British Gas Peak Save Scheme has paid over £1.8m to customers

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British Gas peak save scheme has paid over £1.8m to customers after making triple payments for final session in trial 

• British Gas has paid PeakSave customers three times more for its final event after being the only supplier making double payments throughout the trial
• Customers involved in the PeakSave trial have been paid around £1.8 million in total since December – an average of £28.56 per customer for all events – and they have saved 147 MWh of energy
• The most common habits customers have been changing are their cooking times, clothes washing times and use of the dishwasher and tumble dryer
• British Gas will be launching further PeakSave products in the coming months to build on its early success

British Gas has revealed its customers have received a combined total of more than £1.8 million and saved 147 MWh of energy through its PeakSave scheme since the launch in December – enough to power 750,000 homes for an hour. The savings to date equate to an average of £28.56 per customer – with the top 2 per cent saving £53 and the biggest saver making £332.

Throughout the trial British Gas has been the only supplier paying customers double what’s being paid by the National Grid. For the final PeakSave session in the trial, British Gas paid customers three times the typical amount paid by National Grid, so it could fully test the scheme’s potential. This means every British Gas customer who saved 1 kWh received a £9 pay-out directly on their bills.

Research from British Gas has revealed overwhelming support from those involved in the scheme so far, with 98% of those surveyed saying they would take part again in the future. Simple updates to the times and ways households have cooked (70%) and washed their clothes (70%) are the most common ways participants have been shifting their consumption, with changes to dishwasher (47%) and tumble dryer (46%) usage also listed. Some customers took the opportunity to exercise or walk their dog, others said they spent much-needed downtime chatting as a family.

British Gas will be looking to explore the potential of the scheme throughout the year which could have enormous benefits for the grid and help consumers save on their energy bills.

Catherine O’Kelly, Managing Director of British Gas Energy at British Gas, said:

“The electricity grid is facing increased pressure and smart technology has a key role to play in managing peak demand. Over 200,000 customers signed up to the PeakSave trial, providing us with invaluable insights on how we can manage consumption to support a greener grid, while also helping our customers to make significant savings. Our triple payment final session helped us to test this even further so we can understand the full potential of the scheme while passing on even bigger savings to our customers.”

PeakSave is a trial energy reduction scheme that tests how to reduce consumption to support a greener grid, while also helping customers to save on their energy bills. Participating households are asked to reduce their usage during National Grid’s ‘turn-down’ events through the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) – a country-wide effort to ease the strain on the UK’s energy grid at peak times. PeakSave is currently available to British Gas customers with a smart meter who have been invited to take part in the trial. British Gas will be launching further PeakSave products in the coming months.

Find more information here: https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/peak-save.html.