Simon :donor:<p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Octopus" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Octopus</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SavingSessions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SavingSessions</span></a>’ future is in jeopardy.</p><p>Tomorrow, the energy regulator <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Ofgem" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ofgem</span></a> were set to decide:<br> <br>- Whether the service should continue at all<br>- How much reward customers should receive for taking part<br> <br>Earlier, they rushed out their decision (a day ahead of schedule): approving a change that would reduce the reward you receive by ~90%.<br> <br>Where previously, we typically paid you £2.25 per unit you saved, it would be more like 22p per unit instead.<br> <br>This week, thousands of Saving Sessions customers have flooded Ofgem's inbox and social media to say they want a fair reward for helping make energy cheaper and greener.</p><p>If you want to help</p><p>email: consumeraffairs@ofgem.gov.uk<br>and copy in hello@octopus.energy with the subject line "Please save the Demand Flexibility Service."</p><p>Body of email:</p><p>Hello Ofgem, </p><p>I'm an Octopus Energy customer, and last winter I took part in Saving <br>Sessions. I believe that Saving Sessions and the Demand Flexibility <br>Service are a great thing for the country, and customers should keep <br>their reward for helping make the energy system cheaper and greener. <br>Please reconsider your decision and make sure customers are rewarded fairly.</p><p>Why might the Saving Sessions rewards change or end?<br> <br>Saving Sessions is part of an initiative from the government owned “National Energy System Operator” (NESO): the Demand Flexibility Service. That means that NESO factor in your efforts when balancing the grid, and they give us (and all energy suppliers) the funding to reward you for taking part.<br>
They’ve arrived at the lower reward because that’s the sort of amount they pay a gas plant to turn on to cover the busiest time of day (it does vary - as would future Saving Sessions rewards). But it’s not a fair comparison – they pay the gas plants a lot of money “just in case”, as well as the per-usage costs. There’s no proposal to do the same for customers.<br> <br>Saving Sessions has proven that our energy system can be more self-sufficient, sustainable, and rewarding for citizens. It’s not the time to stamp all that progress out.<br> <br>The UK energy system needs to invest in that future, instead of relying on more of the same imported fossil fuels that triggered a once-in-a-generation energy crisis just a few years ago.<br> <br>We think Saving Sessions has been a massive success: saving a small gas-powered station’s worth of power each time the grid needed it, and hundreds of tonnes of carbon emissions. <br> <br>Closer to home, it reduced your bills by £10 million over the past two winters, and raised £400,000 in donations for customers struggling with their bills, and not to mention potentially thousands more family board games played, books opened, dogs walked, hobbies picked up (and, lets be honest, pints downed).<br> <br>We hope you loved Saving Sessions as much as we did. However you felt about it, we wanted to give you a chance to have your say.</p>