Smart meters: Smart meter users could be paid to use less energy at peak times | Personal Finance | Finance

However, there is no timeline for delivery of the project at this stage.

An ESO spokesperson said: “Demand shifting has the potential to save consumers money, reduce carbon emissions and offer greater flexibility on the system and some forms of demand management are already used today to help balance the system.

“We recently ran a few small successful trials with Octopus to see what can be achieved from an aggregated consumer demand response and there’s now more work to do with industry to consider how we can roll out the service.

“Innovation that drives consumers value and reduces carbon emissions will always be deployed as swiftly as possible, in a tested, safe and reliable way.”

This scheme was previously trialled with 100,000 Octopus Energy customers who were told to reduce their consumption during a two-hour period, including the peak times between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, when demand is highest.