Utilita Energy customers could save £75 with new off-peak energy credits scheme | Personal Finance | Finance
People will receive energy credits in exchange for avoiding or reducing their usage through the Power Payback feature. The supplier hopes to roll out the programme to all Utilita households if successful.
A trial for the scheme is taking place at 1,020 households for one month, with each home to receive a text notification one hour before each Power Payback event, with one each week.
If a customer avoids usage during that time, which will normally be between 5.30pm and 10.30pm, they will get credits equivalent to the cost savings.
Usage data from Utilita suggests a household could save up to £76.44 through the scheme, and people could increase these savings by following bespoke efficiency advice, available through the Smart Score app feature.
The supplier said the app can slash their bills by a fifth by using the app to reduce their energy usage.
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Utilita offers just one tariff, based on the average cost for energy that the firm pays.
By helping customers to reduce their usage during peak times, Utilita can buy the energy at a cheaper price and pass on the savings.
The supplier’s customers will be the first ever households who prepay for the energy they use to access such a saving feature.
George Walters, Utilita’s Chief Home Services Officer, said: “As a result of consumer champions encouraging suppliers to compete not on value, but price, during the last decade, households have been able to access energy at an unsustainably low price, hence why more than 30 suppliers who joined the race to the bottom have folded.
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“As a result, many households have got into the habit of using whatever energy they want, and whenever they want, which comes at a high price today.
“For households who are able and willing to avoid peak times, there are some substantial savings to be made.”
Archie Lasseter, Utilita’s Sustainability Lead, spoke about the initial successful results of the trial.
He said: “In the first week of the trial, 72.25 percent of the 1,020 households taking part were able to reduce their consumption and have received payment for doing so.
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Some of the UK’s largest energy supplies, including British Gas, Octopus Energy, SSE, and E.ON are taking part in the scheme.
Participants will be sent a message to tell them to reduce their energy usage or shift when they use electricity at peak hours on a particular day.
Mr Lasseter spoke about why Utilita is running a separate trial: “Although Utilita’s plans to trial Power Payback preceded the June 2022 announcement from National Grid that they intended to run the Flexibility Demand Service (FDS) starting this month, this month-long trial will enable Utilita to identify the demand from its customers, and whether it can also take part in the National Grid scheme.
“It’s also the first ever trial for prepayment households and the first trial to go deeper by considering more variables than previous trials, including a household’s ability to reduce demand at different times of the day, day of week, and the duration of an event – from half an hour up to four hours.”
Peak hours are usually considered to be around 4pm to 7pm when people come home from work and school and demand is highest.
