UK will pay consumers who use less energy amid the cold snap

National Grid, the UK’s electricity grid operator, said it would pay consumers who use less energy on Monday night and had asked for three coal-fired generators to be prepared should they be needed as the country faces a cold snap.

The operator said it would activate a new scheme called the Demand Flexibility Service, whereby consumers receive incentives if they agree to use less energy during times of crisis.

The service, which has been tested but not run in a real situation before, would run from 5 pm to 6 pm on Monday, National Grid said, adding that the change did not mean the electricity supply was at risk and advising people not to. worry.

The measures were announced to “ensure everyone gets the electricity they need”, Craig Dyke, head of national control at National Grid ESO, told BBC Radio on Monday, adding that 26 providers had signed up to the scheme.

Sub-zero temperatures have been recorded across much of the UK in recent days, with the national weather service, the Met Office, last week issuing severe weather warnings for snow and ice.

National Grid’s Dyke said consumers can make small habit changes to make money by reducing energy use, such as waiting to prepare food or running the washing machine until after 6 pm.

National Grid said in December that more than a million British households had signed up for the scheme, which is one of its strategies to help avoid power outages.

The announcement about the coal-fired generators does not mean they will definitely be used, it said in a separate statement.

Coal-fired generators were last put on standby in December, when temperatures dropped and demand for energy increased, but they were not needed then.