Electric vehicle drivers will be offered free electricity once a week when wind and solar power is abundant under a new tariff from a small energy supplier.
Good Energy said the tariff would enable free home charging during a four-hour period in summer, when there can be excess solar power on the national grid, and in the middle of the night in winter, when wind power can exceed electricity demand.
The four-hour “flash” could fall on any day of the week and consumers would have at least 24 hours’ notice.
Good Energy, a renewable supplier with about 85,000 household customers, said the flash window would run between 11am and 3pm from April to September and between 11pm and 3am from October to March.
Customers will need a smart meter and electric vehicle, although they can use the free electricity for any purpose.
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It is the latest offer in a growing market for vehicle charging and addresses some of the challenges facing the electricity system. Growth in wind and solar power mean significant new sources of supply that are not always aligned with demand, resulting in wind and solar farm owners being paid to switch off at times of excess supply.
Electric vehicles present a big new source of demand that the industry and government believe can be used to encourage drivers to charge when power is plentiful, ultimately through automatic “smart charging”.
Juliet Davenport, Good Energy’s chief executive, said: “Britain generates so much renewable electricity it only makes sense for us all to take advantage of this free resource.”