How is demand flexibility different from a normal business energy contract?

Demand flexibility is a parallel revenue stream that pays you for the demand you shift or shed, run alongside your existing supply contract on the same meter. Your supplier does not change, the two are settled separately, and Capacity Market plus NESO DFS can be stacked on the same MWh.

What hardware do I need to take part in demand flexibility?

Half-hourly meter data is enough for the Capacity Market and basic NESO DFS participation, so most HH-metered sites need no new hardware. DNO flexibility, the Balancing Mechanism and frequency response need an on-site controller that can act on a dispatch signal in seconds, which we supply, install and maintain at no upfront cost where revenue justifies it.

What happens during a demand flexibility event if I need to keep production running?

You opt out of any service window that conflicts with production. NESO DFS is opt-in per window, Capacity Market stress events are rare (around one or two per winter) with at least four hours' notice, and DNO flexibility windows are pre-published so operations stay in your control.

Can a business stack Capacity Market, NESO DFS and DNO Flex revenue on the same MWh?

Yes, up to four revenue streams can stack on the same MWh with one overlap rule: if a Capacity Market stress event coincides with a NESO DFS event, the MWh is paid once not twice. DNO flexibility usually stacks too subject to the local DSO's rules, and bill-side cost-reduction schemes (EII, NCC, BICS) stack with everything because they are settled against your supply invoice.

What is the penalty for under-delivery on a Capacity Market or DFS contract?

NESO DFS has no contractual penalty, you are paid for what you deliver and not penalised for what you don't. DNO contracts typically claw back availability fees at a 1.5x multiplier, and the Capacity Market caps persistent under-delivery at 200% of monthly revenue and 100% of annual revenue, plus a £5,000 per MW termination fee on Unproven DSR units.

How long does it take to earn first revenue from demand flexibility?

DNO flexibility and NESO DFS deliver first revenue inside 4 to 12 weeks of onboarding. The Capacity Market is slower because of the annual prequalification window (July to October), so a site onboarded today targets delivery starting October the following year for T-1 or four years out for T-4.

Who holds the contract with NESO and the DNOs when Purely Energy runs my demand flexibility?

We do. Purely Energy is the registered Capacity Provider, the NESO DFS Provider and the contracting party with each of the six UK DNOs, which means you get one contact, one contract and one consolidated monthly settlement statement.

What is the minimum site size for UK demand flexibility revenue?

DNO flexibility starts at 10 kW of controllable load per asset, NESO DFS opens up at 100 kW per unit (lowered from 1 MW in April 2026), and the Capacity Market is uneconomic on its own below 1 MW. We aggregate smaller sites into a single CMU to clear the Capacity Market threshold.

Purely Energy product

Demand Flexibility (Free Energy)

Earn revenue and avoid charges on the demand you can shift or shed. Capacity Market, NESO Demand Flexibility Service, every UK DNO and the bill-side cost-reduction schemes on a single platform.

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Revenue streams stacked: Up to 4 on the same MWh
Minimum site size: 10 kW per asset (DNO Flex)
Capacity Market price: £20 to £60 per kW per year
DFS event peak: £1,290/MWh, winter 2024/25

Demand flexibility pays UK businesses to shift or shed controllable load, stacking up to four parallel revenue streams on the same MWh without changing your supply contract.

NESO expects flexible capacity to roughly equal UK peak demand by 2030. Sites with controllable load (chillers, HVAC, refrigeration, water pumping, batch processes, EV chargers, batteries, standby generation) sit in front of the largest single revenue pool the GB grid has ever procured. We sit between you and that pool: we register the assets, build the dispatch logic, manage the settlement and turn the payments into a single monthly statement.

Capacity Market T-1 cleared at £20/kW/year for 2026/27 delivery, T-4 at £60/kW/year for 2028/29. The Demand Flexibility Service expanded year-round in November 2024, dropped its floor to 100 kW per unit in April 2026, and cleared up to £1,290/MWh on the headline winter 2024/25 event. UK DNO flexibility crossed 9 GW contracted in 2025 with typical earnings around £50,000 per MW per year. The bill-side cost-reduction schemes (EII, NCC, BICS) deliver another 3 to 5 pence per kWh for SIC-eligible manufacturers.

We are approved with every UK distribution network (UKPN, ENWL, SP Energy Networks, NGED, SSEN, Northern Powergrid) and at the transmission level with NESO, which means we can place any controllable site in any postcode into the right product on day one. There is no broker handover and no aggregator middle-man on top of us.

What’s included

Every feature listed ships in the standard product. Nothing here is a paid upgrade.

Revenue streams

Capacity Market T-1 and T-4 auctions, registered as a Proven or Unproven DSR CMU
NESO Demand Flexibility Service, year-round, opt-in per service window
DNO local flexibility tenders across UKPN, ENWL, SPEN, NGED, SSEN, NPg
Bill-side cost-reduction schemes: EII, NCC, BICS, mineralogical and metallurgical CCL exemption
DUoS Red-band shifting and Capacity Market peak avoidance, layered on supply
Up to four revenue streams stacked on the same MWh, with one rule on overlap

What we handle for you

Full prequalification and registration with NESO, Elexon and every DNO platform
Dispatch hardware supplied and installed under our capex, no upfront cost
24/7 control room running opt-in decisions and dispatch on your behalf
Bill validation and settlement reconciliation across every product
Single monthly statement consolidating every revenue stream
Annual DSR Test for Capacity Market Proven units, handled end-to-end

Network approvals

UK Power Networks (London, East, South East)
Electricity North West (North West)
SP Energy Networks (Scotland Central, Cheshire, Merseyside, North Wales)
National Grid Electricity Distribution (Midlands, South West, South Wales)
SSEN (North Scotland, Central South England)
Northern Powergrid (Yorkshire, North East), plus NESO at the transmission level

Specifications

The technical answers procurement, finance, and IT will ask for.

Minimum site size	10 kW per asset (DNO), 100 kW (DFS), 1 MW aggregated (CM and BM)
Metering required	Half-hourly (HH) for every MPAN in scope
Notice period for events	Day-ahead opt-in (DFS), 4h (CM stress), 15 min (DNO dynamic)
Typical event duration	30 min to 2 hours, opt-in per window
Penalty risk	DFS none, DNO 1.5x clawback, CM 200% monthly cap
Time to first revenue	4 to 12 weeks (DFS, DNO Flex), 5 to 17 months (Capacity Market)
Hardware required	Aggregator controller for live dispatch, supplied at no upfront cost
Loads that fit	HVAC, refrigeration, compressors, pumping, batch processes, EV depots, BESS
Loads that don't	Continuous chemical processes, hospital theatre load, untreated data-centre IT load
Eligibility	Any UK business with HH-metered controllable load and a registered MPAN

Compare

Side-by-side against the realistic alternatives, no straw men.

Feature	Purely Demand Flexibility	Single-product aggregator	Direct registration
Products covered	CM + DFS + DNO Flex + cost-reduction schemes	Usually CM only, sometimes + DFS	Whichever you have time to register for
DNO platform coverage	All 6 DNOs, transmission via NESO	Often partial	Per-DNO admin per asset
Hardware capex	We fund and install	Sometimes funded	Yours to source
Settlement	Single monthly statement	Per-product settlement	Per-product, per-counterparty
Revenue share visibility	Published, agreed in writing	Often opaque	n/a, you keep 100% but spend on admin
Best for	Any site with controllable load 10 kW+	Sites already at 1 MW+	Energy managers with time and Elexon experience

Real-world use cases

Scenarios from the Purely Energy book of business.

Customer profile	Scenario	Outcome with Demand Flexibility (Free Energy)
Cold-storage warehouse, 500 kW reducible load	Single-site operator already on a fixed contract, wants to monetise 30 minutes of refrigeration setpoint headroom per event.	Registered into a Proven DSR CMU at T-1 (£20/kW), opted into DFS year-round, dispatched into UKPN's local flex zone. ~£15,000 annual stack on top of the existing energy bill.
Multi-site logistics group, 8 depots with EV charging	Wants to fund a £400k EV-charging upgrade without taking the cost to the board.	EV chargers registered as flexible load across DNO Flex (£50k/MW/year) plus DFS turn-up payments under the April 2026 bi-directional product. Stack covers the EV capex inside 36 months.
Plastics manufacturer, 5 GWh/year, EII-eligible SIC code	Energy bill running at 22% of GVA, finance director needs to bring it down without capex.	EII certification + NCC application processed by us. 3 to 4.5 p/kWh saved on supply (~£150k to £225k annually). Capacity Market layered on the same site for an additional revenue line.
Hospital trust, 2 MW combined heat and power	CHP runs in parallel with the grid; trust wants to monetise the standby capability without affecting clinical operations.	CHP registered into Capacity Market for an annual £24,000 availability fee (Unproven DSR), no DFS or BM exposure. Theatre load explicitly excluded from any dispatch sequence.

Frequently asked questions

How is demand flexibility different from a normal business energy contract?
Demand flexibility is a parallel revenue stream that pays you for the demand you shift or shed, run alongside your existing supply contract on the same meter. Your supplier does not change, the two are settled separately, and Capacity Market plus NESO DFS can be stacked on the same MWh.
What hardware do I need to take part in demand flexibility?
Half-hourly meter data is enough for the Capacity Market and basic NESO DFS participation, so most HH-metered sites need no new hardware. DNO flexibility, the Balancing Mechanism and frequency response need an on-site controller that can act on a dispatch signal in seconds, which we supply, install and maintain at no upfront cost where revenue justifies it.
What happens during a demand flexibility event if I need to keep production running?
You opt out of any service window that conflicts with production. NESO DFS is opt-in per window, Capacity Market stress events are rare (around one or two per winter) with at least four hours' notice, and DNO flexibility windows are pre-published so operations stay in your control.
Can a business stack Capacity Market, NESO DFS and DNO Flex revenue on the same MWh?
Yes, up to four revenue streams can stack on the same MWh with one overlap rule: if a Capacity Market stress event coincides with a NESO DFS event, the MWh is paid once not twice. DNO flexibility usually stacks too subject to the local DSO's rules, and bill-side cost-reduction schemes (EII, NCC, BICS) stack with everything because they are settled against your supply invoice.
What is the penalty for under-delivery on a Capacity Market or DFS contract?
NESO DFS has no contractual penalty, you are paid for what you deliver and not penalised for what you don't. DNO contracts typically claw back availability fees at a 1.5x multiplier, and the Capacity Market caps persistent under-delivery at 200% of monthly revenue and 100% of annual revenue, plus a £5,000 per MW termination fee on Unproven DSR units.
How long does it take to earn first revenue from demand flexibility?
DNO flexibility and NESO DFS deliver first revenue inside 4 to 12 weeks of onboarding. The Capacity Market is slower because of the annual prequalification window (July to October), so a site onboarded today targets delivery starting October the following year for T-1 or four years out for T-4.
Who holds the contract with NESO and the DNOs when Purely Energy runs my demand flexibility?
We do. Purely Energy is the registered Capacity Provider, the NESO DFS Provider and the contracting party with each of the six UK DNOs, which means you get one contact, one contract and one consolidated monthly settlement statement.
What is the minimum site size for UK demand flexibility revenue?
DNO flexibility starts at 10 kW of controllable load per asset, NESO DFS opens up at 100 kW per unit (lowered from 1 MW in April 2026), and the Capacity Market is uneconomic on its own below 1 MW. We aggregate smaller sites into a single CMU to clear the Capacity Market threshold.

Question not covered? Call us on 0161 521 3400 or request a quote and we will answer it during the discovery call.

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Supporting services

Other services we offer

Sit alongside any product. Layer these in when the underlying contract isn't enough on its own.