Electricity Reduction

[Hopkirk]

I don't think the authorities have noticed a flaw in their demand reduction scheme.

Customers are financially rewarded for reducing consumption compared with their normal usage.

What this will do is encourage people to increase usage at peak times, so they see a bigger fall on days when it is activated. People will deliberately put their washing machine on and charge their car during the evening surge just to make the occasional saving.

It's the law of unintended consequences again.

[DTCwordfan]

I gather it's an experiment at the moment so they can see if and how it works - better than regional brown-outs though.

[Hopkirk]

It was put into practice for real twice this week. However apparently during one of them we were selling electricity to the republic of Ireland.

[murraymints]

for smart meter peeps only ..will not have one !!

[MrsCheese]

It’s only people with smart meters that will experience these “power cuts”

[perseverer]

If it is necessary to cut power, it will be to an area, not individual houses.

[Zacs-Master]

This is nothing to do with power cuts.
'The UK is heavily reliant on gas to produce electricity, with gas-fired power stations generating more than 40% of the country's electricity. With the current volatility in energy markets, National Grid is looking at ways to reduce demand and ease pressure on the grid over the winter months, as an insurance policy'
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/households-with-smart-meters-could-get-discounted-energy-bills-for-cutting-peak-time-use-aMGWe7x7gKwE

[barry1010]

The energy companies know how much electricity Mrs Bloggs uses between a set period of time on average because they have that detailed useage from her smart meter.