winter, which incentivised customers to use energy when prices were lower.
As part of the Summer Sundays version of the scheme, customers will be rewarded with 50% off all electricity between 11am and 4pm every Sunday from 25 June to 24 September. The discount is available to new and existing PeakSave customers, and all savings will appear as a credit on customers’ energy bills.
Typically, there is a greater amount of renewables available in the UK’s energy system on a Sunday because of lower demand from business and industry, which reduces the requirement for energy generated by fossil fuels.
Octopus Energy recently called on National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) to use customer flexibility all year round as a permanent solution to end the reliance on back-up coal generators.
It came after Uniper was instructed to fire up two back-up coal-fired power units this month to cope with additional electricity demand during the ongoing heatwave.
The units were fired up on the 12 June and still remain online, having generated power for the grid on 10 of the 11 days since.
Catherine O’Kelly, managing director of British Gas Energy at British Gas, said: “The electricity grid continues to face enormous pressures and we recognise the need to better manage periods of peak demand to ensure a safe, constant and more sustainable supply across the UK.
“Since launching PeakSave last year, we have gained valuable insight on how we can control periods of high demand on the grid, while helping our customers to make significant savings.
“We want to increase the number of customers who have signed up to the scheme so we can understand its true potential and achieve a greener and more controlled grid.”
Around 1.6 million households and businesses took part in the DFS over the winter, saving 3.3GWh of electricity.
The ESO recently set out proposed several rule changes to prevent households from gaming the DFS when it returns this winter.
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