Green tech & greener living

Can anyone recommend a good efficient electric wall heater. The one I currently have is eating electric and I can't afford to have the heating on.Any help would be appreciated 

Hi, I tried using the smart scheduling for the first time last night to charge my car. My car was unlocked, I plugged in the cable both ends and my charger started to flash, this was around 19:30. Checking my app all night nothing seemed to happen. I last checked at 23:00 and still nothing. Thinking it may not charge until after midnight I went to bed. My app was set to finish by 07:30 but following that this morning, no charge had been started at all since last night. Unlocked my car this morning (changed smart schedule to 10am) and it started charging straight away. Seems strange that it will only start if my car is unlocked? Anyone else had this issue?

I want to switch from my current variable plan to a 1 year fixed loyalty plan + boiler cover. The problem is that I already have a boiler cover in place, so what will happen when I switch?  Will I end up paying for 2 plans or will the current boiler plan be automatically added?  There are only 2 options on the application form, which is “With Boiler Cover” or “Without Boiler Cover”.

Been using Hypervolt 3 in conjunction with OVO Anytime for at least a year now. Recently I set Anytime to complete by 2100 hours before an important journey and was surprised on departure to find nothing had happened and had great difficulty in getting the charger cable out of the OBC. Used different vehicle and tried to resolve problem with various resets a day or two later. Eventually I called the Anytime support number and was redirected to Hypervolt who cleared the problem from their end. Where can we find guidance about who to contact in different scenarios? My biggest single issue is the hand-off between suppliers, installers, EV app and go-betweens such as OVO. A simple “map” would save a lot of time and trouble for all.

Hi, I was wondering if these been any update on getting real-time data out of the smart meters, I believe mine were the earlier ones fitted by OVO and Ive only got the original monochrome display. Ive had a CT clamp on the meter tail to measure current but I need a way to obtain the live gas flow.There was some talk a few years back of the earlier smart meters being upgraded to the newer models.Any ideas would be much appreciated?

Hi, I’ve recently noticed (after living here 7 years!) that our gas usage seems high vs similar properties on the OVO app. We live in a 4 bedroom 1920s extended bungalow - 2 upstairs loft bedrooms - 2 on the ground floor with 2 sitting rooms and a conservatory, we have unfilled cavity walls in the original part of the house (we had a quote for cavity wall insulation which suggested that since we had 3 walls containing chimneys in the older part of the house it wouldn’t be worth filling them) underfloor insulation and some loft insulation. In terms of cost I accepted our energy bills would be higher than our previous house but when I’ve looked at the actual use we seem to be roughly double average for ”similar” houses. I noticed even when we were on holiday - in the summer and there was no heating or hot water being used - that we seemed to be using kWh - about 2 or 3 per day.  Could this be a sign of an issue with the boiler? It’s about

Wondered if anyone can answer my query Im an existing FIT payment receiver (solar panels installed with single string inverter 11 years ago) so receive a decent FIT payment. Recently had installed a EcoFlow 3.6kw inverter with 10kw battery storage, the generation meter was changed to a bidirectional meter as instructed and followed the correct schematic. However the meter is showing a negative number and I can’t seem to work out what the solar panels are generating apart from what shows in the EcoFlow app We charge the batteries up a

Hi all, just want a bit off advice.. just had solar panels fitted with inverter and storage battery all done by ovo, also fitted about 12months ago indra pro ev car charger also by ovo,question  is.…I only charge my ev approx 3 times a month using 120 killowatts using ovo  charge anytime.Just tried to get battery boost with ovo and been told we can't have both as not compatible. Also have seg account with ovo.Must be other people on site with this problem what way would you go, have charge anytime or uninstall it and get battery  boost?.Or get rid off ovo and go with another energy supplier..eg octopus who can provide both of  these add ons.Thank you all in advance for your thoughts good or bad…Dellboy.

We have had smart meter since early 2025, seg account started in July, ovo requires manual seg readings every three months, everything I've read says smart meters should send readings automatically, yet ovo seg dept insists it can't be done at moment but may be in future, is there something they are not telling me ???

Normally charging 7kw but suddenly dropped to 2kw and cannot get it back to 7kw?I have Skoda Enyaq

Hey everyone, this week I picked up a new mini cooper E from the dealer.I already had OVO at my house to upgraded to charge anytime.I have a smart charger but it isnt compatible with charge anytime so I have set it up as a dummy charger and troubleshooted to prove my charger isn’t causing any of my issuesWhen I set my “ready by” time, the car starts charging and then I get a notification from the mini app along the lines of “charging paused, it will resume again at..” confirming that ovo is speaking to the car. The charge anytime app will then state that charging will resume at 3am lets sayEvery morning I wake up, and I have a notification from mini at the time ovo said it would start charging to say “charging interrupted, check power supply and plug in again”I have troubleshooted and remove ovo charge anytime to test start/stopping charging through my mini app which works without issue, so my charger is happy to start and stop chargin

Hi all, Quick question - My charger is linked to Ovo Charge Anytime, not my car. So CA manages everything which is fine as it works as it should. I have a charging profile set up in the My Porsche app for my Taycan that I named '80' as its the one I use most of the time to charge the car to 80%. If I want to charge the car to 100% however, do I need to set up another charge profile in the Porsche app and set the minimum charge to 100%? Because as far as I know, if activate 'Direct Charging' within the Porsche app charging section, the charger (Zappi 2.1) will ignore any charging profiles that are active (for example my '80' profile) and charge the car to full 100% capacity. But here is my question - If I activate Direct Charging in order to get the car to 100%, will that mean the car is still charging on the cheap Ovo 7p per kWh or will Direct Charging mean its essentially like pressing 'Charge Now/Urgent Charge'

My meters are on the outside of my house with the garage between us. The ' in home display' constantly says ' lost connection '. Is it because its more than 2 metres from the meter or is it faulty? 

My new storage heaters are being installed next week and i need to change from single tariff to off/peak tariffs. Previously spoke to customer care without any success, any suggestions to what i should say would be appreciated. I am also having solar panels fitted under the ECO4 scheme . My preference is  (  1 year fixed E/10 MULTI RATE  i have a smart meter. 

Hi We have recently been offered the SEG Beyond Exclusive Tarriff but we are unsure as to whether we are eligible for this - a quick look at the T’s and C’s seem to say that (1) We must own the Solar Panels (2) We must be able to provide an Invoice for Panel ownership.We live in a housing association property - the Solar Panels were fitted by OVO in conjunction with our housing association (a fact which OVO must surely be aware of).Just looking for clarification of eligibility.

I have recently moved into a new build house with a heat pump system. Its a Daikin Altherma 4 with a 280 litre cylinder. The hot water is currently set to 45c on a reheat setting. I'm trying to make it as energy efficient as possible on the hot water side. I keep hearing so many different reports on which setting is best etc. We are a family of 4. 2 adults and 2 teens. We all normally shower etc in the evening and wash the dishes mainly in the evening, all of which happens roughly around 6pm to 8pm. I'm up at 6am for work and have a quick face wash etc around 6.30. The weekend is similar but sometimes the showers, baths happen during the day.  I have heard that Schedule and reheat is better than just reheat? If so, what kind of times should i be setting on and off, and what temps? Also is it better to have a longer set back temp. l

Hello,we have recently switched from Scottish Power to OVO after moving into a new flat. We have a heat pump and have chosen OVO due to their heat pump add on. We do not have a smart meter yet, and wanted to get one installed.However, OVO is saying we are not eligible for a smart meter due to WAN issues. We live in Edinburgh, not in a rural place further north. Our neighbours have smart meters, some even with electricity supplied by OVO.Customer service has said to us to hire a private engineer who will check signal strength and then report back to OVO. How can this happen, and what should we do? Thank you in advance for any advice. 

Would I benefit from changing to a fixed rate tariff? I'm not sure if this a good idea or not? We changed to economy 9 earlier in the year. Would like to save a few £'s if possible. 

Good afternoon, Why do the SEG payments take so long to payed into your account?  

Hi. I (we) come here because getting appropriate advice from manufacturer and/or installers is both conflicting and confusing. We are greener than grass with our first build. Trying to gain best knowledge as possible, but I'm this game,  20 people seem to have 20 opinions. Google led me to a very informative post from from 2 years ago  by ​@hydrosam. About a trial, pump size,  COP and LWT. I will do my best to summarise our needs etc and your responses would be most welcome. It's been a long build we started in 2011.  We have 4kw solar panels plus 11kw wind. The house is almost a passive build. Kingspan structurally insulated panels large new build detached 5 bedroom home 2 bathrooms and 2 ensuites plus downstairs shower.  Large entrance hall that has a void to the roof. Ground, first and second floors. (2nd floor is in the roof area).  3 beds on first floor, 2 ensuits and family bathroom. 2 beds plus bathroom on 2nd

I've bought the Indra Pro EV charger second hand as I needed to get one installed on a budget. Unfortunately it did not come with the CT clamp. I can't find any compatible clamp online as I am told they are not all created equal. The companies support won't provide the specs but will sell me one for £50 which is quite spicy and an unexpected blow to my budget. If anyone has the charger could you take a photo of your CT clamp? Perhaps any markings on the side, model or specs. If anyone knows the specs I'd be eternally grateful! I'd like to source this from a third party if possible if I can make a substantial saving.

Hi all,I've had my Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo for a couple of weeks now and have been using the Porsche mobile charger to top it up overnight as well as public chargers to charge the car.However, I had a Zappi 2.1 wall charger fitted yesterday by Ovo. The engineer set up my Charge Anytime app and the MyEnergi app. Then we noticed that within the CA app, it said it was being discontinued and recommended using the new Ovo Charge app. So we I downloaded that and set it up.Now, as I said I'm new to EV's and although the engineer went over everything with me yesterday and gave basic instructions on the Zappi, running through the different functions on the little screen on the box itself, fast forward to the next day and I'm struggling to remember everything he said.........DOH!!! I may be overthinking a lot of this and

Hi, we are in the Scottish Highlands and have been told we cannot currently have the THTC replaced by a smart meter due to signal issues, OVO currently have no alternative so we have been left with a fuzzy answer that they may have a solution in two months time. Any body else have any additional information, my communication with OVO has been through the online chat box, although with an actual person