Announcement on National Grid Demand Flexibility Service (DFS)

  • PeterT_EONNext's Avatar
    Community Team
    So some of you may have seen recently in the news that National Grid will be enabling energy suppliers to invite their customers to scale back their energy usage during peak times of the day, and be rewarded with account credit should you be able to do so, here's a little more info on this, as well as what we're calling this, and how it works!

    Introducing...

    Demand Flexibility Service (DFS)


    E.ON Next will be participating in the National Grid Demand Flexibility Service.

    As long as you have a Smart Meter, and your settings for your meter reading data is set to 'half-hourly' you could be invited to take part in the initial roll out of this scheme which will run over the winter period.

    How does DFS work?

    1. National Grid announce to participating energy suppliers that they predict high demand of electricity during certain 'peak hours'.

    2. National Grid then works with us, who have asked our customers to participate in the event (Energy Shift)

    3. You'll be asked to reduce your consumption during these Energy Saving Events (typically, between 4pm and 7pm, though subject to change depending on demand)

    4. A credit will then be awarded for those that manage to reduce their usage of the proposed amount or less during the event window.

    It's that simple!

    How do I know if I can take part, and what do I do if I take part?

    You won't need to contact us, as we'll be reaching out to those that are eligible, and this will be a set few to begin with whilst the scheme gets up and running in November onward.

    Those of you who are eligible will be contacted via email, made aware of DFS and what this means, and asked to register your interest.

    The day before an event, you'll then be emailed again and given an 'energy saving target' and asked if you'd like to participate.

    We'll send a text and email to those that have said they'd like to participate on the day, to remind you what to expect, and what you'll need to do.

    You'll then need to reduce your energy usage during the set window you've been notified of (this will be between 1 to 4 hours)

    After the event, you'll receive the results, letting you know if you hit your energy saving target, and credit your account accordingly (within 14 working days)

    How much energy will I need to save?

    This varies from customer to customer. We’ll give you your typical consumption for each event period and a target for how much we'd like you to reduce your electricity consumption by.

    How is the reduction target calculated?

    Using the half hourly data that we retrieve from your smart meter, we'll calculate how much electricity you'd typically use during the time period of the event and provide a target to reduce by.

    I want to take part, what do I do?

    For now, this is just a heads up, and some info on what the scheme is. You may or may not be contacted in this initial stage in relation to the DFS scheme.

    Generally, you'll need to have a Smart electricity meter which is communicating half-hourly data to us. We’ll need around a month’s worth of data from the smart meter before you'll be eligible for the DFS as we need to calculate your baseline consumption.

    At present, you'll also need to be opted into marketing on your online account - this may change yet, however, due to how we need to contact those who may be eligible, you'll need to be opted into our marketing communications.

    Our data teams will be identifying those who have the functionality needed and you'll be contacted in due course.

    Pete 😊
    Last edited by PeterT_EONNext; 05-01-23 at 09:40. Reason: Wording
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  • 139 Replies

  • Energyrobbers's Avatar
    Level 5
    thats all well and good my so called smart metres havent been working since the switch from eon to eon next and an a call to eon today say it could take years to get it sorted but were working perfectly before the swich..
  • IanW's Avatar
    Level 1
    So some of you may have seen recently in the news that National Grid will be enabling energy suppliers to invite their customers to scale back their energy usage during peak times of the day, and be rewarded with account credit should you be able to do so, here's a little more info on this, as well as what we're calling this, and how it works!

    Introducing...

    Energy Shift

    E.ON Next will be participating in the National Grid Demand Flexibility Service with our aptly named 'Energy Shift' scheme.

    As long as you have a Smart Meter, and your settings for your meter reading data is set to 'half-hourly' you could be invited to take part in the initial roll out of this scheme which will run over the winter period.

    How does Energy Shift work?

    1. National Grid announce to participating energy suppliers that they predict high demand of electricity during certain 'peak hours'.

    2. National Grid then works with us, who have asked our customers to participate in the event (Energy Shift)

    3. You'll be asked to reduce your consumption during these Energy Saving Events (typically, between 4pm and 7pm, though subject to change depending on demand)

    4. A credit will then be awarded for those that manage to reduce their usage of the proposed amount or less during the event window.

    It's that simple!

    How do I know if I can take part, and what do I do if I take part?

    You won't need to contact us, as we'll be reaching out to those that are eligible, and this will be a set few to begin with whilst the scheme gets up and running in November onward.

    Those of you who are eligible will be contacted via email, made aware of Energy Shift and what this means, and asked to register your interest.

    The day before an event, you'll then be emailed again and given an 'energy saving target' and asked if you'd like to participate.

    We'll send a text and email to those that have said they'd like to participate on the day, to remind you what to expect, and what you'll need to do.

    You'll then need to reduce your energy usage during the set window you've been notified of (this will be between 1 to 4 hours)

    After the event, you'll receive the results, letting you know if you hit your energy saving target, and credit your account accordingly (within 14 working days)


    I want to take part, what do I do?

    For now, this is just a heads up, and some info on what the scheme is. You may or may not be contacted in this initial stage in relation to the Energy Shift scheme.

    Generally, you'll need to have a Smart electricity meter which is communicating half-hourly data to us. We’ll need around a month’s worth of data from the smart meter before you'll be eligible for Energy Shift as we need to calculate your baseline consumption.

    Our data teams will be identifying those who have the functionality needed and you'll be contacted in due course.

    Pete 😊


    how do i check that my smart meter is set to half hourly reading?
  • aspenwonder's Avatar
    Level 5
    @PeterT_EONNext
    Hi. Thanks for the 'heads up. Being retired, I am keen to be part of the low use discount scheme. Not been very technical, I will do my best to keeo up to date and hope for an invitation.
    Kind regards
  • PeterT_EONNext's Avatar
    Community Team
    Hi @IanW

    If you go to your online account and then head to 'Profile' you will see all of your details on that page. From there, you'll be able to see near the bottom of the page what your Smart Meter settings are set to (usually monthly or daily by default, as you have to opt in to half-hourly reads) you can then change this from there.
  • andydragon's Avatar
    Level 7
    I’m set to half hourly but disabled marketing. I have changed this now but would I potentially be eligible even if marketing is disabled?
  • PeterT_EONNext's Avatar
    Community Team
    Thanks for asking @andydragon - I wasn't sure on this as we hadn't been told.

    I've asked the question and at present, you will need to be opted into marketing from your online account - I've updated the main post in relation to this too 😊
  • andydragon's Avatar
    Level 7
    Thanks for asking @andydragon - I wasn't sure on this as we hadn't been told.

    I've asked the question and at present, you will need to be opted into marketing from your online account - I've updated the main post in relation to this too 😊
    Thanks for this. I have opted into email and sms. This scheme is still being looked at, so the fact I only did this today, should that put me in the potentials?
  • Mailman's Avatar
    Level 60
    @PeterT_EONNext

    Got an email this morning and promptly signed up for it. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

  • meldrewreborn's Avatar
    Level 91
    @Mailman

    As posted elsewhere I use currently 8kWh per day. So one kWh per 3 hours. Usage will be higher in the day compared to sleeping hours. in any one hour the most i could use would be if I put the dishwasher, tumble dryer and washing machine on at the same time. Of course I don't do that.

    I suspect the amount of energy one could save in one hour compared to previous data would be minimal. So being paid £30 (well the suplier will get that - what will be passed onto the customer?) per kWh reduction appears fantastic but in reality will turn out to be peanuts.

    While £100 saving could be made I wonder what the projections are of the average or mean saving are?
    Current Eon Next customer, ex EDF, Zog and Symbio. Don't think dual fuel saves money and don't like smart meters. Chronologically Gifted. If I offend let me know by private message, but I’ll continue to express my opinions nonetheless.