The Asda store in Frome will be one of 302 of the brand's supermarkets around the country that will be using its freezers and fridges to help power the National Grid over the winter.

In a deal with National Grid, Asda will earn itself extra revenue by matching defrost times at the store to blackouts or surges in demand.

By using this strategy across the country, Asda will be creating a 13 megawatt power source that will be able to power some 8,500 homes.

The supermarket giant has also signed up to a trial which could mean its fridges and freezers are called on at only 10 minutes' notice to act as a safety net if there is an unexpected outage at a power station.

The National Grid pays out £1 billion worth of contracts through its energy capacity market. Most are awarded to power plants so that they are ready to up their power generation but they can also be given to businesses who can cut their electricity use to help reduce overall demand on the grid.

Asda is working with Flexitricity, a specialist energy firm, which uses technology to aggregate the energy potential of companies across the country, and it has been confirmed by the supermarket that the Frome store will be part of the scheme.

Phil Smith, head of energy at Asda, said: "Reducing energy consumption makes both environmental and business sense, and at Asda, we've seen our electricity usage fall, like for like, by 30 per cent since 2010.

"While we are a large company, our individual sites are relatively small, so the Flexitricity model provides an innovative and collaborative way for us to manage our consumption better, reduce our carbon footprint and provide a benefit back to the National Grid. It really is a no-brainer for us."