equiwatt

equiwatt will be advising people across Oxfordshire about how they can take part in a major energy saving project taking place in the county.

Teams from the company will be on hand at libraries throughout the area in the coming days to explain how householders can take part in Project Local Energy Oxford (LEO) and the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service, which are rewarding people for using less electricity at peak times.

The team will be at the following locations over the next week:

• Botley Library on Thursday 26^th January
• Wallingford Library, Thursday 26^th January
• Abingdon Library, Friday 27^th January
• Bicester Library, Friday 27^th January
• Didcot Library, Monday 30^th January
• Summertown Library, Monday 30^th January
• The County Library, Oxford, Tuesday 31^st January

Project LEO is a collaborative project involving businesses including SSEN, academia, social enterprises, and local authorities. The equiwatt scheme offers greater energy saving rewards to Oxfordshire residents in postcodes taking part in Project LEO.

The scheme is open to customers of any energy supplier, who can download the equiwatt app and connect it to a smart meter. They can earn points up to the value of £200 a year, which can be redeemed as vouchers from retailers including Amazon, by turning off or not using appliances, such as washing machines, dishwashers and heaters, during peak periods.

equiwatt is also a provider to National Grid, enabling homes to take part in the Demand Flexibility Services (DFS), which is paying households to cut their energy usage during peak times to reduce pressure on the UK’s energy supplies and to avoid having to turn to carbon-emitting power plants to provide additional power to homes.

Johnson Fernandes, Founder and CEO of Equiwatt, said, “We want to work with local people around Oxfordshire to help save them money on their energy bills, but also take part in the ground-breaking project, which could change the way electricity is managed in their local area, at the same time, through our app they will also be able to take part in the National Grid scheme which is helping to protect the UK’s electricity supply and lower carbon emissions”.

“Oxfordshire homes can find out more about the scheme at equiwatt.com or visit our team at the library events where we will help them get signed up, so they can start saving money and earning rewards.”

ENDS

For further information contact Jamie Collis 01325 363436

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Editors’ Notes:

equiwatt is a free energy management platform that enables households to reduce emissions and energy usage while earning rewards from big brands like Amazon or John Lewis. Through the equiwatt app, users get notified when there is a period of peak demand and collectively people turn off their high-consumption appliances like fridges, dryers, or electric vehicle (EV) chargers for up to an hour. Households can connect with equiwatt via their existing home technologies like smart meters and smart plugs, giving them greater control over how they use energy and when. Smart plugs make participation automatic, but manually switching off devices works too.

When energy demand is high, there’s a strain on the national grid, and utility companies traditionally respond by powering up expensive, heavily polluting fossil fuel power plants. But, when you have thousands of homes ready to voluntarily turn off in unison, you have what’s known as a ‘Virtual Power Plant’ – something with the equivalent ability to meet the change in national energy demand.

Project Leo is one of the UK’s most ambitious, wide-ranging and innovative energy system projects that will help the Government achieve its legally binding commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Partners include Low Carbon Hub, University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Scottish and Southern Networks, equiwatt, Nuvve, Origami and Piclo; with part-funding from the Industrial Strategy Challenge fund.

https://www.equiwatt.com/

project-leo.co.uk/