Renewable power supplier Good Energy has unveiled a new tariff offering electric vehicle (EV) drivers a four-hour window in which to charge their vehicles for free.
The new Zap Flash tariff, which was designed with Good Energy’s subsidiary Zap-Map, will alert customers when there is an abundance of solar and wind power being generated.
Good Energy said the flash periods, which will occur once a week, will run in summer from April to September between 11am and 3pm. Meanwhile in winter it will run from October to March between 11pm and 3am.
Customers, who are required to have a smart meter, will be given at least 24 hours’ notice in advance of the flash period and will also be able to use the electricity to power their homes.
Additionally the company will be rolling out smart EV chargers, along with an updated app to work alongside the new tariff. It will be initially launched in beta phase, which the company says allows for more sophisticated versions as it learns from customers.
Good Energy’s chief executive and founder, Juliet Davenport, said: “Britain generates so much renewable electricity it only makes sense for us all to take advantage of this free resource.
“The new ‘flash’ tariff will offer people the chance to benefit from free, green power when the wind and sun are strongest. Electric vehicle drivers are already doing their bit for the climate – here’s a chance for them to go one step further and support a truly clean energy grid.”
Zap-Map’s Co-founder and chief operating officer, Melanie Shufflebotham, said: “The electric vehicle market is changing rapidly, and we need to keep up. There will be over 70 pure electric models available to buy in 2021 and the UK now has close to 500,000 plug-in vehicles on the road.
“This innovative tariff is supporting these seismic shifts by offering drivers a cheaper and greener way of charging their vehicle. Zap Flash goes above and beyond what’s currently on the market by listening to what people want and helping them go electric.”
Kraken update
Also announcing its financial results today (13 April) the company gave an update on the integration of the Octopus-owned Kraken platform in which it revealed all of its domestic customers had been successfully migrated.
As a result of Kraken the company was able to reduce its staff headcount by around 60 which in turn significantly reduced its staff costs, with this coming to £2.7 million (down from £13.4 million). Furthermore email response times have halved from 48 to 24 hours while Trustpilot scores have increased.
The company added Kraken has resulted in an increase in paperless billing and more people have turned to online services.
Meanwhile more than 80 per cent of its business customers have been transferred onto the Ensek Ignition platform.
Revenue increased by 5.1 per cent to £130.6 million, which the company says was driven by growth in business supply and feed-in-tariff customers, more than offsetting a decline in domestic customers.
Additionally earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) were £10 million which is slightly less than the £10.3 million posted the previous year.