One of the country’s fastest growing energy suppliers has revealed it will give thousands of households free electricity on Christmas Day.

Octopus Energy said that anyone on its Agile tariff will be able to cook their Christmas dinner without fear of racking up a bill as electricity is dropped to 0p per KWh.

It said it’s able to deliver a complimentary supply thanks to "a unique integration" of real-time wholesale pricing and smart meter technology.

This is the same tariff that also offers an alert service that messages the bill payer when its cheapest to use major appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers seven days a week.

Across Britain, whenever more electricity is generated than consumed, wholesale prices fall – sometimes to below 0p/kWh, when suppliers are paid to take energy off the grid. This is set daily at 4pm for the next 24 hours.

On Christmas Day, Octopus, which has around 450,000 households, will pass these negative prices on to the customer – allowing them to soak up electricity while prices are rock bottom.

This is called ‘Plunge Pricing’ and Octopus reckons by also texting customers when prices drop throughout the year, it can save them as much as £667 a year.

Since launching in February 2016, its dynamic pricing algorithm has already helped Agile Octopus customers shift energy consumption from peak periods by 28%, to when energy is cheapest – and often greenest.

On Christmas Day, customers on Octopus’s Agile Tariff will get their energy for free from 11am to 3pm.

This four hour window, it claims, is enough to roast a 14lb turkey (and some trimmings too) in an electric oven.

"This festive gift from Octopus Energy is made possible by its unique use of dynamic pricing, which allows customers to benefit from the half-hourly energy pricing fluctuations, set daily at 4pm for the following 24 hours," the company said.

"Charges are then calculated for each customer using the half-hourly consumption data from a smart meter, ensuring accuracy."

Greg Jackson, Octopus Energy chief executive, said: "Smart tariffs will bring energy costs down by enabling customers to get cheap energy when there’s plenty of capacity in the system, and reduce demand at peak times.

"With shops and offices closed on Christmas day, total demand for electricity will be quite low, so we thought we’d make Christmas dinner that little bit cheaper for customers on the Agile Tariff, with 4 hours of free electricity – enough to cook a 14lb turkey."

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