Turn Down and Save pays Loop customers for using less electricity at peak times this winter.

At peak times it’s expensive for National Grid to balance supply and demand. National Grid pays some of the most expensive electricity generators to generate electricity at peak times. But it also pays factories and businesses to reduce their usage. This can often be cheaper than turning more generators on. Turn Down and Save extends the same offer to Loop customers. If you can use less electricity during peak periods Loop will pay you a reward.

National Grid has to balance supply and demand of electricity every second of every day.

But our demand for electricity varies all the time. The demand over a day in January this year is shown in the graph below. The peak demand at 5:30pm is 70% higher than the low overnight demand.  

To support this peak demand more generation turns on. As you’d expect, the cheapest generation is used first. This comes from wind, solar, nuclear and the most efficient gas plants. But as demand peaks, increasingly expensive generation is needed.

This is where Turn Down and Save comes in. Rather than turning on expensive generation, National Grid will pay households via Loop to reduce their use at peak times. 

Turn Down and Save saves National Grid money and Loop’s customers money. It’s a win-win.

Turn Down and Save is available to everyone with an electricity smart meter.  In order to take part in an event, you need to have joined the Turn Down and Save scheme by the Thursday morning before a given event and then opt in to that event when it is announced.  This is dictated by National Grid, not us.  

If you don’t have a Loop account already, click here to set up your free Loop account – once your account is active we’ll email you with instructions on how to sign up to Turn Down and Save.

You must be a Loop user to sign up to Turn Down and Save.

If you don’t have a Loop account already, click here to set up your free Loop account – once your account is active we’ll email you with instructions on how to sign up to Turn Down and Save. 

Next event: 6.30pm – 7.30pm Thursday 23rd March

We’ll notify all users of future events as they are announced by National Grid.  We will generally have less than 24 hours notice.

In order to take part in an event, you need to have joined the Turn Down and Save scheme by the Thursday morning before a given event and then opt in to that event when it is announced.  This is dictated by National Grid, not us.

Turn Down and Save is only available for electricity.

Yes, but calculations of energy saved will be based on your import meter data only.

Turn Down and Save is supported by National Grid ESO. National Grid ESO are supporting several Demand Flexibility Services with different providers this Winter.

Please note that you can only sign up to one Demand Flexibility Service.

If you wish to change service you should withdraw from your existing service before signing up for the new service.

The energy crisis is putting an immense strain on households. As you’d expect, energy news is being reported through the prism of the crisis. 

But Turn Down and Save is about more than just keeping the lights on. It marks a shift. Balancing the grid is moving away from turning on more and more expensive generation at peak times. The future is smart, clean tech in houses up and down the country, scheduling when they use energy to best support the grid. 

Customers don’t care if their electric car charges at 5pm or 2am as long as it’s charged when they need it. Home batteries can do far more than just store spare solar energy for the evening. And even white goods have the potential to choose when to use energy.

This smart energy future is central to Loop’s vision. The cost savings from having solar on your roof, a battery in your garage and an electric car on your drive are huge. Optimising how you use both your home grown and grid electricity adds to the savings. But it’s not just about cost. It’s a much greener, cleaner, sustainable way to power your home.

If National Grid runs more events we will participate.

If you would like to withdraw your consent and opt out of Turn Down and Save, please complete this short form and we’ll remove you from the scheme.

Please note: you will still be eligible to receive the rewards you’ve earned so far from the events you’ve taken part in with us. Turn Down and Save finishes at the end of March and all rewards will be paid shortly after that.

Provided you reduce your usage by at least 40% of your baseline (your normal usage for the same period), we will pay you approximately £2.50 per kWh saved.

So for example, if your baseline for the event duration was 1kWh and you reduced it to 0.5kWh we would pay you £1.25.

NB: The rate per kWh will vary per event but we anticipate it will be approximately £2.50/kWh on average.

You’ll be paid via an Amazon voucher.

Payment will take place after the last Turn Down and Save event of this winter. This will be no later than April 2023.

In order to measure how much you’ve reduced your usage, National Grid insists on each home taking part having a working smart meter.

The in-home display isn’t required to be working. We only need the electricity smart meter to be working.

If we’re unable to receive your meter readings to calculate your usage, we’ll work it out using an average across all users.

Contact your energy supplier to get it fixed. If we can’t get regular half-hourly readings from your meter you may no longer be eligible to take part.

You need to ask your electricity supplier to install a smart meter for you. Most of the major suppliers should be able to arrange installation within a few weeks (depending on location, current demand etc.)