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Be prepared for next Triad season

5th Apr 2018
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The 2017/18 Triad season, when electricity transmission costs peak, came to an end on Friday 23rd March 2018 and  businesses can now prepare for next year in order to avoid higher electricity costs.

Triads are the three half-hour periods between November and February where UK electricity demand is at its highest and where each period is separated by a minimum of 10 days. Triads can occur in any half-hourly period, but typically fall between 17:00 and 18:30 on a weekday evening, when industrial demand overlaps with the tea-time period.

In partnership with Smartest Energy, Inprova Energy alerted customers to potential Triad periods throughout the season. This provided them with information and time to take measures to reduce consumption in each of the Triad periods and potentially save thousands of pounds in transmission costs.

National Grid has confirmed the Triad dates for the 2017/18 season as

  • Monday 11 December 2017 (half-hour ending 17.30)
  • Monday  5 February 2018  (half-hour ending  18.00)
  • Monday  28 February 2018  (half-hour ending  18.30)

 2017/18 was far from being a typical Triad season because:

  • This was the first season, since the scheme began, where all three Triads occurred on a Monday
  • This season also had the latest occurrence of a Triad since the scheme began,  which coincided with the “Beast from the East” cold spell
  • This season was the first time, since the scheme began, that two Triad periods occurred in February. December and January are the  usual months in which Triads occur
  • The highest period of Triad demand for this season was more than 18% lower than the highest period 10 years ago.

Importance of Triads?

Triads are key to determining the costs that National Grid will recover through their Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges. These are one of the many third party charges built into business energy costs.

For a meter billed on a half-hourly basis, TNUoS charges will be based on the meter’s average demand during the three Triad periods and multiplied by the tariff for the demand zone the supply is located in.

Organisation's can opt to have their TNUoS costs billed on a pass-through basis or included as part of their unit rates. Only a pass-through approach offers the flexibility to undertake Triad avoidance. This is aimed at reducing power demand during Triad periods and, therefore, reducing TNUoS costs.

Benefit of Triad avoidance?

Reducing demand during Triad periods has the potential to make a big difference to business energy bills.

For further information on Third Party Charges, Triad Alerts and Triad Avoidance, contact Inprova Energy on

Sign up for Inprova Energy's Triad alerts service for 2018/19 For further information on third party Charges, triad alerts and triad avoidance, contact Inprova Energy on 0330 166 4444, www.inprovaenergy.com      

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