When people come home from work during the winter months, perhaps unsurprisingly the first thing they do is switch on all manner of electrical appliances, thus creating a surge in power use.

Denmark’s largest power company Radius, which delivers power to around a million households in north and mid Zealand, feels the best way to change consumer patterns – and presumably earn bigger profits – is to more than double the price of a kilowatt-hour between 17:00 and 20:00 during the winter, reports DR Nyheder.

Watt a rip-off
At present, Radius charges 37.5 øre per kilowatt-hour, but now it would like to raise this to 83.5 øre. At the same time, the price for using power during the rest of the day and the whole of the summer period would be reduced to 32.5 øre.

“In this way, you can almost earn money by changing your energy use patterns. If you use the net during peak times, then it is more expensive than doing it off-peak,” noted Anders Stouge from the trade organisation Dansk Energi.

All washed up
The organisation has worked out that if a typical Danish family of four moves its usage of washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers outside peak period, they can save around 200 kroner per year.

However, in order to take advantages of these savings, a consumer will have to have an ‘intelligent’ electricity meter. Up until now, 150,000 of them have been installed and Radius is rolling them out as fast as possible.

It is estimated the meters will be fully installed across the country by the beginning of 2020.