Households in the UK could be offered discounts on their energy bills if they use less gas and electricity at certain times.
After a “successful” trial earlier this year, National Grid said it was thinking of deploying the plan nationwide.
In February and March, some 100,000 Octopus Energy customers were asked to keep consumption within target at specific times of the day.
If they did, they would be given the energy they used for free, The Telegraph reported.
The idea, described as a “change in demand,” is to offer incentives to people to change the time they carry out energy-consuming activities, such as using the washing machine or charging an electric car.
A smart meter is required to participate.
As the Ukrainian war makes energy less secure, there are concerns about supplies this coming winter.
After the test ended, last week, National Grid ESO (electrical system operator) held a webinar to assess how many other providers might be interested in joining the program, and is awaiting formal responses.
Millions of homes could now be added to the program.
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0:43 Energy price cap is expected to be £ 2,800
“Demand change has the potential to save consumers money, reduce carbon emissions and provide greater flexibility to the system, and today some forms of demand management are already being used to help balance the system,” he said. say a spokesman for National Grid ESO.
“We recently conducted a number of successful tests with Octopus to see what can be achieved from a response to aggregate consumer demand and now there is more work to be done with the industry to consider how we can implement the service.
“Innovation that drives consumer value and reduces carbon emissions will always be deployed as quickly as possible, in a proven, safe and reliable way.”