Major energy supplier British Gas has announced that it will be offering eight hours of free electricity at weekends to nearly two and a half million of its customers.
The offer is available to British Gas customers who currently have smart meters installed, and will allow them to use electricity for free between the hours of 9am and 5pm on either Saturday or Sunday. The customers will be able to choose which weekend day they would prefer.
The offer comes as part of British Gas’ new FreeTime tariff, which charges customers the standard rate for their electricity during the week. Prices will be fixed until March 2018.
British Gas have claimed that with the weekend discount, which they estimate will save users an average of £60 per year, will be their cheapest dual fuel tariff on offer.
Sarwjit Sambhi, managing director of UK home at British Gas, described the new tariff as a first for the energy industry, and said that more similar innovations are already in the pipeline.
He said: “FreeTime is an industry first and will give our customers greater control of their energy use. This will be the first of many smart-meter innovations from British Gas which will also contribute to managing the country’s demand for power from the national grid.”
The deal comes as energy suppliers as well as watchdog groups are promoting the use of smart meters, which record live usage data, allowing providers to see the times and days during which energy use is at its highest and lowest. By allowing customers to access and monitor their usage – finding out exactly how much they are spending and when – they can help them budget, and also ensure that bills provided are completely accurate and not based on estimates.
As of the end of March 2016, there were around 2.75 million smart meters operated by large energy providers installed in houses across the UK, and with over half a million installed during the first quarter of this year, that number is only set to go up. A further 569,000 smart meters are currently installed in non-domestic buildings.
