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The head of National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has said he sees last winter’s trials of the demand flexibility service (DFS) as a “stepping stone” to a full commercial product, possibly for winter 2024/25.
The DFS ran as a series of scheduled tests between November and April, with customers receiving money off their bills for shifting electricity demand outside of peak hours. It was also used in two live events to ease tight supply margins.
Around 1.6 million households and businesses took part over the winter, saving 3.3GWh of electricity.
During a panel session at Utility Week Live, ESO’s executive director Fintan Slye said the success of the scheme showed there was an appetite in society to engage with demand flexibility, despite previous scepticism that this really existed.
He said: “We’re looking to build on that now for next year. We don’t want it to just be a product for an emergency situation. We want to leverage that take-up and interest we had from the various supply companies and customers and build on it to see how we could make it into a normal part of the product suite we have.
“This winter will probably be a stepping stone into that and then the winter after will be about getting the full commercial product out there. We’re still working through that with various companies at the moment.”
The ESO is currently undertaking a review of the DFS to gauge its future role, with the results due to be published in the summer.
A spokesperson for the ESO told Utility Week: “We are exploring the potential use of the DFS as a winter contingency and a commercial service for the future and to build on its past successes. We are actively consulting with industry and consumers to establish how this world leading service, or a similar flexibility product, can be developed further and support the continued evolution of consumer flexibility in the UK and its role in the power system of the future.”
Speaking separately at Utility Week Live, Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said he was “pleasantly surprised” by the uptake of the DFS across the 22 winter sessions, saying it showed the public was open to changing their behaviour.
However, he said: “The biggest blocker is that we are being unrealistic if we are expecting people to massively adapt their lifestyles to make the changes we want to.
“Until we find the technological and tariff solutions to make all of this simple, it will always be a niche service for a niche set of customers who are already interested.”
It was a point Slye had already addressed in his panel session, saying: “Technology will play a huge part in terms of making it seamless in people’s lives. People are not going to run around their houses turning off their lights long-term. Those apps will emerge and technology will help us there and will mean people’s lifestyles aren’t affected by this.”
Elsewhere at Utility Week Live, Climate Change Committee chief executive Chris Stark accused the government of “wilfully ignoring” the role of demand-side solutions in progressing net zero.
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