So eating a microwave meal instead of cooking a proper dinner? Maybe not an issue for some but given that I don't own a microwave that's not going to be easy! 

But as you say Andy, how are they going to work this? It would be easy to just 'go out for a walk' during the test hour and not use any electricity at all! 

This is the government scambling around the shambles they have caused us all with the Green Madness that they have all subscribed to over the last 20 years. They'd rather pay us out of hours for any excess energy instead of paying the wind turbine companies their promised subsidy to switch off.

More info here from Octopus who ran the trial earlier this year, it doesn't answer the question of how the baseline is calculated though - possibly they're keeping this quiet to make it harder for people to know how to game the system as you suggest

https://octopus.energy/saving-sessions/

i think I've got it. The meters log the times and amount ofelectricity people use and then poll the meters overnight so as not to bring the mobile phone and internetto a grinding halt. When it is expanded that may cause problems.

That's my theory anyway!

Well I would suggest there are a few different ways to do this. Some may be better than others and that might vary depending upon your outlook anyway. Good for me bad for him etc etc etc.

Like most things in life it will inevitably be some kind of compromise and it may be that most people dislike it to one extent or the other but might just help the situation at the end of the day. or it might not.

So good luck with working out how to implement it whichever way (or ways) you decide to do it.

As for the unscrupulous. Well some folk will naturally try to work it to their best advantage, a lot will, some will push that a little further, and some a little more. That is human nature, it can be a good thing but it can work against you.

Reminds me of the fellow I heard a few years ago in the local Kebab Shop. He ordered Donner plus Salad on a tray and a separate pitta bread. I noticed two things 1/ it cost less than a Donner Kebab on a Pitta and 2/ He got more in it.

Apparently the shop owner eventually found out and remarked "That is not fair, you are getting a normal Donner Kebab for less money". The bloke replied "Well you devised the price scale for your goods, I simply ordered it accordingly!" .

Made me smile that one because it was the antithesis of my Father in Law paying 50p more because he didn`t want beans on his breakfast.

Classic people behaviour both examples. Nature of unintended consequences and all that.

So, how will they work it? I do not know

Octopus energy will let you know the day before they can offer a Saving Session, once they've seen the weather forecast. No wind or sun and it's game on. And when that doesn't work then your smart meter will be remotely switched off. 

What meter??

Have you not all had that handy electrician from down the pub bypass the fiscal meter and even issue a EICR while he was at it for buying him a pint and a bag of crisps!!

Enjoy your weekend folks,

GTB

Lisa Miles said:

It would be easy to just 'go out for a walk' during the test hour and not use any electricity at all!

You may as well also pop into your local cafe/bar/restaurant and have your tea while you are about it.

This may work well for adult households, but not so well for families whose children will want to eat at the normal time.

I am very doubtful about the merits of this scheme. IN PREVIOUS winters there have been doubts as to the sufficiency of UK generating plant to meet the evening peak demand. In such circumstances, shifting demand away from the peak hours could be very valuable indeed.

However the PRESENT concern is a likely shortage of natural gas with which to fuel gas burning power stations. If demand is shifted from the peak hours to the off peak hours, then natural gas is still the marginal fuel used to meet this demand. 

If say 1 GW of demand is shifted from the peak hours into the off peak, then gas is still burnt to meet that increased off peak demand. Generating a GWH of electricity in the off peak will consume almost as much gas as would be used to generate the same electricity during the peak.  There WILL BE A SLIGHT SAVING since that plant used in the off peak will be more modern and more efficient than the low "merit order" plant used in the peak hours. Also a slight reduction in transmission and distribution copper losses as these vary approximately as the square of the load.  Seems a marginal gain though.

watt-logic.com/.../