EDF Energy will offer its customers free electricity for eight hours on Christmas Day in a bid to “give them one less thing to worry about”.

All customers need to do to access the savings is sign up for the December Sunday Saver Challenge and they will automatically benefit from the free hours between 8am and 4pm on Wednesday 25 December.

The initiative is part of EDF’s Sunday Saver Challenge, which gives customers the opportunity to earn more free electricity on Sundays in December by shifting their electricity consumption from the weekday peak hours of 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

The announcement comes as EDF research revealed Brits expect to spend up to 10 hours using appliances and appliances on Christmas Day, including four hours cooking.

Households will host an average of six people over the festive period, with 70% saying they will likely use additional appliances for cooking and 60% saying they will likely watch TV for longer than usual.

This predicted increase in energy consumption left 44% of those surveyed worried about the impact of Christmas Day on their household bills.

Rich Hughes, retail director at EDF, said: “We know the festive period can be a time of increased costs for us all. So we’re excited to give back to our customers and hopefully make electricity costs one less worry. when Christmas Day comes.

“With Sunday Saver, EDF is helping families across the country enjoy their favorite festive pastimes for free, and not just on Sundays in December, but on Christmas Day too.

“Customers are already really enjoying our Sunday Saver Challenge, whether it’s charging for new gifts or using more appliances than usual in the kitchen; we energize Christmas, because at EDF, change is within our power.”

EDF’s Sunday Saver Challenge was launched in September 2024, with customers who took part in the October challenge finding it “easy”, “enriching” or “motivating”.

The energy provider said three quarters (76%) of customers who signed up received at least four hours of free electricity in October.

The most common ways customers used their free electricity on Sunday were doing their laundry (85 percent), using the dryer (53 percent) and cooking a roast (41 percent), while that some batches cooked for the week (26 percent) or charged their electric vehicle (8 percent).

EDF’s free electricity hours on Christmas Day are available automatically to all customers who sign up for the December Sunday Saver Challenge and will be applied to their account just after Christmas.