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Green Energy UK has launched a new time-of-use tariff for households with smart meters.
Customers who sign up to the new tariff will pay around five times less for consuming power during the overnight lull in demand than they do during peaks hours on weekday evenings.
“Our new tariff is called Tide and is about being savvy and smart, where being smart is the way customers can bring down their energy bill, not trying to find the cheapest deal with a new-on-the-block-supplier,” said chief executive Doug Stewart.
Customers will be charged the ‘High Tide’ rate of 24.99p/kWh for using electricity during between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays and the ‘Low Tide’ rate of 4.99p/kWh for using it between 11pm and 6am on any day of the week. The rest of the time they will be charged 11.99p/kWh.
Households which do not already have a smart meter will still be able to sign up as Green Energy UK will install the meters for them.
“If we are to learn anything from GB Energy’s failure, it’s that cheapest tariffs are unprofitable and unsustainable,” said Stewart. “The mantra of ‘switch to the lowest tariff’ has done nothing for energy efficiency and encourages higher use by those who can’t necessarily afford it.”
He continued: “The introduction of a [time-of-use tariff] is the first step into the new world of energy infrastructure; a step which puts consumers in charge, lets them take control and decide when they use energy and what that means to their bill,”
‘Tide’ is the second time-of-use tariff to be launched in the UK after British Gas unveiled its ‘FreeTime’ tariff in July, which offered free power to smart meter customers between 9am and 5pm on weekends.
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