The Demand Flexibility Service
The Demand Flexibility Service pays people to move electricity use to a different time. It covers England, Scotland and Wales and now runs throughout the year, not only in winter.
What the service is
NESO asks registered suppliers and aggregators to move demand during a particular window. Households join through one of those companies, which decides how its own customers take part and what it pays them.
The figures below describe the electricity bought through the service, not household rewards. Check your company’s terms to see what you could receive.
Two directions, and what each asks of you
Most events pay people to use less, usually around the evening peak. Some ask people to use more when there is spare low-carbon generation.
Being paid to use less
Turn things off, or run them later, during the window.
- Energy bought
- 17,264.4 MWh
- Energy asked for
- 282,050 MWh
- Days it ran
- 125
28.9 MW in an average half hour, across 1,194 half-hour periods (597 hours)
472.4 MW in an average half hour, across 1,194 half-hour periods (597 hours)
14 April 2026 to 7 November 2026
The energy bought is 6% of the energy asked for, over the same 1,194 half-hour periods. This is almost the whole of the service. Payment reaches a household through its own supplier or aggregator, on that company's terms.
Being paid to use more
Run things during the window that you would otherwise run later.
- Energy bought
- 39.9 MWh
- Energy asked for
- 155,600 MWh
- Days it ran
- 55
0.12 MW in an average half hour, across 652 half-hour periods (326 hours)
477.3 MW in an average half hour, across 652 half-hour periods (326 hours)
19 April 2026 to 31 October 2026
The energy bought is 0.03% of the energy asked for, over the same 652 half-hour periods. This has been used much less often than events asking people to use less.
Before the direction was published
Earlier events did not say which direction was requested, so these 1,132 half-hour periods across 190 days are shown separately.
13,491.8 MWh bought, across 1,132 half-hour periods (566 hours), 23.8 MW in an average half hour, 29 November 2024 to 27 March 2026.
Energy totals are in megawatt-hours. Any power figure is an average for the half hours covered, not a peak.
When it has actually run
Events are called only when the system needs them. A month missing from the table below had no events.
When events have run
350 days across 25 months, from 29 November 2024 to 7 November 2026. Months with no events are not listed — there is no such thing as a nil month here, only a month in which the service was not called.
| Month | Days with events | Energy bought to use less | Energy bought to use more |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | 7 | 1,031.2 MWh | not offered |
| October 2026 | 28 | 3,521.7 MWh | 39.4 MWh |
| September 2026 | 27 | 3,999.5 MWh | 0 MWh |
| August 2026 | 23 | 2,963.2 MWh | 0 MWh |
| July 2026 | 17 | 1,768.4 MWh | 0 MWh |
| June 2026 | 23 | 2,253.3 MWh | 0.1 MWh |
| May 2026 | 22 | 1,286.9 MWh | 0.4 MWh |
| April 2026 | 13 | 440.4 MWh | 0.1 MWh |
| March 2026 | 8 | 827.3 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| February 2026 | 3 | 241.2 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| January 2026 | 15 | 860.2 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| December 2025 | 6 | 207 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| November 2025 | 7 | 638.5 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| October 2025 | 11 | 875.2 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| September 2025 | 12 | 1,100.8 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| August 2025 | 13 | 641.1 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| July 2025 | 18 | 808.7 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| June 2025 | 15 | 783.1 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| May 2025 | 12 | 544.5 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| April 2025 | 13 | 505.9 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| March 2025 | 18 | 1,957.5 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| February 2025 | 16 | 1,839 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| January 2025 | 10 | 1,335.6 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| December 2024 | 12 | 326.5 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
| November 2024 | 1 | 0 MWhdirection not published | not offered |
By season
A season here runs from 1 April, taken from each event’s own delivery date. Test events are listed separately from live ones and are never added to them.
| Season | Kind | Days | Energy bought | Average power bought | Cost of accepted bids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | Live | 1601,846 half hours | 17,304.3 MWh | 18.7 MWmean, not peak | £3.24m |
| 2026-27 | Test | 412 half hours | 226 MWh | 37.7 MWmean, not peak | £50k |
| 2025-26 | Live | 133822 half hours | 8,033.3 MWh | 19.5 MWmean, not peak | £1.07m |
| 2024-25 | Live | 57310 half hours | 5,458.5 MWh | 35.2 MWmean, not peak | £1.23m |
How a household takes part
Join through your electricity supplier or an aggregator that works with a smart charger, battery or heat pump. The list below shows who took part in the latest season.
Who took part in 2026-27
These are registered participants — suppliers and aggregators — not households. A household reaches the service through one of them, under that company’s own scheme name and its own terms. The prices are what the company bid per megawatt-hour, which is not what anyone is paid at home.
| Participant | Accepted energy | Days bid into | Bid price range |
|---|---|---|---|
| INFINIS LIMITED | 10,256.6 MWh | 95 | £94 to £500 per MWh |
| OCTOPUS ENERGY LIMITED | 4,623.1 MWh | 69 | £60 to £649 per MWh |
| HILDEBRAND TECHNOLOGY LIMITED | 1,163.1 MWh | 93 | £19.5 to £386.8 per MWh |
| EQUIWATT LIMITED | 392.7 MWh | 81 | £105 to £350 per MWh |
| DRAX ENERGY SOLUTIONS LIMITED | 284 MWh | 11 | £160 to £500 per MWh |
| ENGIE POWER LIMITED | 253.4 MWh | 25 | £135 to £336 per MWh |
| Edgware Energy Limited | 129.6 MWh | 2 | £180 to £180 per MWh |
| AXLE ENERGY LIMITED | 120 MWh | 36 | £160 to £987.4 per MWh |
| OAKTREE POWER LIMITED | 90 MWh | 66 | £25 to £357.5 per MWh |
| St Breock Limited | 55.5 MWh | 4 | £170 to £170 per MWh |
| U ENERGY GROUP LIMITED | 46.9 MWh | 92 | £90 to £360 per MWh |
| Sancton Hill Limited | 41.7 MWh | 4 | £170 to £170 per MWh |
| Shuffle Energy Limited | 24.4 MWh | 60 | £20 to £269.5 per MWh |
| Electric Miles Limited | 16.7 MWh | 7 | £132.5 to £135 per MWh |
| Goonhilly Limited | 14.7 MWh | 2 | £170 to £170 per MWh |
| GRIDVOLT UK LIMITED | 10.2 MWh | 34 | £45 to £338.5 per MWh |
| GRIDIMP LIMITED | 3.8 MWh | 9 | £150 to £150 per MWh |
| CUB (UK) LTD | 2.2 MWh | 3 | £170 to £278 per MWh |
| Bryt Energy Limited | 2 MWh | 20 | £100 to £255 per MWh |
| South Sharpley Limitedregistered but never bid | 0 MWh | 0 | — |
Accepted energy is every accepted bid’s megawatts multiplied by the half hour it was bid for, added up across the season. It is not a capacity and says nothing about how much a company can shift at once: no mean is offered either, because a participant may hold more than one accepted bid in the same half hour, so the bid count is not a count of half hours.
Being on this list means a company bid into the service. It does not mean every one of its customers was offered a place, and it does not say what share of a bid price reaches a household.
You will normally need a smart meter sending half-hourly readings, or a compatible device that the aggregator can measure directly.
If your supplier is not on the list, check whether a compatible aggregator accepts customers from other suppliers. The cheapest and cleanest hours page can also help if you want to shift use regularly rather than only when an event is called.
How to find out about an event today
This page is a record of past events, not a live alert. If you have joined, your supplier or aggregator will tell you when an event is available and what you can earn.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Demand Flexibility Service?
A scheme run by the National Energy System Operator that pays electricity users to shift their demand out of the periods when the system is tightest. Households take part through their supplier or through an aggregator, not directly with NESO, and payment usually arrives as bill credit or as points under whatever the company calls its own scheme.
Is the Demand Flexibility Service only in winter?
No. It was a winter service when it launched, but it became year-round on 27 November 2024 and has had events in every month since, summer included. Anything describing it as a cold-evening scheme is describing how it worked before that change.
How much does the Demand Flexibility Service pay?
That depends entirely on your supplier or aggregator, and this dataset cannot tell you. What it publishes is what the participating company bid, per megawatt-hour, at its own meter boundary. How much of that reaches a household, and in what form, is set by that company’s own scheme terms.
Do I need a smart meter to take part?
In practice yes. Payment depends on comparing your consumption during the event with what you would normally have used at that time, which needs half-hourly meter readings. Some routes into the service use a compatible smart charger or battery instead, but all of them need something reporting your usage at half-hourly resolution.
Is there an event today?
This page cannot tell you. The requirement for a same-day event is published around 10:15 in the morning for an event that can begin 45 minutes later, and the data behind this page refreshes every six hours. If you are signed up, your supplier or aggregator will contact you; this page is the record of when the service has run, not an alert that it is running.
