British Gas Starts Paying Customers to Use Less Electricity
- Centrica says British Gas plan to run from December to March
- The market will likely need the tool for ‘years to come’: CEO
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The UK’s biggest energy supplier, Centrica Plc, has started a scheme to get its customers to save power when needed to help balance the grid when supplies are scarce.
Centrica’s British Gas will target more than 100,000 smart-meter households, in what it calls the the initial trial phase, asking them to try to reduce their electricity consumption by 30% during peak hours. Those that do -- for example, by not using dishwashers or washing machines during a two-hour period of peak demand -- can take as much as £100 ($119.57) of their winter power bill, the company said in a statement.