Grid events

Times are UK local. Most events cover a handful of areas, where the local network asked for help; some go to every participant at once. Tap a map to see the areas an event covered.

This is a record of Axle's grid events, not necessarily the events your individual battery took part in. You can see which events your battery took part in, how much it exported and what you earned in your Axle account.

Electricity networks sometimes need extra power in particular places or at particular times. Rather than relying only on conventional generation or expensive network upgrades, they can pay for flexibility from resources such as home batteries.

Axle brings thousands of batteries together into a virtual power plant. When an event is called, participating batteries export electricity at the same time, helping provide power where it's needed. You're paid £1/kWh for the energy your battery exports, on top of anything your export tariff pays.

Most events are called by a regional network for its own area, so you'll see some in the list above that didn't include yours. Others come from the wider electricity system, often through the Demand Flexibility Service, and can cover most of Great Britain at once. Those are the ones most likely to come at short notice.

Most events are scheduled the day before. We email you and send a notification from the app as soon as the event is confirmed, typically 18 to 24 hours ahead, so you can opt out if the timing doesn't suit. The event also shows in your account and, if you've set it up, in Home Assistant.

Short notice events are the exception: they're called on the day, with at least 2 hours' warning. You're opted out of these until you choose to take part, so they'll never catch you by surprise.

During the event, your battery exports to the grid for the whole window. How much it exports depends on its starting charge, usable capacity and maximum discharge rate. A battery that starts an event fuller will generally have more energy available to export. Your battery continues to operate within its manufacturer-defined limits, and the house is powered from the grid as normal in the meantime.

After the event, we put your settings back exactly as they were, so your battery recharges on its usual schedule and overnight tariff. If it hasn't gone back to normal by the next morning, tell us from your account and we'll sort it.