A record level of electricity generated by wind has resulted in the highest ever level of negative energy pricing in the UK, Smart Energy GB has claimed.
Negative pricing relieves pressures on the network when there is a large amount of cheap, green energy available. Through negative pricing, customers are paid to use their energy.
On Sunday (8 December) a record 16162MW was generated by wind power in Great Britain, resulting in a negative price of 5p/kwH.
The consumers involved were on Octopus Energy smart meter-enabled Agile time of use tariffs and were offered energy prices that saw them paid for every unit of electricity they used.
In response Duncan Burt, director of operations at National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), said the company was “excited” to see the example of a smart electricity system in action.
He added: “The high levels of wind generation, something we will see more of as we move towards our 2025 ambition of being able to operate the British electricity system carbon free, requires increased flexibility to balance the grid.
“Initiative’s such as Octopus, encouraging increasing demand when there’s spare renewable output, help us make the most of the green energy and run the electricity system as efficiently as possible – keeping costs down for consumers too.”
While Octopus is due to release its figures of how many consumers were involved tomorrow (10 December), Utility Week understands this to be around 1,000 customers.
Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy said: “A green electron should be a cheap electron. We need a system that delivers this, and we saw glimpses of this system this weekend, where some of our customers made money for using energy when the wind was giving us more than enough.
“At Octopus we are increasingly seeing those on our agile smart meter tariff tweak their daily routines to push their usage into these cheap, off-peak and renewable-heavy hours.
“This is one of the times when a large cohort of these customers came together and did something that benefits them, the national grid and the planet.”
Meanwhile Robert Cheesewright, director of corporate affairs at Smart Energy GB, said: “This was all made possible through smart meters.
“As we build a smarter energy system that is truly responsive to supply and demand it will become common for consumers to be rewarded for helping out our energy system.”