Utility Week

16 | FEBRUARY 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Electricity Analysis Demanding change The demand fl exibility service has caught even its architects by surprise in the willingness of consumers to shift their electricity usage out of peak time. But will the novelty of fl exibility survive? A t 5pm on 15 November 2022, the National Grid Electricity System Oper- ator (ESO) saw a dramatic drop in demand. Sudden spikes or troughs in the real-time data owing into this hub of Great Britain's energy system would ordinarily be seen as a worrying sign. But instead of jitters there was jubilation. This was no anomaly, it was the collective action of hundreds of thousands of consumers and businesses responding to a simultaneous request to lower their energy consumption for the greater good of the grid. In other words, this was a glimpse of the future. For Claire Dykta, head of markets at the ESO, it was an emotional moment. "That was a really great feeling and to see all the hard work of the team and of all the partners was a wonderful moment," she says. "But it was also a really important step in proving that demand exibility works." Dykta was bearing witness to a true mile- stone as the ESO's demand exibility service (DFS) went live. This scheme to encourage consumers and businesses to lower their consumption or switch electricity use out- side of peak hours, was a long time in con- ception but had been wrestled into reality in record time. Ofgem had approved the DFS just two weeks earlier. She re ects: "This was one of, if not the, quickest projects we've ever developed, and we did that hand in hand with industry. There was a real puling together of everyone to get it done quickly." The scheme was based on the lessons from a joint trial between Octopus Energy and the ESO over summer 2022 but saw the scope of the project scaled up dramatically. The ' rst test, which caught much of the industry somewhat on the hop, involved four participants – Octopus, Eon Next, Drax's business retail arm, and aggregator Flex- itricity. For the next "event" a week later there were 13 providers and by the middle of December, 26 organisations were signed up, representing more than one million customers. Over the course of the ' rst ' ve tests, almost 800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of con- sumption had been avoided – exceeding most people's expectations of the immediate impact of DFS and generating a rare moment of universally positive press coverage for the energy sector. Participants interviewed for this article were unanimous in celebrating the achieve- ments of the DFS in its ' rst few months. How- ever, they also raised a number of questions about its future and whether the way con- sumers have engaged to date is sustainable. Key to the debate is how demand exibility can ultimately become an unremarkable ele- ment of the wider energy eco-system. There was a consensus that this trial represents a perfect moment to engage customers on their role in the energy system of the future – and one that cannot be missed. The beauty of going back to basics Sammie Davies, an Octopus Energy customer from Ayrshire in Scotland, has taken part in all six of the tests that had taken place as Utility Week went to press. Both Sammie and her partner work from home so are in a per- fect position to shi› their usage throughout the day. Explaining the attraction, she says: "It was a combination of saving money but also of being more environmentally friendly. If I'm being completely honest I'd never really given much thought to when I was using energy." Describing how she took part in the two- hour trials, Davies says: "We really went for it. Everything went oœ and we sat in the dark. That was actually part of the attraction – the beauty of switching everything oœ . I really enjoyed going back to basics." Davies' experience appears to be a fairly common one from the anecdotal evidence suppliers gave to Utility Week. Octopus has encouraged 500,000 of its c3.5 million customers (not counting the 1.5 million being transferred from Bulb) to take part in the DFS (under its Savings Sessions banner) receiving "OctoPoints" in return, which can be turned into credit. The com- pany says it has returned about £1.5 million to customers over six tests and is fond of quoting the comparison that it has avoided the equivalent demand to all households in Leicester switching oœ for an hour. Kieron Stopforth, origination manager at Octopus, says: "Energy has de' nitely received a lot of attention this year, with prices where they are, and it being on the news everyday. But what we are seeing is customers engaging a lot more with energy use more generally. They are increasingly responding to messaging about climate and turning down during times where coal or gas use might be high in the system.

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