Savings Sessions results are in
First launched in the United Kingdom as a response to the energy crisis, the concept is simple. Saving Sessions gives you a discount on your bill for reducing your electricity usage during peak times when there is tight supply. Not only does this reduce costs for you, but it also helps us reduce stress on our electricity grid.
We ran a total of nine saving sessions over the colder months, encouraging customers to reduce their consumption when the electricity grid was at peak stress. 20 percent of you participated, and you reduced your load by an average of 50% each session.
If we scaled this up to every household in New Zealand, it would equal a whopping 244,000 kWh. This would be the equivalent of 122,000 warm wash cycles, 3,050,000 kettle boils, and would mean we could avoid switching on peaker gas plant for over 1 hour during peak stress times on the grid!
Not only will this reduce demand on the grid during peak stress times, but it will help cut emissions allowing us to make the most of renewable energy when the sun’s shining and the wind’s blowing.
Why is this important?
Well, while we have gotten through this winter, next year’s energy security of supply should be cause for concern.
Transpower is predicting more constrained gas and thermal generation, and the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will not be able to reduce demand at the same scale that they have this year.
To prevent the worst case scenario, it is likely that it will fall to everyday people to reduce their consumption.
Here at Octopus we think you should be compensated for doing so. Savings Sessions is all about rewarding people for the contribution they can make to balancing the electricity system. If we’re going to be paying generators top dollar to turn on fossil fuels during peak times, we should also be rewarding you for doing your part to reduce usage.
