EDF Beat the Peak anyone?

[Clive Page]

Has anyone managed to sign up for EDF's Beat the Peak or equivalent schemes of other energy companies? These give you a refund if you manage to reduce your power usage during a period of peak consumption in the country.

I would have thought that we'd qualify having a smart meter which is working in that it sends readings to them. Press reports said that hundreds of thousands of customers have been sent emails saying they can sign up. But I didn't. Now I've asked EDF how to sign up, it says the scheme is now closed to new applicants. Maybe it was too successful?

[Andy Burns]

No, but I have asked EDF if they've given up trying to "re-smart" my smart meter ...

Got accosted by a reasonably nice chap flogging octopus yesterday, their "Tracker" tariff seems to hover along between 17 and 20p per kWh instead of fixed 27p tariff, the only worry is how high does it peak in the depths of winter?

[Theo]

50-80p, but only for a couple of weeks:

[Robin]

Yes, for BG's.

[alan_m]

I've signed up for the Octopus version. I got a whopping 18p for one of the recent sessions. Unfortunately you don't have any choice in the hour or two for which they want you to reduce electricity consumption. They compare your average usage over a period of X days for the same time period in order to establish what the reduction may be. So far all periods where a "reward" is given for using less have been periods where this household doesn't use much electricity.

[Andy Burns]

Which of their tariffs? e.g. it strikes me that if you're on one of their "agile" tariffs where usage is more expensive around teatime, you'll already have minimised usage then anyway, so when they offer discount for reduced usage, it will be unlikely you can do much more reduction during the peak?

Octopus seems like a "clever" way of slicing the year/week/day into multiple periods where you might be able to save, or if you're not careful they might be able to fleece you ...

[alan_m]

I'm on their standard variable tariff (flexible octopus).

[Robin]

BG just letting us dip our toes at present with offers of payments for reductions between 17:00 and 18:30 or thereabouts on a few days when wind was forecast to be low.

I assume they will be monitoring to what extent that has the perverse effect of encouraging folk to shift use to that period on other days to raise baselines.

[ajh]

I got 79p for one, still awaiting results for the other, my daughter got £11 for the first one in December.

[alan_m]

Yes, I think one of the periods was something like £4 per KWh. I seem to remember that last winter there were a few sessions with similar payments for a reduction in usage. This year the designated times have been around 5pm/6:30pm which I assume is the peak tea time cooking period for many (working) families. The consumption during this time in my household may be the CH pump, a few low wattage light bulbs, the broadband router and the TV (maybe the fridge/freezer kicking in).

[Max Demian]

I want to decide when to cook dinner based on habit and hunger, not the whim of my energy company.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tough shit baby, Welcome to the new green communism.

[Theo]

So far, on the standard tariffs, they only give you a discount for using/not using electricity at specific times. You can continue to cook dinner whenever you feel like and it costs your standard rate, just like you pay for the rest of time unless there's a discount period available. The discount periods are infrequent (roughly a couple of hours once a week). You can get a decent chunk of cash if you make use of them but you don't have to, your choice.

Or you have the option for the tariffs where energy is priced like the stock market (which it is, wholesale). But you wouldn't choose them unless you are fully prepared to play that game.

Theo