Ofgem wants more information about how consumers might react to the option of using real-time energy pricing, to build its business case for moving to half-hourly settlement for all customers and decide when and how to make the change.

Wholesale power prices vary dramatically, both between peak and off-peak times and depending on other factors such as the weather. But that is not directly reflected in domestic bills. Instead, customers are allocated to one of a handful of typical profiles and billed on that basis.