Low demand for power during the COVID-19 lockdown combined with the surging wind and solar generation caused electricity prices to plummet over the UK’s bank holiday weekend. Customers of Octopus Energy’s Agile green tariff benefited from this as they were paid up to 11p per kWh on May 23 to use electricity for charging their vehicle.

Somik Das, Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments:“For a typical electric car with a 60kWh battery and around 200-mile range, the cost of charging at home would be roughly £8.40 for a full charge. However, over the past weekend, when the prices dropped to negative, a customer was paid up to £5 for charging their vehicles.”

The prices dropped to negative in the early hours of May 22 and remained negative most of the day until 20:00. Similarly, on the May 24, the prices remained negative in the early hours until 9:00, but then dropped in the afternoon until 20:00. Consumers can expect price drop notifications during the day and by charging their vehicle, it allows utilities to better maintain the grid as the load will get shifted from the peak hours.

Das adds: “As the UK gradually eases lockdown measures and the weather remains clear, renewable sources will generate to its full potential and further price drops can be expected. For instance, on May 30 at 19:00, the wholesale prices dropped to negative and remained that way for some time. Such instances can be expected to occur for brief periods in aforementioned timeframe (not prolonged drops though).

“A key thing to take note of is that the price drops have a greater chance of happening during the weekends more than the weekdays due to limited commercial and industrial activity. Weekends are yet to come alive in terms of industrial and commercial activities, as they had been prior to the pandemic, which is why we are witnessing this trend.”