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Jeffus
Rank 20
Rank 20
August 9, 2022
Open for votes

Add 30min/hourly cost data to the usage page

Related products:OVO app
  • August 9, 2022
  • 25 replies
  • 354 views

The daily usage page on the website and the app doesn't currently show cost data for the 30min/hourly slots. It only displays kWh data for the slots. 

It would be useful to show cost data. 

It is available on the monthly and yearly page. 

 

25 replies

BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
June 7, 2023

Just reviewing this idea, of course most of the third party apps do show 30 min data and generally you can choose to show kWh or cost. On the Hugo app, although the chart doesn’t show standing charges or vat, you can switch these on or off in the overall daily view

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Jeffus
Rank 20
JeffusAuthor
Rank 20
June 7, 2023

Just reviewing this idea, of course most of the third party apps do show 30 min data and generally you can choose to show kWh or cost. On the Hugo app, although the chart doesn’t show standing charges or vat, you can switch these on or off in the overall daily view

Yep, interesting that the other apps do

They also have experience in the National Grid Balancing scheme, which was rather limited directly with OVO unfortunately this year.

Be interesting to see how these 3rd party apps evolve in terms of the service they offer. 

Tim_OVO
OVO Staff
OVO Forum Legend
June 12, 2023

Quick check, this feature is now available for users of the OVO app, is that correct, @BPLightlog @Blastoise186?

 

I’ve seen a screenshot from Blastoise over the weekend that shows a daily cost and HH cost...

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BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
June 12, 2023

I can see cost on the OVO app for daily use - just not same day

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Blastoise186
Super User
Super User
June 12, 2023

It seems to be partially implemented. Bear with me!

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Jeffus
Rank 20
JeffusAuthor
Rank 20
June 12, 2023

No @Tim_OVO 

This was about seeing the cost on the 30min slots. As @Blastoise186 says this isn't available.

 

What is available is a total for the day on the daily tab. 

Given we may see a lot of time of use tariffs going forward, it would be good to see this at some stage, hence the votes.

It also quite regularly confuses posters not being able to see it, we get posts ever month i suspect. 

Firedog
Super User
Super User
June 12, 2023

I can see little point in trying to display half-hourly costs, at least for electricity. It would involve another level of calculation involving at least two look-ups (unit price and TOU) for little benefit with a higher potential for error. The ‘average’ household consumes about 8kWh a day costing about £2.50 at current prices, so one could imagine a scale reaching up to an order of magnitude higher. You would have to be using at least 35W to register 1p on a cost chart. I can’t see what could be read from a chart like that that isn’t clear from the usage chart.

The Bright app does display half-hourly costs; here are Sunday’s:  

  

 

I’m not sure what this tells me that I didn’t already know. No upvote from me, I’m afraid; I’d rather the devs got on with something that matters.

 

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BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
June 12, 2023

The only point in this (although I tend to agree with Firedog) is as he’s pointed out, others do offer this information (Bright, Hugo, SmartThings, ivie) .. some even enhancing their data feeds recently. I did begin to watch my 30 min data via the Hildebrand IHD and Bright app but have reduced my usage recently. Whether this will increase again during winter who knows. But if the others can offer the information, why not the supplier?

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}
Jeffus
Rank 20
JeffusAuthor
Rank 20
June 12, 2023

I can see little point in trying to display half-hourly costs, at least for electricity. It would involve another level of calculation involving at least two look-ups (unit price and TOU) for little benefit with a higher potential for error. The ‘average’ household consumes about 8kWh a day costing about £2.50 at current prices, so one could imagine a scale reaching up to an order of magnitude higher. You would have to be using at least 35W to register 1p on a cost chart. I can’t see what could be read from a chart like that that isn’t clear from the usage chart.

The Bright app does display half-hourly costs; here are Sunday’s:  

  

 

I’m not sure what this tells me that I didn’t already know. No upvote from me, I’m afraid; I’d rather the devs got on with something that matters.

 

Fair comments. 

My thoughts were very different. 

With the move to electric vehicles and heat pumps picking up speed, the average usage of 8kWh will become meaningless in just a few years time for millions of people.

Even for us it is already meaningless for some of the not too cold days as we have switched from using our gas boiler quite so much and moved to using an electric heater if we just need a bit of heat in a room for a couple of hours. 

The number of new fossil fuel cars and new/replacement gas boilers is being dramatically limited by the government each year even before the outright ban. Manufacturers are being limited on the percentage of fossil fuel equipment they can sell going forward. 

If OVO continue to loose customers eyes to 3rd party apps they seriously run the risk of unexpectedly loosing customers. Uswitch and Bright have already built prototype  apps to do this, where they use customer 30min data to find the cheapest tariff or negotiate a cheap tariff. I have seen something similar happen in other sectors i have worked in. These 3rd apps don't just want our data, they ultimately all want us as customers and to take us away from OVO. They are already requesting a change in the rules to get 100% of the data off meters that suppliers can see. They have already been part of the National Grid balancing schemes over winter. This is just the start of their agenda. 

OVO run the potential risk of getting caught off guard at some stage in the future. Not for certain, but it is a risk. 

I do think suppliers need to keep up with their functionality while it is relatively easy and there isn't much tariff competition and these apps are relatively unknown. 

Also I would prefer i didn't need to look at any 3rd party apps, so if ovo offered the functionality that would be great. 

Is it a big deal at the moment, perhaps not, could it be in the future? Maybe. 

I would prefer to see ovo ahead of the game now. To have the best IT platform and operational processes. 

 

Newcomer
June 12, 2023

If the app just showed daily £ cost usage I would be happy, I don’t need ½ hour or hourly usage