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British Gas offers smart meter users free power at weekends

Reuters - UK Focus

LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Customers of Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) -owned British Gas who have had smart meters installed in Britain will be offered free electricity on either Saturdays or Sundays from this weekend.

Under a scheme called FreeTime, smart meter customers will be able to choose which day of the weekend they would prefer to have free electricity and there are no premium charges to use energy at other times, British Gas said on Friday.

Smart meters replace standard electricity and gas meters. A monitor shows how much energy is being used and the cost in nearly real time. This data is shared with energy suppliers automatically, putting an end to estimated bills and meter readings and telling customers how much energy they are using.

British Gas, which has been trialling the scheme with thousands of its customers, said it is the first utility to offer customers free power in this way.

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It said free electricity will only be available between 0900 local time (0800 GMT) and 1700 local time (1600 GMT) and FreeTime is fixed until March 2018.

The company has installed over 2.4 million smart meters in homes. Customers on its trial said they are saving an average 60 pounds from their annual fuel bill. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Alexander Smith)