Electricity Demand Turn Up trial: EOI for flexibility providers

Overview

This expression of interest is the first stage of a UKRI and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero trial exploring whether Demand Turn Up (DTU) can help reduce renewable electricity curtailment across Great Britain.

The competition is looking for Flexibility Service Providers, including energy suppliers, aggregators and industrial or commercial organisations, that can deliver live DTU propositions through eligible National Energy System Operator markets.

The trial will test whether rebating eligible Final Consumption Levies can make increasing electricity demand at useful times more commercially attractive, encourage consumer participation and make better use of renewable generation that might otherwise be curtailed.

No funding is awarded at this EOI stage. Successful applicants may be invited to the subsequent award stage, where grant funding of up to £3 million per participating Flexibility Service Provider will be available. Across the full trial, UKRI and DESNZ will invest up to £16 million.

Scope

This expression of interest competition is the first stage in selecting Flexibility Service Providers to participate in Phase 1 of a Demand Turn Up trial.

DTU is a form of consumer-led flexibility that encourages consumers to increase their electricity consumption at times when additional demand can benefit the electricity system. It could help make better use of renewable electricity that might otherwise be curtailed.

The aim of the competition is to identify Flexibility Service Providers, including energy suppliers and aggregators, that can participate in Phase 1 of the trial.

The trial will test whether rebating the value of eligible Final Consumption Levies for verified DTU activity can make DTU more cost competitive, encourage consumer participation and reduce the need for renewable generation curtailment. It will generate evidence to inform future government policy on the treatment of Final Consumption Levies for DTU.

If invited to the subsequent award stage, Phase 1 propositions must:

• deliver measurable and verifiable DTU through one or more eligible National Energy System Operator markets
• recruit and support eligible domestic or non-domestic consumers to participate in the trial
• provide participating consumers with a financial benefit linked to eligible DTU activity
• pass the financial benefit of Final Consumption Levy rebate payments to participating consumers, subject to any eligible participation costs agreed in advance
• measure eligible DTU activity and provide the data required to calculate and verify rebate payments
• support monitoring, research and evaluation
• comply with applicable market rules, consumer protection requirements, trial terms and data-sharing requirements
• commence live delivery within the Phase 1 timetable

Key themes and topics

The competition is particularly interested in propositions that:

• serve a diverse range of consumers, including vulnerable and fuel-poor households
• provide indicative estimates of the number and types of consumers that could participate in Phase 1
• estimate the DTU capacity and volume that could be delivered, including how this may vary by time, duration and location
• test different approaches to communicating DTU opportunities to consumers
• explore how industrial and commercial consumers can participate in DTU

Phase 1 will support verified DTU activity delivered through the following eligible NESO markets:

• Balancing Mechanism (BM)
• Demand Flexibility Service (DFS)
• Local Constraint Market (LCM), where it continues to operate separately from DFS

Distribution System Operator flexibility markets are not eligible during Phase 1.

The trial will operate across Great Britain. The greatest initial benefits are expected in areas where network constraints coincide with high levels of renewable electricity generation and curtailment, particularly Scotland and the East of England.

Projects will not be funded if they:

• provide demand turn down or demand reduction rather than verified DTU
• operate outside the specified markets
• seek Final Consumption Levy rebates for consumption that is not eligible, measurable and verifiable under the trial
• seek rebates for BSUoS, TNUoS, DUoS or other charges outside the scope of the trial
• do not pass the financial benefit of rebates through to participating consumers, subject to eligible participation costs agreed in advance
• cannot meet consumer recruitment, data-sharing, monitoring, verification, research or evaluation requirements
• are limited to feasibility studies, technology development or proposition design without live delivery
• deliberately encourage wasteful electricity consumption, gaming or activity without a legitimate consumer or electricity system benefit
• provide ongoing operational support or permanent electricity price reductions beyond the trial period
• do not comply with relevant regulatory, consumer protection, subsidy control or financial viability requirements

Project duration

Up to 4 months

Must start on 1 December 2026

End by 31 March 2027

Award value

This is an Expression of Interest, there is no funding available at this stage.

Successful applicants invited to the subsequent award stage can request up to £3 million per participating Flexibility Service Provider.

Funding rates

No grant funding is available at the EOI stage.

For the subsequent award stage, funding will support eligible Final Consumption Levy rebate costs, with grant funding capped at £3 million per participating Flexibility Service Provider.

The supplied eligibility information does not specify standard feasibility study, industrial research or experimental development funding rates, so these have not been included.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be led by a UK registered business of any size
• Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs
• All funded project work must be carried out within the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK