What is a flexumer?
A flexumer (flexible consumer) represents the next step in the energy user evolution – from consumer to prosumer to flexumer. Consumers simply use electricity. Prosumers may also generate and store it, typically for their own use. Flexumers go further. They actively manage their energy assets – like solar, batteries, electric vehicle (EV) chargers or heat pumps – not just to optimize personal consumption but to support the grid and participate in flexibility trading.
Flexumers adjust their electricity usage or injection based on real-time signals such as dynamic prices or grid needs. They might charge an EV when solar power is high, feed-in energy from a battery during peak demand, or curtail usage during congestion. Crucially, they can offer that flexibility as a service – either directly or via aggregators or market access providers – and get paid for helping balance supply and demand on energy and balancing markets.
More than just smart users, flexumers are active players in a decentralized energy system, turning their flexibility into a tradable, revenue-generating asset.
Why flexumers matter in the energy transition
Western Europe’s grids are under growing pressure. The electrification of heating and mobility, and the consequental increase in EVs and heat pumps pushes up demand, while intermittent periods of high renewables production introduce sharp fluctuations in supply, both of which can easily overload the grid if not properly balanced. Traditionally, grid operators would respond by expanding infrastructure. But adjusting how and when electricity is used is now just as important. Flexumers help ease stress by shifting consumption in real time, making it easier to integrate solar and other distributed energy resources (DERs).
Flexumers unlock hidden grid capacity
Demand-side flexibility can boost grid efficiency by up to 20%. In the Netherlands, TenneT freed up 9 GW of capacity by working with large users who shifted to off-peak times, saving up to 65% on grid tariffs. It’s a clear win-win: lower costs for users, less strain in the grid, and more supply security.
Timing energy use enables cleaner generation
Flexumers also smooth out the ups and downs of renewable output. Charging EVs or heating water at midday, for example, absorbs solar peaks and can even take advantage of negative prices if a dynamic tariff is present. That cuts emissions and avoids expensive grid upgrades.
Technology makes flexibility seamless
Smart meters, appliances and HEMS now make it easy to automate flexible use. A home energy management system (HEMS) software lets households respond to price signals without much effort, steering the assets and responding to price signals by shifting consumption to times of low prices. This digital layer is key to scaling flexumers from pilots to the mainstream.
Flexibility reduces system costs and boosts resilience
Paying consumers to shift load is cheaper than firing up plants. The UK estimates consumer flexibility could cut system costs by £70 billion by 2050. Flexumers make the system stronger, cheaper and greener – right when it matters most.
How flexumers enable energy flexibility (demand side response)
Flexumers can also enable energy flexibility by adjusting their demand in response to external signals coming from example grid operators or price signals, this is called demand side response and comes in two main forms:
Two types of flexibility
Implicit flexibility is when they adjust electricity use based on price signals, without formal agreements. This includes reacting to time-of-use rates or dynamic tariffs that change hourly or in real time. For example, a flexumer might charge their EV when prices drop or run their appliances overnight to save on costs.
Explicit flexibility involves formal participation in programs that pay users to shift or reduce demand on request. This is usually managed by an aggregator or Market Access Party, which pools flexible loads and trades them on energy or balancing markets.
Both types play a critical role in balancing the grid and lowering system costs.
Stacking value with smart control
Many flexumers combine both forms. A smart home setup with solar, battery and EV charger can respond to prices and grid signals. This value stacking can save up to €1,500 per year, according to gridX.
Smart tech makes it seamless
gridX controls smart assets like PV systems, batteries, heat pumps and EV chargers. These can respond automatically to price signals or grid needs. These are then connected via a local gateway and cloud platform into one flexible resource. Even small shifts in usage can make a difference at scale
Barriers and what’s needed
Concerns about control, clarity or complexity still limit adoption. To scale up, people need clear benefits, easy tools and trusted providers. Western Europe is now laying the groundwork to make that happen.
The UK leads the flexumer shift
The UK is positioning itself as a flexumer frontrunner with strong policy support. In 2023, the government’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap set out a national strategy to boost consumer-side flexibility. It introduced measures like mandatory access to smart tariffs, off-peak EV charging discounts and tailored energy products using smart meter data.
Infrastructure upgrades and market reform
A cornerstone of the UK’s approach is upgrading market rules and infrastructure to support flexumers. Starting in October 2025, the UK will begin rolling out Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS), shifting all electricity billing to 30-minute intervals. Around 80% of meters are expected to migrate by October 2026, with full implementation by May 2027. This enables dynamic pricing and ensures flexumers are compensated based on when – not just how much – they consume.
These reforms also enable access to short-term electricity markets. With smart meters and a market access provider (aggregator or utility), UK flexumers can participate in day-ahead and intraday trading. Adjusting demand in response to price forecasts or grid signals becomes a new value stream, especially when markets are volatile or renewable generation spikes.
Demand flexibility service (DFS) goes mainstream
National Grid’s system operators are actively incentivizing flexibility too. The Demand Flexibility Service (DFS), first trialed in winter 2022–23, was scaled up last winter with great success. Households and small businesses were paid to cut usage during peak hours and National Energy System Operator (NESO) reported that the DFS was utilized 44 times over winter, achieving 3,917 MWh of reduced demand. This was an increase over the previous year and proved invaluable during tight supply days. Overall, the UK’s electricity networks managed to secure a record 9 GW of flexibility capacity from various programs in 2024, tapping around 22 GWh of actual shift – enough to power nearly 7,000 homes for a year. These numbers show that flexibility is moving mainstream.
Local flexibility markets gain traction
The UK is also fostering local flexibility markets. Several Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) have opened flexibility tenders where they pay businesses or communities to adjust usage in constrained grid areas. In one case, a major DSO doubled the number of assets (like smart heat pumps, batteries, etc.) participating in its local flexibility services from 75,000 to 162,000 within a year. This reflects the rapid growth of technology on the ground enabling consumers to participate.
Price signals meet public readiness
Another supportive factor in the UK is public awareness driven by the energy crisis. With high electricity prices in recent years, many consumers have adopted smart time-of-use tariffs (such as Octopus Energy’s agile tariff) to save money by being flexible. According to a survey, British consumers lead in using such implicit flexibility – 39% of respondents in the UK already adjust consumption based on price signals, and only 4% say they can’t imagine doing so. This openness, combined with government backing, creates fertile ground for flexumers.
From pilots to policy
The UK government and energy industry are indeed strongly backing the flexumer model. They expect huge system benefits – up to £70 billion in savings by 2050 from reduced peak strain – and see it as key to a zero-carbon grid. By rolling out smart meters, mandating dynamic pricing and directly paying consumers to participate, the UK is showing how to turn ordinary people into active partners in managing the energy system. Flexumers in the UK are becoming a reality, from a family delaying laundry to earn a reward, to a supermarket chain firing up onsite generators when the grid is stretched. The journey is just beginning, but the UK’s policy framework is setting a clear direction: pay people to flex, not to waste.
How Germany supports flexumers
Germany’s path toward flexumers is driven by regulatory reforms and technology rollouts that aim to unleash demand side flexibility in a historically rigid market. One of the most significant moves is the implementation of Paragraph 14a of the Energy Industry Act (EnWG), which took effect in January 2024. This law tackles a practical challenge: as thousands of new heat pumps and EV chargers connect to local grids, there’s a risk of overload in neighborhood networks.
Regulatory shift through Paragraph 14a EnWG
Paragraph 14a EnWG creates a framework for flexible control of these devices. It allows grid operators to temporarily throttle controllable assets (like turning down charging power or heating elements) to prevent local overloads, but in return, consumers get reduced grid fees as compensation. Crucially, it also ensures new smart devices can’t be refused grid connection – distribution utilities must connect them and can only manage them under agreed rules.
Financial incentives for flexible use
This policy is a game-changer for residential and small commercial flexumers. Because grid fees make up a big chunk of German power bills, a discount for flexible usage is a strong incentive. The new regulation is being accompanied by time-variable grid tariffs programs. Grid operators must define different price windows (e.g. cheaper network charges at night or when local load is low) to encourage consumers to shift consumption.
For example, under one module of §14a, households with an EV charger might save around €110–190 off their annual network fees – which can be 50–95% of the typical grid charges for an EV’s electricity. Another module offers a flat 60% reduction in energy prices for a separately metered device, like a heat pump, if it can be controlled.
From April 2025, Module 3 of §14a EnWG allows grid operators to offer fully dynamic grid charges that vary by time. While adoption may scale through 2026, these tariffs build on earlier options and create stronger incentives for flexible energy use. According to gridX analysis, households that combine controllable devices with time-shifting strategies could save up to €750 per year.
Smart meters, dynamic pricing and market access
Alongside pricing reform, Germany is finally forging ahead with smart meter deployment and dynamic retail tariffs– foundational elements for flexumers. A new law dubbed the “Digitization of the Energy Transition” (Gesetz zum Neustart der Digitalisierung der Energiewende) was enacted, mandating accelerated smart meter rollout and requiring all energy suppliers to offer dynamic electricity tariffs from 2025. This means German consumers will have access to electricity rates linked to real-time market prices, and they’ll have the smart meters to take advantage of them.
Initially, high-use households (over 6,000 kWh/year) are prioritized for smart meters, with a target of 95% coverage by 2030. These meters not only enable dynamic pricing at the retail level but also open the door for flexumers and aggregators to participate in wholesale markets. For example, flexible loads can be pooled and traded in day-ahead and intraday markets, where prices respond to supply-demand fluctuations. This creates a pathway for explicit market-based flexibility to be monetized in near real time.
How the Netherlands supports flexumers
The Netherlands faces a pressing challenge: its grid is heavily constrained by rapid growth in renewables and electrification, making congestion management a pressing national problem. In some regions, big consumers and renewable projects have had to wait for grid connections. This has pushed the Dutch to be innovators in flexibility, making them early adopters of the flexumer concept.
Grid bottlenecks drive flexible innovation
At the national level, the Dutch transmission operator TenneT recently launched an unprecedented program for flexible grid use. In April 2025, TenneT offered time-dependent contracts to large-scale energy users (like data centers, battery operators, and industrial sites) that were willing to consume power only outside peak hours. The result: over 9 GW of off-peak capacity was allocated via these contracts, instantly relieving the bottleneck in heavily loaded areas. Demand for these flexible connections was huge – applications exceeded 70 GW, far more than available, showing how many are eager to become flexumers if it gets them grid access. Under this scheme, participants agree to not use the grid during peak times; in return, they get significant benefits.
Policy supports flexibility as a resource
TenneT estimates that flexible users can save up to 65% on their grid tariffs by intelligently timing their consumption. For smaller players – from EV chargers to heat pumps and home batteries – it means they’re no longer billed as if they draw power at full blast all day, but only when the grid can handle it. That pricing signal is turning everyday consumers into flexumers who adjust their load as part of normal operation, not as a special effort.
A national framework for trading flexibility
The Dutch government and regulator have supported these innovations as part of a broader solution to grid congestion. By treating flexibility as a resource, the Netherlands hopes to avoid simply overbuilding wires and instead use what’s already there more efficiently. This model shows early promise. Off-peak contracts have helped unlock grid capacity in congested zones and prompted some large users to explore storage solutions like batteries or thermal buffers to align with flexible access windows. In fact, Dutch households and businesses are projected to provide about 28 TWh of shiftable demand by 2035, reflecting significant potential to flex consumption as renewables grow. The country is also modernizing market rules: for instance, it has frameworks (based on the USEF – Universal Smart Energy Framework) that standardize how flexible capacity can be traded, making it easier for aggregators and consumers to participate in energy markets.
A culture ready to flex
The Netherlands leads in consumer adoption of flexibility, with one in four households already involved in demand response and many more using dynamic pricing. This openness supports innovative use cases like imbalance optimization, where aggregated assets help balance the grid in real time. Participating consumers can earn up to €6 per day per system by making their flexibility available on the Dutch electricity market.
Backed by government incentives for batteries and smart charging, Dutch consumers are turning digital tools into real grid value. Flexibility is no longer just a system benefit, it’s a business case.
Expert insights and practical advice on flexumers
Flexumers are gaining traction across Europe. So how can businesses and consumers benefit? Irene Guerra Gil, Energy Market Expert at gridX, offers a sharp perspective:
“Flexumers mark a real shift in how the energy system works and how we understand it. They’re not passive users anymore. They help keep the grid stable and save money by doing it. Companies that tap into that potential can cut system and sourcing costs and deliver more value to their customers, who will in return save electricity costs annually,” says Irene Guerra Gil.
She stresses the importance of trust and usability. People will engage if tools are simple, transparent and give them control. Providers should offer automation that clearly shows when flexible use pays off.
For businesses, the opportunity is clear. Large users can partner with aggregators to monetize flexible operations – whether shifting HVAC loads, adjusting production timing or using battery storage. Fleets and on-site energy systems can also be leveraged for grid support. Identifying time-flexible processes is key.
For households, entry is easy. Installing a smart EV charger or joining a time-of-use tariff can cut bills. Even small actions, like charging after midnight or reducing usage during peak events, can save 10–30% a year. Solar homes with batteries should use energy management systems to optimize both savings and grid impact.
Barriers still exist – many consumers hesitate due to complexity or unclear value. But as Irene puts it, “Once people notice that a home energy management system quietly lowers their bills, relieves grid congestion and gives them a direct role in how energy flows and is valued, they start to pay attention, and they talk.”
Building trust, offering clear benefits and sharing success stories will be essential to scaling up. With the right policy and tools, flexumers will help reshape Europe’s grid for the better.
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