Western Power Distribution (WPD) has launched a new domestic flexibility trial that will see households paid to keep their electricity usage at or below a pre-agreed level during weekday peaks in demand.
This is in contrast with most previous flexibility services which usually require providers to reduce their consumption by a specified amount.
WPD said Sustain-H is the first flexibility service it has designed specifically for domestic customers and has already proved popular, with eight companies signing up to offer it to their customers: EDF, Octopus Energy, Ecotricity; Kaluza, SMS, Stemy Energy, ev.energy and myenergi.
Five of the companies will go live with the service this month. The rest will follow in March 2021.
“Our key design principles were simplicity and inclusivity, in response to industry feedback,” said Matt Watson, innovation and low-carbon networks engineer at WPD.
“For instance, we’ve sought to be inclusive by being open to both smart meters and asset-meters.”
The service was designed by WPD, Everoze and SGC during the national coronavirus lockdown in spring. Nithin Rajavelu from Everoze said: “Together with participants, we’ve conceived of and are now delivering a pioneering a new service, without any of us meeting face-to-face once. That’s quite remarkable when you think about it.
“It turns out that not even a global pandemic can slow down the domestic flex sector.”
Participating customers will be asked to keep their usage at or below set levels during two four-hour windows on weekdays – 8am to 12pm and 4pm to 8pm. WPD said they can expect to earn about £10 per year if their home has an electric vehicle chargepoint, and up to £60 per year if they have a full suite of flexible technologies, including a heat pump and battery as well.
The trial is being supported with funding from Ofgem’s Network Innovation Allowance, although the payments will be funded from WPD’s core budget.
“We’ve sought to align with our business-as-usual team wherever possible to enable a clear pathway to commercialization,” said Watson. “So we’re using the standardised service contract being rolled out across distribution system operators and we’re basing tariffs on those already used for other WPD flex contracts.”