Britain expands energy flexibility scheme to reward power use when renewables surge

Britain’s power market is moving toward a new bargain with consumers: use less when the grid is strained, but also use more when renewable generation is plentiful. The National Energy System Operator expanded its Demand Flexibility Service to reward households and businesses that shift electricity use into quieter periods, including sunny or windy spells when there is excess supply.

The updated service builds on a scheme that first launched in winter 2022/23, then became year-round on 27 November 2024. NESO said the next evolution will launch on 14 April 2026, extending a model that has already shifted from emergency peak-cutting toward a broader tool for balancing Great Britain’s electricity system across England, Scotland and Wales.

Under the new rules, eligible customers may be paid for using power at the right time, not only for avoiding it. Rewards can come through lower tariffs, bill credits or other incentives offered by suppliers and third-party aggregators, and NESO says consumers remain in control of whether they take part. The service is designed to help absorb surplus renewable electricity from wind and solar, while reducing balancing costs and cutting the need to switch on more expensive power stations.

The latest expansion, introduced on 9 April 2026, added bi-directional flexibility, zonal procurement, a lower eligibility threshold of 0.1MW, a Primacy process and a Self-Nominated baseline option. That matters because it widens access beyond the largest industrial users and gives more room for assets that can respond both by turning down and turning up. NESO has said the change can support intermittent renewables as well as industrial and commercial assets.

The policy backdrop is a wider push to make the system more flexible as electrification accelerates. Ofgem said electricity demand is expected to rise by 50% by 2035, and estimated that flexibility could save consumers £30 billion to £70 billion by 2050 by reducing the need for new generation and network build-out. Ofgem also appointed Elexon as market facilitator for local energy flexibility in July 2024 and started work on a common registration system so devices such as EV chargers, heat pumps and home batteries can participate more easily across local and national markets.

The government’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap, published on 23 July 2025, set out the vision behind the shift: a clean, flexible, consumer-focused electricity system. For many households, the promise of “free electricity” is likely to be less a literal giveaway than a narrow window for savings, available to those with the right devices, the right tariff and the flexibility to use power when the grid most wants it.