“Within this decade, our modern system will prioritise two key features: anticipating need because planning ahead minimises cost and public disruption; and hyper-flexibility in matching supply and demand so that minimal energy is wasted,” the strategy says. 

This includes “smartening up the system with more flexible pricing, through time-of-use tariffs and battery storage through electric vehicles,” it adds.

New homes will be designed so that smart meters, which send regular updates on electricity usage back to the supplier, are fitted from the outset, the strategy also says. 

Some time-of-use tariffs are already available and tests are ongoing about deploying them more widely, but their presence in the new strategy indicates strong political support. 

Experts say such tariffs will help cut the overall costs of the system by reducing the amount of new infrastructure that needs to be built as the energy system is overhauled to cut carbon emissions. 

Demand for electricity is set to soar as electric cars and heat pumps replace petrol cars and gas-fired boilers, adding to the challenge posed by intermittent sources of supply. 

John Pettigrew, the chief executive of National Grid, said last year he expects such tariffs to become widespread by the end of the decade. 

“If you charge your electric car between 2am and 5am, it’s going to be a lot cheaper than between 3pm and 6pm,” he told The Times. 

“People aren’t going to change when they eat, but they might change when they are going to use the dishwasher, washing machine or tumble dryer.”

Time-of-use tariffs are controversial, however, as they also expose households to high wholesale prices when demand for electricity is high.

Smart meters are being rolled out across Britain and from May, Ofgem, the regulator, will have powers to start changing the way smart meters operate so that information about usage can be sent to suppliers every 30 minutes by default. 

It comes as the Government announced plans on Wednesday to strip National Grid of its role in moving and balancing electricity supply, which will be handed to a new publicly owned body with a wider remit to oversee the energy system. 

It is also carrying out of a wider review of the electricity market amid efforts to make sure the falling costs of wind and solar power feed through into energy bills.