Energy management company, equiwatt, offers an alternative to the hundreds of thousands of households who will miss out on incentives from the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) via their energy suppliers this winter.
The DFS scheme, which is rewarding consumers for using electricity outside of peak times this winter started at the beginning of November, and sees energy suppliers incentivising households to reduce energy consumption at home during peak hours – typically between 4pm and 7pm, when demand is highest. Incentives will include either cash rebates, points to redeem against reward vouchers and/or prizes.
However, several energy suppliers are limiting the number of customers that can join their schemes even if they have the required connected smart meter and half hourly readings. A significant proportion of willing UK households will therefore not be able to take advantage of the energy saving financial incentives on offer from the DFS.
equiwatt, who is on the National Grid’s approved list of DFS providers, is independent of energy suppliers and already has an established and popular app that rewards households for saving peak time energy. Households who miss out with their suppliers or have not yet joined a scheme, can access these National Grid DFS incentives with equiwatt via their free app.
“National Grid’s demand flexibility service is a great initiative that offers a way for consumers to access incentives for saving energy at peak times of demand, while also helping to reduce strain on the grid” said Johnson Fernandes, CEO, equiwatt.
“But many consumers will miss out on those energy savings and the financial rewards that come with them, as they either are not invited to a supplier scheme or don’t have a smart meter. We’re delighted that, through our app, we can offer a greater number of households the opportunity to reduce their energy usage and be rewarded financially this winter.”
It is also expected that most energy suppliers will only offer around 25 opportunities – known as energy saving ‘events’ or ‘sessions’ – to save on peak energy usage over the winter. However, equiwatt runs energy saving ‘equivents’ year-round, with over 300 events to date, so saving helping consumers access financial benefits throughout the year, not just over winter.
How it works
equiwatt makes it easy for householders to shift energy usage away from peak times of demand through its consumer app, which is free and easy-to-use, and links to smart technologies used in homes across the UK – like smart meters, smart plugs or smart chargers.
equiwatt’s app sends notifications to householders to take part in energy saving events at peak times by turning off or avoiding the use of appliances – anything from fridge freezers to washing machines – and electric vehicle (EV) charging.
equiwatt’s energy saving ‘equivents’ last for up to 1 hour and users are rewarded for the energy and CO2 savings they make with points that can be redeemed for vouchers on Amazon, John Lewis and other big brands. Not only does this help with the rising cost of living but also enables households to reduce their carbon footprint as energy suppliers often resort to using polluting fossil fuel-based energy at these times to meet demand.
“Energy bills are going up and up and up, but our energy usage was reduced compared to last year and I really think that’s greatly because of using equiwatt”, said Rachel Hunter, equiwatt customer.
“We started paying more attention to what energy we were using during equivents and beyond. We actually saved money on our energy bills even though the cost of each energy unit had gone up”
“All of us need to do our part to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels”, said Richard Tubb, equiwatt customer. “equiwatt enables households to use easy-to-use smart technology to reduce their load on the National Grid, save money, and earn rewards while doing so.”
About equiwatt
Clean-tech start-up, equiwatt brings residential demand side response to householders in the UK. Its free and easy-to-use mobile app connects to smart meters and smart plugs, alerting consumers to reduce the energy used by appliances and EV charging during periods of peak demand. By establishing a collective community of users engaged in energy reduction at the same time, equiwatt is helping restore balance in the national energy supply.
equiwatt’s mission is to improve the accessibility of clean energy by encouraging consumers to adopt smarter energy consumption practices, and facilitating a flexible, cost-effective and sustainable electricity system.
