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Blastoise186
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Blastoise186Super User
Super User
May 12, 2021
Tutorial

Top tips and tricks with OVO Energy Tracker

  • May 12, 2021
  • 16 replies
  • 1452 views
Top tips and tricks with OVO Energy Tracker

 

You may have heard recently that OVO Energy Tracker launched. But if you’re unsure what it’s about or how to use it, here’s some of my own top tips and tricks! :slight_smile:

Seven seems to be a really popular number recently, so I’ve got eight tips instead. :sunglasses:

 

It’s free to all OVO Members

 

OVO Energy Tracker is not only free, but it also makes some of the previously paid features free too. Features previously known as ‘Energy Spotlights’ and the ‘Carbon Tracker’ no longer require you to have OVO Beyond. But if you were using them via OVO Beyond, everything has been migrated over.

 

You can find tips and advice

 

As well as insights into your energy usage, OVO Greenlight is also designed to offer tips and advice that can help to reduce your usage and save you a little bit of cash. You won’t see all the tips all of the time, so check back every so often for more!

 

A smart meter isn’t required

 

To make full use of Energy Tracker, a working smart meter in Half-Hourly mode is needed. However, even without one you can still use Greenlight - it just won’t be quite as powerful. You can still get tips and advice along with seeing the Carbon Tracker regardless of your meter. :)

 

OVO Energy Tracker takes time to learn

 

To get more accurate data from OVO Energy Tracker, it helps to fill out your home profile and allow a month’s worth of half-hourly mode smart meter data to be submitted. OVO Energy Tracker might still provide data in the meantime, but it won’t be as accurate at first. Hang in there for a while and it should improve!

 

You can find OVO Energy Tracker in the OVO Energy apps too!

 

Yup! It was initially released on Earth Day to the apps as well, but had to be turned off temporarily at the time, possibly because I broke it. Sorry! But it’s now back and better than before! If you don’t see it yet, I have some solutions that might help.

 

The monthly emails are optional

 

Only smart meter members who’ve opted in to communications from OVO will get a monthly OVO Energy Tracker email.  While some members such as myself find the email newsletters useful, not everyone does. If you’d rather not get them though, that’s totally cool with OVO. You can always opt-in or opt-out at anytime.

 

OVO Greenlight data updates every 24 hours

 

Smart meters in Half-Hourly mode submit your readings and usage data overnight on a daily basis, usually sometime around midnight and 2am. It also takes a few minutes for the number crunching to go through. If you’re looking for today’s data, it will be available tomorrow morning by the time you wake up. Any changes you make to your Home Profile today will also be reflected from tomorrow onwards.

 

You can share your experiences here on the forum

 

As a brand new feature, OVO Energy Tracker is still a little bit experimental and not always perfect. But that doesn’t mean it won’t get better over time. If you spot anything that doesn’t look right, have any ideas for improvements or come across any bugs, feel free to let us know right here on the forum! There’s a few magic tricks that might happen from here as a result…

 

Newly installed smart meters won’t show in OVO Energy Tracker straight away!

 

Ok, this is technically a ninth tip, but it’s an important one. If you’ve only recently had a smart meter installed, it won’t usually be ready to submit Smart Readings until around six weeks after the install and it won’t be in Half-Hourly mode unless you specifically request it. OVO’s Support Team can change the settings on request though. But if your smart meter is brand new, please hang in there for a bit before reporting any usage data issues. :)

    16 replies

    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    Jeffus
    Rank 20
    August 18, 2021

    In Greenlight, does "Your energy’s yearly carbon footprint" figure change if you use a higher proportion of your energy when the carbon intensity of the grid is low?

    Am not sure how dynamic the carbon figure is. 

      juliamc
      Rank 20
      juliamc
      Rank 20
      August 23, 2021

      The home profile has a meaningless question Do you have a Water Heater? Well, yes I do (I pity anyone who doesn’t) but whatever I answer I still get this incorrect result !!! I have sent ‘Feedback’ but nothing’s changed.

       

      Well spotted, @juliamc - I’m told that this has actually been changed already in the web version (not yet the app, that’s incoming) of the online account, to specify that it’s referencing an electricity water heater. 

      Sorry to say @Tim_OVO but Greenlight hasn’t changed for me ! I answered Yes to Electric water heater and still have all my (very small) gas usage logged as Water Heating.

      The only week that my gas usage is all Cooking (which is all it ever is) was the week I was on holiday and used no gas at all. Unfortunately the Usage graph tells me I used 2 days worth while I was still away !!

      It’s a bit of a first world problem, but if it’s going to tell me something it ought to be correct !

      E
      Rank 7
      EverythingNeedsAUserName
      Rank 7
      August 23, 2021

      Yeah - and in fact this is a very good example of why you shouldn’t just implicitly trust what the retailer says. The manufacturer is required to be honest about these things, so I always prefer to cross-reference with them to be sure.

      Agreed. My wife gets frustrated at the spreadsheets I create before any purchase, trying to get comparable data off each manufacturer's Web site. 

      3.99kW solar 2015, 12kWh batteries 2022, Tado.
        E
        Rank 7
        EverythingNeedsAUserName
        Rank 7
        August 23, 2021

        Also there are only two of us and the similar ovo home figures for electricity are completely different in the screen shot I posted. 

        Are your two homes similar to each other though ? @Jeffus @EverythingNeedsAUserName ?

        Now there's a question. 

        1988 4 bedroomed detached house. Radiators with TRVs, small bore upstairs. Condensing boiler new 2006. UPVC double glazing 1995. cavity wall insulation 2021. 2 smallest bedrooms used as home offices. 

        Our homes are very different. Ours is over 100 years old in a conservation area. We use a lot more energy in winter than summer, especially during lockdown. My partner has only been into London to work 4 times since April 2020... She use to go in 4 to 5 days a week. 

        Our electric usage in summer looks similar which is what i would expect but the comparison with the average is what i noticed. An average ovo 4 bed home only using 16kw of electricity sounded low, but perhaps that is correct. 

         

        Very different. I forgot the Solar PV which reduces our summer use. We are both retired since March 2020, and both use phone, tablet and computer very regularly. Our electricity usage hasn't changed significantly; if anything it has been lower this year! 

         

        I was amazed at the low "average" electricity usage. Perhaps many are like my neighbour who has a TV and radio as her only technology, and a clothes washing machine but no dishwasher. 

        3.99kW solar 2015, 12kWh batteries 2022, Tado.
          Tim_OVO
          OVO Staff
          Tim_OVO
          OVO Forum Legend
          August 23, 2021

          The home profile has a meaningless question Do you have a Water Heater? Well, yes I do (I pity anyone who doesn’t) but whatever I answer I still get this incorrect result !!! I have sent ‘Feedback’ but nothing’s changed.

           

          Well spotted, @juliamc - I’m told that this has actually been changed already in the web version (not yet the app, that’s incoming) of the online account, to specify that it’s referencing an electricity water heater. 

           

          Sorry to say @Tim_OVO but Greenlight hasn’t changed for me ! I answered Yes to Electric water heater and still have all my (very small) gas usage logged as Water Heating.

          The only week that my gas usage is all Cooking (which is all it ever is) was the week I was on holiday and used no gas at all. Unfortunately the Usage graph tells me I used 2 days worth while I was still away !!

          It’s a bit of a first world problem, but if it’s going to tell me something it ought to be correct !

           

          Thanks @juliamc - the Carbon Insights team love hearing this and have said feedback is always helpful in improving how they can estimate and show visualize your usage. 

           

          With your most recent feedback specifically, they’re going to adjust the calculations to work better for people with electric heating.

           

          I was amazed at the low "average" electricity usage. Perhaps many are like my neighbour who has a TV and radio as her only technology, and a clothes washing machine but no dishwasher. 

           

          @EverythingNeedsAUserName my household of 4 is sadly well above the average OVO home on gas usage. Leaving lights on in empty rooms prompted me to post this earlier in the year: 

           

           

          Maybe it’s time for another chat...

          Carbon neutral - we need a community to get there! My green tech: Aclara SGM 1411-B smart meter, Chameleon IHD6
            Jeffus
            Rank 20
            Jeffus
            Rank 20
            September 22, 2021

            Interesting that Greenlight thinks we put the heating on?

            A bit too early in the year for us. How many have had heating on yet? 

             

              Jeffus
              Rank 20
              Jeffus
              Rank 20
              September 22, 2021

              Just to add to my previous post.

              The gas heating split is a bit strange as the gas condensing system boiler only comes on once overnight to heat up the water in the tank for a short time.

              So it is unlikely to be heating but could be i guess in some homes? Perhaps something to think about with Greenlight? Also are you realistically going to ever use just 7kw of heating in a week? 

              Very infrequently the boiler doesn't kick in if the water is still hot enough from the previous day.

                juliamc
                Rank 20
                juliamc
                Rank 20
                September 22, 2021

                My chart of gas use tells me it’s mostly going to Water Heating - my only use of gas now is for the hob ! I think it’s a bug...

                  Jess_OVO
                  OVO Staff
                  Jess_OVO
                  OVO Staff
                  September 23, 2021

                  Well spotted, @Jeffus.

                   

                  As @juliamc has mentioned these consumption breakdowns aren’t 100% accurate. The algorithms make judgements on what’s using the energy based on patterns of usage, but it doesn’t always get things right. We’ve forwarded your feedback on to the team as it’s really helpful for them to identify issues and make improvements to how consumption is identified in future.

                   

                  Keep up the constructive feedback team! :thumbsup:

                   

                   

                  Powered by Re-knowable Energy!
                  Jeffus
                  Rank 20
                  Jeffus
                  Rank 20
                  September 27, 2021

                  Well spotted, @Jeffus.

                   

                  As @juliamc has mentioned these consumption breakdowns aren’t 100% accurate. The algorithms make judgements on what’s using the energy based on patterns of usage, but it doesn’t always get things right. We’ve forwarded your feedback on to the team as it’s really helpful for them to identify issues and make improvements to how consumption is identified in future.

                   

                  Keep up the constructive feedback team! :thumbsup:

                   

                   

                  Nothing against heating for last week

                  Just to add to my previous post.

                  The gas heating split is a bit strange as the gas condensing system boiler only comes on once overnight to heat up the water in the tank for a short time.

                  So it is unlikely to be heating but could be i guess in some homes? Perhaps something to think about with Greenlight? Also are you realistically going to ever use just 7kw of heating in a week? 

                  Very infrequently the boiler doesn't kick in if the water is still hot enough from the previous day.

                  Nothing against heating in Greenlight for last week. 

                  I did notice that there was something against electric water heating but we don't have anything like that (kettles are another category). I guess electric showers are quite common? Ours run of the hot water tank via a pump. 

                   

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