Uswitch free electricity campaigns
Find out how you can access free electricity during selected periods with Uswitch Power Hours.
What is free electricity?
Uswitch periodically offers customers free electricity to help keep energy bills down as much as possible. These are usually delivered through our Power Hours scheme, which is run through our mobile app.
Customers can use electricity during the free electricity periods as they normally would. Uswitch then takes data from their smart meter to see how much electricity they’ve used, matches that to the amount they pay for each unit of electricity, and calculates the amount to credit back to their account within the Uswitch app. The credit can then be withdrawn to customers' bank accounts to use as they wish.
How Power Hours works
Power Hours is a feature within the Uswitch mobile app which enables customers to get electricity during selected periods for free, no matter which energy supplier they’re with.
Get the app and connect
Sign up to Power Hours
You’ll be prompted to sign up when you connect your smart meter.
Activate your offers
Look for new ways to earn with your smart meter and activate to take part.
How does free electricity work?
Free electricity initiatives with Uswitch usually work as follows:
- We announce a period of free electricity
We'll publicise the timings via the app and other marketing channels.
- Customers opt in via the app, which must be connected to their smart meter
If it isn’t connected, they won’t be eligible for the free electricity offer. They also need to be opted into the Power Hours feature within the app.
- The free electricity period will begin and end at the specified times
During this period, customers can use as much electricity as they like, but there may be a limit to how much Uswitch will credit back, which could be different from session to session.
- Uswitch will calculate the amount to be paid back
We use the data collected from customers’ smart meters paired with their electricity unit rates to make the calculation after the free electricity period has ended.
- The credit is added to customers’ accounts
They can then withdraw the credit to their bank account to use as they like.
How do I sign up for free electricity with Uswitch?
We run free electricity campaigns through our app. To sign up, download the app via either the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) and connect your smart meter to it using the code from your in-home display.
If you can't connect your smart meter using the in-home display, we can run a one-off address check using a bank card - don’t worry, you won’t be charged for anything.
Once you’ve connected your smart meter, sign up to Power Hours in the app and you’re ready to go
We’ll then let you know when a free electricity session is coming up via notifications in the app and emails we send out.
What are Uswitch’s current free electricity sessions?
Uswitch is currently planning to run a free electricity session over the early May 2026 bank holiday weekend.
Households with smart meters can get paid back up to £10 for any electricity they use between 8am and 4pm on the day of their choice on 2, 3 or 4 May.
What were Uswitch’s previous free electricity campaigns?
Power Hours has exclusive offers year-round to help you get the most out of your smart meter.
Free electricity on Christmas Day
We've run two previous events where customers could get free electricity on Christmas Day.
25 hours of free electricity
In November 2025, we offered customers 25 hours of free electricity to celebrate 25 years of Uswitch.
Earn even more with Reduce and Earn sessions
With our Power Hours scheme, you can access exclusive Reduce and Earn sessions. This replaces our previous Money Back sessions.
These sessions allow you to earn cash by using less electricity during specified hours – usually when the grid is at its busiest.
We'll pay you for every kilowatt-hour (kWh) you save compared to your normal usage, and you get to keep 100% of what you earn.
All you have to do is sign up in our app and join sessions when they pop up.
FAQs
Do I need a smart meter?
Yes. If you don’t have a smart meter, we can’t see how much energy you use, so we won't be able to work out how much to pay you.
How often do free electricity sessions happen?
We’re constantly looking for ways to help our customers earn more with their smart meter with year-round offers from Power Hours, but there’s no set schedule for free electricity sessions. We’ll let you know via email and the app when there’s one in the diary, so make sure you’re opted in to receive emails and push notifications so you’re never out of the loop.
How do you calculate my earnings?
We use the kWh usage data from your smart meter to calculate how much electricity you’ve used during the free period. Then we pair that with the unit rates from your electricity plan to calculate your earnings.
How can I withdraw my earnings?
You can withdraw earnings to your bank account via the Earn tab in the Uswitch app.
How long does the payout take?
It depends when the free electricity finishes, and could vary on a case-by-case basis. We need time to gather smart meter data and calculate earnings. If there’s a delay retrieving your smart meter data, this may take longer.
Sometimes there are technical issues which mean we can't receive your smart meter data for certain time periods. When this happens, we'll do what we can to try and retrieve them, but your calculations may take several weeks. If we can't retrieve sufficient smart meter readings or energy plan data for your account, we'll use the average earnings to calculate your total instead.
Can I use free electricity for anything?
Yes - there’s no limit to what you can do with your free electricity, whether you use it to do some extra washing, charge your electric vehicle or put together a feast in the kitchen.
