Families could be paid to use less energy this winter as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.
The National Grid are contemplating a plan which would see consumers receiving money for cutting their usage during peak times.
The firm is attempting to draw up a policy that will enable those with smart meters to choose how much energy they use.
Under the initial plans, customers could be paid up to £6 per kilowatt-hour in credit instead of paying out 28.34p per kilowatt-hour, according to The Times.
Families could be paid to use less energy this winter
Gareth Fuller
The news comes as energy bills continue to rise as a result of several factors including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
And with no end to the rise in sight, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would not “rule out” cutting VAT on energy bills.
Speaking in Kigali, Rwanda, where he attended a Commonwealth leaders summit, Mr Johnson said the Government is doing “a huge amount” to support people “with the fiscal firepower we have”.
Asked why he had not yet cut VAT on energy bills, he said: “I don’t rule out that we will do it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Dan Kitwood
He said the Government had “already cut fuel duty by record amounts”, but he acknowledged this would be “swallowed up” and added: “There may be more that we have to do.”
Pressed on whether the tax will be slashed further, he said: “We want to make sure that those cuts are properly passed on to the consumer.”
He said: “I’m very happy to have an argument about tax and I’m saying some of the things that we’re already doing.
“But when it comes to energy, and the cost of people’s energy bills, tax is not enough,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Mr Johnson continued: “You’ve got to look at the way the whole thing works.
“And at the moment one of the problems is that people are being charged for their electricity prices on the basis of the top marginal gas price, and that is frankly ludicrous.
“We need to get rid of that system.
“We need to reform our energy markets, as they have done in other European countries.
“So that is one of the ways by reforming the market, by changing the way things work, that you can get prices down, you can bear down on costs for people."