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Not sure about what the Red Green and Orange on my IHD means?

  • 13 January 2024
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Why does the Medium Energy slots change before I can use the?  I have had three days using everything at High Energy, and my electricity usage has been over £3 for each of those days - the highest since I joined OVO December 2022.
I’m already sitting in candlelight, three jumpers quilt and blankets for 3 hours each weekday for Power Move. I have been able to charge iPad & phone during Green/Medium periods to use ‘off grid’ between 4pm and 7pm each weekday and seen the rewards in 2 bills BUT for the those 3 days last week this was impossible. After 7pm High until 11pm but after 10pm it was high until 3am so I set alarm & woke up at 2.45am to be ready to plug in iPhone & iPad. Then this morning, Saturday 13 January 2024, it was High from 7am so I had to get breakfast and shower at the highest usage rate. Is this fair?

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Best answer by BPLightlog 14 January 2024, 09:34

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BPLightlog
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Hi @Gala6ovoplus not sure of your exact query .. the high emission levels of late have been due to the lack of solar, wind and the need for high gas and some coal generation. 
Not sure if you have any renewables yourself (solar PV panels etc) but during winter it is often similarly not very green. 
Hence the Power Move initiative to try and reduce the need at peak and the need for the grid to have more work done to enable better connections for more renewable connections. 
For Power Move itself, you do realise that weekends don’t count and it’s just weekdays between 4pm and 7pm?

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
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Thanks BPLightlog.  I’ve got the hang of Power Move - was doing it most of year after shock of bills Dec 22 to Feb 23 - great I got additional rewards after signing-up in November. 
Take last week - Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 as of just now checking online usage table - I have usage of over £3 each day because all day every day has been at High Energy. This is for electricity as I have a Smart Reader that works most of the time - needs resetting more often in cold weather. Also, the online usage table lags behind Smart Reader by 2-3 days since that I can go to bed each night with it reading 📖 n average 80p to £1 and find days later when hat the table show higher readings. But it has never been £3+ per day!  Who sets the Smart Reader rate?   
I have to take readings for gas from the meter and was sending monthly on average up to December - now I’m trying to update online more often as the estimated use in £ sends my blood pressure sky high!
I do understand that energy costs are higher and why - but 3 times higher?  And no green or medium at all during the day not even between 1 and 3pm week days when I used to cook main meal and have the heating on for an hour before Power Move times and most of weekends up to 7 January. 
I’m retired, living alone on a restricted budget so I have the need and time to keep an eye on what everything is costing. I check OVO online daily costs, graphs, etc, more or less before  switch anything on - many times a day since the holidays.  Another shock to the system was watching the Smart Reader climb to 80kw/h when I put the kettle and the electric oven to 90kw/h when cooking breakfast - yes all the way over into the red! - used to get worried if it got to 5kw/h for anything. High energy is no joke!  Anyway - have to go now, phone is running out of charge😜

 

 


 

 

 

 

BPLightlog
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I think I misunderstood your green, medium, high .. you're talking about your in home display (IHD) I think whereas I thought you were talking about the carbon emissions level at the time. 
There are a few things ..

The IHD doesn’t set your bill rate - you should be able to see your rates via your account. It should get details from your meter but sometimes doesn’t. 
On your usage pages, check that the details are actually from your meter and not estimates. 
And then you can do a few checks to see if your meter is registering correctly if you feel it’s needed. 
 

Hope you can find something that helps

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
Nukecad
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I have to take readings for gas from the meter and was sending monthly on average up to December - now I’m trying to update online more often as the estimated use in £ sends my blood pressure sky high!

 

I’m with you on that one, but I have worked out why it does it* and am working on getting those daft estimates down.

The trick is as have you already stated, - send in more frequent meter readings.
I’m now sending one each week and the daft estimates are decreasing each time I send a new one in.

*Well I’ve not fully worked it out yet, but enough to know how to change the estimates for the better.
It’s to do with something called the Future Anual Consumption fgure (FAC) that is being used for those estimates.
For some reason it is often much higher than your actual anual consumption, that’s something odd (wrong?) with the OVO computer calculation which we customers can’t change - but we can send in more frequent readings to reduce the figure being used.

By sending in weekly readings I have halved my FAC for gas in a month, it’s still higher than my actual usage but should drop again with my next reading.
And that’s made a big difference to those daft estimates they are now nowhere near as high as they used to be.

You can see your own FAC that gets used in those calculations on the ‘Plan’ page of your online account.
 

That’s mine currently, last month before I started sending weekly readings it was at 31485 kWh, it’s gone down with every reading sent in since and I’m working on getting it down to the 9200 kWh that I reckon it should be.
Hopefully once I have got it down to about where it should be then I can stop sending readings so frequently and the estimates will be more accurate.

Today I have zero energy, my plan zero is going back to sleep.
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Hiya

Using this Forum is great!  I’m no longer alone trying to work it all out - thanks BPBrightlog & Nukecad for your support 🤗

I’ve also had those extremely high usage columns - 4 days over £3 as of this morning - reduced to what I would expect. I think someone at customer services was listening to me too - such a lovely feeling!  The Smart Meter wasn’t displaying all day so I unplugged - counted 10 elephants - plugged in again - waited for it say back online - pressed Home button on display unit - and back to normal.
 

I also sent a gas meter reading this morning & put weekly reminders in phone calendar & manual diary - belt & braces will build up the habit.
 

I’ve set a daily budget on Smart Meter - have been scared that if I did everything would go off and I’d be left with no power😜. Now though I’d rather that than runaway usage - I feel more in control.

Also filled in Priority User form (again) - wonder if that has had some effect on change to usage graph?!?

Once again, thanks Forum buddies🎉🌈

TTFN 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Userlevel 7

Great to see our Community Members offering such helpful advice. Feel free to pop back anytime @Gala6ovoplus 😊

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
Nukecad
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I’ve also had those extremely high usage columns - 4 days over £3 as of this morning - reduced to what I would expect. I think someone at customer services was listening to me

I also sent a gas meter reading this morning

When you send in a new reading the previously estimated colums in the chart change pretty quickly from showing estimates to ‘actual’ use. (They can’t know daily and seem to share out what you have used that week depending on each days average temperature?).
It often changes for me within minutes of sending a new reading.

Then the column for the day you send the reading will be an estimate again, and high up again, until you send the next one.

Guess what day last week I sent a gas meter reading (spoiler it was the 10th).
 

 

Today I have zero energy, my plan zero is going back to sleep.
Nukecad
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Userlevel 6

Posted in error, contents removed.

Today I have zero energy, my plan zero is going back to sleep.

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