Demand response: a horror story

Here’s a funny story for you. I had this neat idea to talk about hydrogen this sunny November Monday because it’s been a while since I last ranted on the topic. I’d lined up links, I’d lined up points and all was set. But then I saw this: UK homes to be offered payments to cut electricity use all year round. There was no way I was passing on such a great rant opportunity, so hydrogen would have to wait. Let’s talk demand response!

The story above was published in the Financial Times on Sunday, citing unnamed sources as saying the new British grid operator was planning to incentivise people and businesses to use less electricity during peak demand periods by paying them off, essentially.

Apparently, they’d done trial runs in the last two winters. Since their start, the trial runs had saved 3.7 GWh of electricity. Great job, no? Also, interestingly, rather profitable for energy suppliers. Because they get paid to supply less electricity to consumers and businesses. That’s right. You supply less electricity and you get money for that. It’s a dream setup. You do less and get paid for it. Obviously, a flawless, nothing-can-go-wrong system that would benefit all involved. Or is it?