You own, or are pricing up, flexible kit: a battery, EV chargers, a cold store, compressors, a combined heat and power (CHP) engine.
This page sets out what each asset can do inside a virtual power plant, which revenue streams it suits, and what the numbers look like, with programme rates and worked client examples kept clearly separate.
The mechanics live on our virtual power plant hub: we connect your assets, our 24/7 control room dispatches them within limits you set, and you are paid on a single monthly statement.
This page answers the narrower question an asset owner actually has: what is my equipment worth?
Two kinds of figures appear below, and every card says which it is using. Programme rates are published market prices:
£20 per kW per year cleared at the Capacity Market T-1 auction for 2026/27 delivery, £60 per kW per year at T-4 for 2028/29.
Up to £1,290 per MWh cleared on the headline winter 2024/25 event of the Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) from NESO (the National Energy System Operator), year-round since November 2024.
Around £50,000 per MW per year typical on distribution network operator (DNO) flexibility.
Worked client examples are real outcomes from our programme. How each stream works and stacks is in our demand side response guide.
One headline applies to every asset family: up to four revenue streams stack on the same MWh, and clients typically earn 3 to 6 times more than one scheme alone.
What each asset family earns
Charges when power is cheapDischarges when the grid pays most
Power priceBattery levelcheappays mostOvernightDaytimeEvening peak
Power price and battery level through one day; the battery charges while power is cheap overnight and discharges into the evening peak when the grid pays most.
Six families cover most of the flexible load on UK commercial sites. If your kit is on this list, it can probably earn.
Battery storage
The most flexible asset on the system. A battery charges when demand is low, discharges when the grid is tight, and responds in seconds, so it suits every stream we run.
Streams it suits: Capacity Market, NESO Demand Flexibility Service and DNO flexibility tenders, with up to four streams stacking on the same MWh.
Programme rates
£20 per kW per year at the T-1 Capacity Market auction for 2026/27 delivery and £60 per kW per year at T-4 for 2028/29; up to £1,290 per MWh cleared on the headline DFS event of winter 2024/25; around £50,000 per MW per year typical on DNO flexibility.
EV charging fleets
Charging is movable demand. Shift the charge window by an hour and the grid pays for the headroom, while the vehicles still leave the depot full.
Streams it suits: DNO flexibility tenders and the Demand Flexibility Service, which runs on day-ahead opt-in so depot operations stay in control.
Worked client example
A multi-site logistics group with 8 EV depots registered its chargers into DNO Flex and DFS. The stack covers the £400k charger capex inside 36 months.
Refrigeration and cold storage
Cold stores hold temperature. Letting them drift within the safe band for a short window sheds real load with no risk to product.
Streams it suits: Capacity Market, DFS and DNO local flexibility: the classic three-stream stack.
Worked client example
A 500 kW cold-storage warehouse earns around £15,000 a year from the Capacity Market, DFS and UKPN local flexibility combined.
HVAC, compressors and pumps
Short shifts nobody notices. A setpoint eased for half an hour, compressed air or pumping rescheduled. Our 24/7 control room handles the 15-minute notice on DNO dynamic services.
Streams it suits: DNO flexibility from 10 kW per asset, the lowest entry point of any stream, plus DFS where units reach 100 kW.
Programme rates
DNO flexibility crossed 9 GW contracted in 2025, with typical earnings around £50,000 per MW per year.
CHP and batch processes
Standby capability the Capacity Market pays for. A CHP engine running in parallel with the grid earns an availability fee. Batch processes earn by scheduling runs around the windows the grid pays you to avoid.
Streams it suits: Capacity Market, with sensitive loads excluded from dispatch entirely under rules you set.
Worked client example
A hospital trust earns £24,000 a year on its 2 MW CHP as Capacity Market Unproven DSR, with theatre load excluded from every dispatch sequence.
EII-eligible manufacturing
The biggest money is often bill-side, not dispatch. The EII, NCC, BICS and Climate Change Levy (CCL) exemptions cut the levies and network charges on the supply invoices of eligible energy-intensive businesses, and they stack with the streams above.
Streams it suits: Bill-side cost-reduction schemes, with the Capacity Market layered on the same site as a separate revenue line.
Worked client example
An EII-eligible plastics manufacturer using 5 GWh a year saves £150,000 to £225,000 a year through EII and NCC, with the Capacity Market added on top.
Programme rates are as published for recent auctions and events, and worked examples are specific clients, not guarantees. Your assessment shows the figures for your sites, against the markets your flexibility would trade into: see the live UK wholesale prices.
The asset readiness checklist
Four things decide whether your kit can earn. None of them involves buying anything.
Half-hourly metering
Required for every stream: the markets settle against half-hourly data. The same data can work for you between dispatches too, which is what Purely Insights is built on.
10 kW or more of controllable load per asset
The DNO flexibility entry point. DFS units start at 100 kW, and the Capacity Market needs 1 MW aggregated, which we reach by aggregating you with other clients.
Controllable within safe limits
You define what is allowed to flex, when, and what is excluded. Production always comes first, and dispatch only ever happens inside the limits you set.
Dispatch hardware, supplied by us
The controller that connects your asset is supplied and installed under our capex. No upfront cost: we earn from the revenue we create.
If your sites tick the first three, the fourth is ours to sort. A no-obligation flexibility assessment puts a number on each asset, and Purely Insights supplies the half-hourly baseline data the markets settle against.
Asset revenue questions, answered
Do I need to buy a battery to earn flexibility revenue?
No. A battery suits every stream, but the markets pay for controllable demand of any kind: refrigeration drifting within its safe band, EV charging shifting by an hour, HVAC and compressors pausing briefly, CHP standing by. Assets qualify from 10 kW, and dispatch hardware is supplied under our capex, so there is no upfront cost either way.
Will flexing damage my equipment or disrupt operations?
No. You set the safe operating limits and we only ever dispatch within them. Cold stores stay inside their safe bands, vehicles still leave the depot charged, and sensitive loads can be excluded entirely: the hospital trust running a 2 MW CHP in our programme has theatre load excluded from every dispatch sequence. Production always comes first.
What if my asset is below 10 kW?
The entry points are set by the schemes: DNO flexibility starts at 10 kW per controllable asset, NESO's Demand Flexibility Service at 100 kW per unit, and the Capacity Market at 1 MW aggregated, which we reach by pooling clients. Below 10 kW, look across the whole site: most commercial buildings run several larger controllable loads (HVAC, refrigeration, compressors, pumping) and one usually clears the threshold. A flexibility assessment carries no obligation and tells you exactly which assets qualify.
How quickly does the revenue start?
The Demand Flexibility Service and DNO flexibility typically pay within 4 to 12 weeks of connection. The Capacity Market runs on auction timetables, so that layer takes 5 to 17 months to first revenue. Everything you earn is reconciled by us and paid against a single monthly statement.
Put a number on your kit
We manage energy for 2,000+ sites across 500+ clients, as the registered Capacity Provider approved with every UK DNO and with NESO at transmission level. No broker handover, no aggregator middle-man. The assessment carries no obligation and names the streams each asset qualifies for.