GivLink & GivBack — earn money from your GivEnergy battery by supporting the grid
GivBack is GivEnergy's virtual power plant (VPP) programme. It automatically exports your battery's stored energy during national grid peaks — and pays you monthly for doing it. Here's everything you need to know before joining.
What is GivLink / GivBack?
GivBack — accessed through the GivLink programme — is GivEnergy's virtual power plant (VPP) scheme. It connects thousands of home GivEnergy batteries into a coordinated network that can supply stored energy to the National Grid on demand.
The scheme is funded and operated in partnership with the National Energy System Operator (NESO). When the grid is under strain — typically during evening peaks or unexpected supply shortfalls — NESO issues a dispatch signal. GivBack receives this signal and automatically triggers participating batteries to export energy, stabilising grid frequency and reducing the need for fossil-fuel peaker plants to fire up.
For homeowners, it is entirely hands-off. Your battery exports automatically, your schedule resets afterwards, and you receive a monthly payment for your contribution.
Your battery discharges during grid events. Your normal schedule is automatically restored immediately afterwards. Solar and household demand are prioritised first — only spare capacity is used for grid services.
Home batteries provide distributed, fast-response grid balancing. The aggregated capacity of thousands of GivEnergy batteries helps NESO maintain grid stability without spinning up costly gas peaker plants.
You earn monthly payments for every grid event your battery participates in. Payments begin three months after your first event and are deposited directly into your bank account.
Distributed battery networks reduce the need for fossil-fuel generation during peak demand. Every event your battery participates in contributes to lower grid carbon intensity.
Your battery still charges from solar generation as normal. During a grid event, GivBack only uses spare battery capacity beyond what your household solar requires. Solar self-consumption is always preserved.
GivBack does not affect Feed-in Tariff (FiT) or Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments. All existing payments continue unchanged. GivBack earnings are paid in addition to them.
Eligibility — who can join?
Before downloading the GivBack app, confirm you meet all three requirements below. The sign-up process will fail at the address or meter verification stage if any are not met.
You need a GivEnergy battery at your home address — not a commercial or third-party managed site. The battery must be visible in your GivEnergy app and reporting data.
A functioning smart meter is required by NESO to verify your grid contribution. If you don't have one, contact your energy supplier to request an upgrade before signing up.
Eligibility is limited to mainland UK. Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, and other Crown dependencies are excluded. International addresses are not eligible at this time.
If you are on Octopus Go or Agile but manage your own schedule, you are eligible — Octopus runs a separate Grid Services scheme for Intelligent Octopus users. See our tariff optimisation guide for how to choose the right combination.
How to sign up for GivBack
Sign-up is done entirely through the GivBack app. The process takes around 10 minutes if your address and meter are recognised automatically.
Search for "GivBack" on the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android). This is a separate app from the main GivEnergy app.
Use the same email address and password as your main GivEnergy portal account at givenergy.cloud. If you don't have a portal account, set one up first — see our portal guide.
Type your address exactly as it appears on your energy bill — including punctuation, spacing, and any flat or building number formatting. The app uses a third-party energy database to match your meter.
Try registering anyway — if it fails, GivEnergy will contact you by email once matching has improved. Alternatively, email givback@givenergy.co.uk with your full address, MPAN (from your electricity bill), and a screenshot of the error.
You will be asked to grant GivBack OAuth access to your inverter, and to connect your smart meter account. Both are required: inverter access so GivBack can dispatch your battery during events, and smart meter access so NESO can verify your grid contribution. All access is secure and limited to authorised events.
You will be asked whether you have a time-of-use tariff with a cheap overnight period. This allows GivBack's algorithm to charge your battery during cheap hours even on non-event days. See our tariff optimisation guide to confirm which category your tariff falls into.
Grid service events explained
Grid service events are the mechanism through which your battery earns money. Here's exactly what happens and what to expect.
Events are triggered by NESO when national electricity supply and demand need balancing — during peaks, unexpected generation shortfalls, or planned maintenance windows. Frequency varies by season and grid conditions.
Events can technically happen at any time of day, but they are most likely between 4pm and 8pm — the period of highest national electricity demand. You'll receive a notification via the GivBack app or portal (if enabled) when your battery is dispatched.
Nothing. Participation is fully automated. If your battery can discharge during an event, it will be scheduled to do so without any input from you. You are either opted in fully or opted out — you cannot skip individual events.
After each grid event you will receive a summary of your participation and estimated earnings via the app. Your battery's normal charge schedule resumes immediately. No post-event action is needed.
If your battery does not have sufficient charge to participate in a given event, it will simply not be dispatched for that event. Your system will not be drained below a safe threshold. Consistent participation depends on keeping your battery charged — another reason to set up a good charge schedule.
If you have solar panels, your battery will still charge from solar generation to power your home. GivBack only uses spare battery capacity beyond what your household solar requires. Grid events do not override solar self-consumption.
By participating in GivBack, you agree not to participate in other flexibility programmes offered by different providers at the same time. This prevents conflicting control signals between systems. Octopus runs its own separate Grid Services scheme — if you are on Intelligent Octopus, use Octopus's programme rather than GivBack.
In future GivBack releases, Octopus customers will be able to sign up for carbon-credit rewards alongside their existing Octopus arrangement — check the GivEnergy portal for updates.
What GivBack does to your charge schedule
One of the most common concerns before joining GivBack is "will it mess up my charge schedule?" Here's exactly how it interacts with your existing configuration.
GivEnergy does not recommend running GivBack alongside intelligent or smart tariffs that automatically control your battery (such as Intelligent Octopus Flux). Both systems issue automated control signals — running them together may cause conflicts or scheduling errors that result in unexpected battery behaviour.
Standard TOU tariffs like Octopus Go, Agile, and Economy 7 are fine — you manage your own schedule on these, and GivBack works alongside them. If you're seeing your settings changing unexpectedly, check whether a third-party service still has API control of your inverter.
Yes. You can always update your charge schedule directly in the GivEnergy app between events. GivBack only takes temporary control on event days. Your manual changes will be preserved and restored after each event. See our charge schedule guide and energy management setup guide for how to configure your schedule correctly.
How GivBack payments work
Payments are straightforward — monthly bank transfers, no invoicing needed, no changes to your energy tariff required.
Payments begin three months after your first grid event. GivEnergy will notify you when it's time to provide your bank details via the app.
Monthly payments are deposited directly into your bank account. You'll receive a summary of each grid event you participated in, including an estimate of your earnings for that event.
GivBack earnings are in addition to your existing Smart Export Guarantee and Feed-in Tariff payments. These are not affected. You also do not need to change your energy supplier or tariff.
Yes — GivBack is described as a permanent scheme. You can join at any time once you meet the eligibility requirements, and there is no minimum participation period. You can opt out at any time if your circumstances change.
How to opt out of GivBack
You can opt out of GivBack at any time. Once opted out, your battery will no longer be controlled for grid events. Your normal schedule returns to full manual control.
Send an email to the GivBack support address with the subject line "Opt Out". Include your name and full address.
Subject: Opt Out
Log in to the GivEnergy portal at givenergy.cloud and revoke the GivBack OAuth token under your account settings.
See our portal guide if you need help navigating account settings.
If your settings have been changing unexpectedly and you believe GivBack is still controlling your inverter after opting out, check your GivEnergy portal account settings to confirm the OAuth token has been fully revoked. If the issue persists, contact GivEnergy support directly.
GivLink & GivBack — common questions
GivLink (also called GivBack) is GivEnergy's virtual power plant (VPP) programme. It connects GivEnergy home batteries into a coordinated network that exports stored energy to the National Grid during peak demand periods. The scheme is funded by NESO. When a grid event is triggered, GivBack automatically dispatches participating batteries to export energy. In return, owners receive monthly cash payments. Participation is fully automated — you never need to do anything manually during an event.
No. GivBack does not affect your electricity tariff, Smart Export Guarantee payments, or Feed-in Tariff payments. All existing payments continue at the same rates. GivBack earnings are paid in addition. The only restriction is that you should not run GivBack alongside another automated battery-control service like Intelligent Octopus Flux, as conflicting control signals can cause scheduling errors.
On event days, GivBack automatically adjusts your battery's charging and discharging pattern for that day only. If you have a cheap overnight tariff rate, GivBack will still aim to charge during those hours so you keep your tariff savings. Immediately after the event, your normal schedule is restored automatically. You can still make manual changes to your schedule between events via the GivEnergy app.
You can opt out in two ways. By email: send a message to givback@givenergy.co.uk with the subject line "Opt Out", including your name and address. Via the portal: log in to givenergy.cloud and revoke the GivBack OAuth token under account settings. Once opted out, your system will no longer be controlled or included in future grid events.
Yes — Octopus Go and Agile are standard TOU tariffs where you control your own schedule. GivBack is compatible with these, and can optimise your overnight charging around cheap rate windows. However, Intelligent Octopus Flux automatically controls your battery and conflicts with GivBack's control signals — these two should not be combined. See our tariff optimisation guide for full details on which tariffs work best with GivBack.
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