Does OVO have any plans to launch an agile Time-Of-Use (TOU) tariff?

Ah… I’m glad you brought this up again @tony1tf .

About 2 months ago I sent @Tim_OVO a “wish-list” of Topics I’d like to see on an agenda for a Forum Members Visitors’ Day this year. Time Of Use tariff was one of the subjects I requested.

I wasn’t just wanting for OVO to tell us what they were doing, but also to feed back to their Management what features would be useful/attractive to us as customers.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has obviously intervened to curtail plans for such a meeting being held in Bristol, I believe that Tim has still been finding out what OVO’s strategy is, and whose responsibility it is to move the company towards Demand Side Response.

Let’s hope he picks this up tomorrow and can tell us a bit more.

We may yet be able to arrange a Forum-based “Briefing” on the subject, or even group some of us into a one-off video-conference if needs be. It all rather depends on how OVO themselves feel about sharing ideas beyond their own internal strategy meetings. There’s obviously a lot of stuff which is company-confidential.

I agree @ITGeek123 - but it’s easy to get lots of Tweets if you’re currently the only Supplier offering a Time Of Use tariff!

I think there are many aspects to building such a tariff. And potential customers will make decisions on which half-hour slots they use for differing reasons.

For example, OVO probably has a high percentage of customers who might opt for slots where there is a higher proportion of renewables in the energy mix. Price alone is not the deciding factor.

The UK’s DNOs have put together a basic TOU structure referred to as DCP268, which is based on the wholesale market. However, this only offers three different price-bands within the 24-hour period, labelled red, amber and green.

That strategy may be easily understood if offered to customers, but doesn’t have the granularity which Octopus currently offer. There are pros and cons to this approach.

That was why I requested a discussion with relevant OVO Managers before a tariff actually got launched. I think any proposed TOU tariff would benefit from being tested by a “consumer panel” first.

Bump

Any Update? Octopus are offering good rates for overnight electricity, and their gas prices are very similar to OVO, so OVO should be catching up before their business evaporates. we have 2 EVs and underfloor electric heating in the bathroom so can definitely make use of a few nighttime hours at cheap rate. Unfortunately, the fixed deals on Drive Anytime got astronomically expensive, so we are on the standard variable tariff now.

Tony

Hey @tony1tf,

Thanks for your great question.

We haven’t launched a Time-Of-Use tariff.

Unfortunately, I imagine given the current market volatility and everything going on with implementation of the Energy Bills Support Scheme and the Energy Price Guarantee this is unlikely to be prioritized. But it’s certainly a good idea. 

We have just launched ‘OVO Power Move’ which might be of interest you. 

Personally i think it is important to get as as many new domestic customers involved as possible, so you are probably not a priority given the great progress you have already made. Well done! 

There is also a big push currently by the National Grid ESO on non domestic consumption. Currently only 32.7% of electricity consumption is domestic. So there are big wins to be made on non domestic consumption as well. 

Hi @TerryE 

Out of curiosity. 

Are you switching to Octopus Agile?