My smart home

Discussions around the latest tech at home: EVs, solar, smart heat, battery storage and more

  • 426 Topic threads
  • 6,026 Comments
Blog

Share your heat pump experience

  • 0
  • 24
News

We’re now installing solar - the brighter way to generate electricity a...

  • 1
  • 0
News

Introducing Charge Anytime - next generation EV charging

  • 6
  • 253

426 Topic threads

L
Carbon Cutter*****
Leo MoranCarbon Cutter*****
posted in My smart home

Should the Direct Debit Calculator include V2G payments

Yesterday my OVO Energy account was £529.96 in credit and I was paying £200 a month for both the gas and electricity account via direct debit. Yet the forward plan for the next 12 months was I’d be in debit by £1,005 and my payments should be increased to £284 a month. For the last 4 years I’ve had to ring up every three months when they try and automatically increase my monthly payments from £200 to as much as £450. I have to repeat every time that I don’t have a regular account, that I’m on the V2G scheme and pay up front for electricity which I store in my car overnight and sell back to OVO in the evening for use on the grid….so my account is not just topped up by £200 from my bank account but also a rebate of £250 at the end of the month, hence in the summer months my OVO account is never in subtraction but is constantly in addition….But OVO’s computer isn’t programmed to understand this and trying to get the call centre people to understand is like trying to make a U turn in a tra

3
Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
1 day ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

Share your heat pump experienceBlog

Let's talk heat pumps At OVO we want to help spread the word about heat pumps, so that more homes consider them as an alternative to gas boilers. Happy to help us do this? Become a heat pump case studyChat to one of our team about your heat pump experience. This can be a written case study - or filmed, if you're up for it! We'll be sharing snippets of the conversations on our social media, website and with journalists. Interested?Let us know by leaving a comment below.  Thanks,The OVO team

21324
C
Carbon Cutter*****
1 day ago
G
Carbon Catcher*
Gary AlfordCarbon Catcher*
Posted in My smart home

Charge Anytime direct to vehicle app is charging instantly with my Mini Cooper SE?

Hi, been using Charge Anytime for many months now and pretty flawless (2 times failed since started using). This week though the app hasn’t updated from the car since Monday (4 days) and so it’s charging straight away when plugged in.I’m sure it is not my cars fault (Mini Cooper SE) as its own app if working perfectly - this proves that the Mini/BMW servers are working normally.It’s as though the app needs a ‘pull down to refresh’ function! Force quitting the app and restarting still shows status from my Mini last updated 4 days ago!I have emailed the team but wondered if anyone else here affected or any tips to kickstart it working again.

7
B
Carbon Cutter*
12 days ago
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
BPLightlogPlan Zero Hero
posted in My smart home

Battery Systems - size is everything

There are a few pieces of feedback elsewhere from battery users One thing to bear in mind is that you never have enough battery storage so whatever you think you need , double it!We have had battery storage now for 2 years and it has helped our solar PV efficiency tremendously. One thing to think about is the maximum kw draw on your system. This is usually when multiple things get switched on together. In our case it would be an electric shower, kitchen appliances (oven, air fryer etc) and other general equipment such as hair dryers, washing machines and tumble dryers. Even with solar active (less so in the winter), the capacity of your inverter to supply the whole household power is significant so it is useful to understand and plan for a system expansion. We have already doubled our battery capacity and are planning to increase this again very soon. The unfortunate thing at present is that any retrofit battery system does not fall into the 0% vat category - although that is under con

2
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
1 day ago
Jequinlan
Plan Zero Hero
JequinlanPlan Zero Hero
posted in My smart home

GivEnergy energy storage

Hi, Just like to say I have solar with a GivEnergy 2x8kw battery system and 5kw inverter and it has been very reliable, easy to use and so far made quite a chunk of return on investment. What a great bit of kit!

1
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
1 day ago
E
New Member*
Econnors1109New Member*
Posted in My smart home

ev charge anytime tarriff

We have a ford kuga 2022 phev, we have signed up for the charge anytime, however when we try to charge the car it doesn't ever charge properly and causes the vehicle to not power up fully in the morning until left for a while, we have tried to uninstall and reinstall the charge anytime but it still doesn't charge properly.Car charges fine without the charge anytime app. We have a pod point charger and smart meter. Does anyone have any ideas please? 

1
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
2 days ago
S
Carbon Cutter*
samnixCarbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

vw id.5 connection to app

I know it’s compatible but has anyone got a solution to the connection issue? The app still can’t see the car

4
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
2 days ago
N
Carbon Cutter*****
Nick ChallacombeCarbon Cutter*****
posted in My smart home

batteries and the cons.

I have been asked to share my experience with storage batterie. We have only been using them fully for 3 months but it became obvious that generating more electricity that we could use in the summer daytime even with an EV car that paying full rate of just less than 30p made no sense when being paid only 4p by SEG system. I first bought a GivEnergy 8.5 battery and that was too small so we bought a 9.25 KWh as well couples with the 8.5 KWh so we had 17.75 KWh battery storage to see us through the night and fun our jacuzzi, pond lights, pond pumps , fridges etc.We now use OVO anytime which charges our EV at 10p per kWh. If our batteries are full then they charge the car at 0p per kWh. winter will be different but there are many bright days and today in the cloud we were generating 1.9kWh.I hope this is useful info. 

3
N
Carbon Cutter*****
2 days ago
Firedog
Plan Zero Hero
FiredogPlan Zero Hero
posted in My smart home

Battery prices plummet

[From Battery prices plummet as electric cars approach ‘tipping point’ | The Independent] The cost of batteries fell by nearly 10 per cent in August, taking them past a key milestone that is seen by energy analysts as a “tipping point” to supercharge the transition to electric vehicles.The price of lithium-ion battery cells, which power everything from smartphones to the International Space Station, fell below $100/ kilowatthour (kWh) last month – a 33 per cent drop from March 2022 and an 8.7 per cent month-on-month drop.Energy analytics firm Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, who compiled the figures, noted that battery pack prices need to reach $100/kWh for electric vehicles to reach price parity with fossil fuel-burning vehicles.“Decreasing cell prices could allow [manufacturers] to sell mass market electric vehicles at comparable prices to internal combustion engine vehicles, with the same margin, improving the attractiveness of the EV transition for both consumers and automakers,” sa

1
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
3 days ago
juliamc
Plan Zero Hero
juliamcPlan Zero Hero
posted in My smart home

Arc Fault Detection - should I get it ?

Over the last few years I’ve had more and more electrical stuff installed - outside room power, electric oven, EV charger and heat pump. To accommodate these my consumer unit (new 20 years ago) has spawned baby consumer units, three to date. Now I’d like to get solar and battery so I’ve been advised to get a new larger consumer unit which will supply all these, plus some spare ways for the future. The electrician has given me a quote for this but also given the option of an Arc Fault Detection version which is considerably more expensive. I’ve read that this is required for multi occupancy residences (which we are not) but also guards against arcing due to rodent damage etc. Would it be a good investment or is it a bit unnecessary? Any advice would be welcome.

1
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
3 days ago
C
Carbon Cutter*
CWMCarbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

Question about installing a second charger

Hi allWe have a podpoint but would like to install a charger that works with the anytime tariff. We also need wifi as the mobile signal is bad here.  We don't really need to charge two cars at once, but I'm wondering if it's best to take the podpoint out and install the Indra, or whether anyone has installed a second charger alongside an existing one. I'm assuming that load would need to be considered Thanks 

5
C
Carbon Cutter*****
4 days ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

Introducing Charge Anytime - next generation EV chargingNews

Here’s the latest on our new electric vehicle charging type-of-use plan We’ve relaunched Anytime as Charge Anytime. It’s not only a new name, we’ve made some updates to the product and we want to tell you all about it… See our Charge Anytime product page here What are the headline facts about Charge Anytime? Smart charge your electric vehicle for 10p per kWh whenever you need to, Now available to be added to any OVO plan, including electric-only households, Intelligently optimises your charge for when the energy is at its greenest.*  Am I eligible? You can see all eligibility details in our Charge Anytime page here. You must be an OVO Energy customer and have an eligible car or charger. We’re constantly looking to open up the eligibility of this product to more EV models and chargers, so if you don’t see your tech here, keep an eye on our page.  Right now, solar panels aren’t compatible with Charge Anytime (unless you have an Indra Pro Smart Charger). But we’re working on making this h

6198253
W
New Member*
4 days ago
A
New Member***
AdrianTNew Member***
Posted in My smart home

The Indra Smart LUX & Charge Anytime compatibility

Hi, I’m looking at changing my ChargePoint EV home charger to the The Indra Smart LUX however need to confirm that the EV charger will work with the Charge Anytime facility?  Im currently charging 2 vehicles (a Tesla and a Vauxhall Vivaro E) using the ChargePoint however due to their being no support for a Vauxhall Vivaro E, I need to swap the charger.  Thanks 

14
G
Carbon Cutter**
5 days ago
N
Carbon Cutter*****
newjerseyminxCarbon Cutter*****
Posted in My smart home

Great British Insulation Scheme - Loft insulation, is it worth it?

Has anyone else been contacted by Efficient Homes regarding the GBIS?  I registered as in a band D, EPC D house that is badly in need of loft insulation.  My understanding is that under this scheme you will be given a Gov grant towards the cost with the rest funded by you.  I was expecting to pay a couple of hundred quid but I got a call this morning from Efficient Homes and was told my contribution would be over £1500 to insulate the loft plus I was not able to have the pitched roof insulation which is what I really wanted.  I’m sure I could get a professional insulation company to do the job cheaper than £1,500 but was curious to know if anyone else had registered?  What have your experiences been so far?  Anyone know how much the actual grant amount is?

16
C
Carbon Cutter*
6 days ago
L
New Member*
LongerNew Member*
Posted in My smart home

Charge anytime lost connection with Ford Kuga PHEV

Hello, just today charge anytime app has stopped connection with my Ford Kuga PHEV. I've tried to re-install OVO and Ford apps. Charge anytime sees the car but when I'm pressing complete button suddenly it kicks back to the main screen. Any help would be much appreciated.

1
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
7 days ago
B
New Member***
BillMNew Member***
Posted in My smart home

How can I contact the OVO Feed-in tariff (FIT) team?

I have an outstanding problem concerning FIT payments for several periods whilst my smart meter was faulty and subsequently replaced. Despite sending numerous emails and trying to make contact by phone, I am getting no answers or response. Is there a problem at OVO

46
S
New Member*
18 days ago
G
New Member***
Gary_MNew Member***
Posted in My smart home

Indra Smart Pro does it now work with the Indra app on Charge Anytime?

Hi there, I am still using the web-based Indra portal to set my charging times with Charge Anytime.  This was the advice given as at the time of installing my charger, a few months ago, as there was a compatibility issue with Kaluza and the latest Firmware of in Indra Smart Pro. Has this issue now been resolved?  If so, can I now download the Indra App and connect my Indra Smart Pro so that I can use with the Charge Anytime tariff to set charging times. Thanks, Gary

6
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
11 days ago
B
Carbon Cutter*
BrianCCarbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

Indra web app- How do I create a log on?

Hello waiting on my first EV, AN MG4 and have ordered an indra smart pro for the charge anytime tariff.Don’t have either yet but want to have all the info beforehand.I now understand we need to use the Indra web app. When you open this it asks for your login but doesn’t offer opportunity to create one.Do you create this on the Indra app then go back to the web app?I also understand the charge anytime app will not be used for this setup.If anyone has a step by step guide that would be really helpful?

7
N
Carbon Cutter*****
14 days ago
A
Carbon Cutter*
Andyf1604Carbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

OVO Charge Anytime not working with MyAudi app

HiI’m a recent OVO customer.I switched as I’ve just recently got an Audi Q4 e-tron.I’ve downloaded the OVO Charge Anytime app and also have a MyAudi account set up.I am trying to connect to Kaluza on the Charge Anytime app via my MyAudi account username and password but it states ”the vendor is currently experiencing issues on their side”.I phoned Audi about this and they’ve said to contact OVO as there is nothing they can see an issue with at their side.Any help please?

5
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
15 days ago
R
Carbon Cutter*
RM84Carbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

Preconditioning settings like pre-heat from my BMW EV app not working due to clashing with OVO's Charge Anytime?

Good Morning, I’ve recently added Charge Anytime to our account, however as our charger (Zappi v2) isn’t compatible, I’ve gone down the route of linking the Charge Anytime app directly with the car itself (BMW i4), which is where the problems have started. So to provide context, before we added Charge Anytime, I was using the My BMW app to control the charging, preconditioning and vehicle preferences. In my case I had a schedule set up, so the car would precondition the batteries and warm the cabin prior to departure, however since the Ovo app ‘took over’, the preconditioning functionality has gone haywire. It appears that the schedule I had in place (Mon-Fri 7am departure), keeps being replaced with bizarre times of the day and night (I had a random 3am departure scheduled the other night) and no matter how many times I go back to reset, it keeps happening. Somehow the Ovo app is clashing with the manufacturers app and essentially rendering the preconditioning functionality useless, w

41
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
16 days ago
S
New Member*
shelly12345New Member*
Posted in My smart home

Multiple failed appointments for Isolation switch installation

HELP!! I paid and booked to have an isolation switch installed to charge an electric car back inMarch 2023 , 4 times they have been booked and not turned up.every time I get £30 credited to my account for wasted a morning of annual leave. This is truly disgraceful no one can help all the staff at ova do is book another appointment. no contact to or from SMSL Every time they don't turn up they credit my account and this is all well and good but who is paying for this? ultimately it is us the customers … Its the most awful service from a company who have rocketing prices and bonuses. 

1
Abby_OVO
Community Manager
16 days ago
G
Carbon Cutter****
GazwadCarbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Charge Anytime - how can I switch from one car to another or to connect Charge Anytime to multiple vendor accounts?

After a small number of charges with the Charge Anytime bolt-on I can see a credit on my OVO account so it seems to be working albeit with a few small issues.The sign up process asked if I had one or more EVs so it would follow that the ability to add more should be available or if a manufacturer account which is connected to the Charge Anytime account has multiple cars within it there should be some mechanism to either manually select which vehicle is waiting to be charged or perhaps Charge Anytime should detect which is ready to charge automatically. I need to charge a second car which is in my "My Renault" account but am still waiting for a reply regarding my situation and what I should expect to do to make this work. Does anyone know how one can switch from one car to another or to connect Charge Anytine to multiple vendor accounts? (For example Renault and Vauxhall or two Renault accounts). Any help much appreciated so I can charge at the reduced rare. Thanks  Gaz

44
S
New Member*
25 days ago
A
New Member**
andy.brown21New Member**
Posted in My smart home

OVO charge anytime app can’t see my car

Hi All, yesterday for some reason the OVO charge anytime app can’t see my car. First time it’s happened  logged out and back in again and nothing.downloaded and logged in on my wife’s phone and I can see it’s communicating with her Charge anytime app. any ideas?? When I logged in on hers it asked me to connect via Kaluza, not had that option for my phone 

2
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
17 days ago
M
Carbon Cutter****
marinerblueukCarbon Cutter****
posted in My smart home

Charge Anytime billing incomprehensible

I‘ve just received my first quarterly bill from OVO since signing up to Charge Anytime and the usage and credits don’t seem to bear any relation to my records and the Indra app records.Since the Drive Anytime credit is just shown as a credit on the bill and no breakdown of dates or KW (yes you can work it out but since they show the total KW used why not show the Charge Anytime usage). Using the data from my records (that match 100% to the Indra app) I get completely different amounts for each month period and believe that I have been under credited by about £20. It seems impossible to reconcile the credits with actual usage.I’ve gone onto the website to use the “new feature” - Your EV that is supposed to show your Charge Anytime usage, but, guess what, it doesn’t work for me, unable to access data.Is anyone else having the same problem? I would have thought that a fundamental requirement for an energy supplier is to make their bill easy to understand and check. At the moment all I’ve

0
M
Carbon Cutter****
17 days ago
A
New Member*
AlexGoldieNew Member*
Posted in My smart home

Soliscloud app showing generated and consumed as the same value

Hi all,New to the forum and to solar panels.  This isn’t really my area, so I apologise in advance if any of these questions don’t make sense.We got a combined ASHP and solar panel setup last week and they finally got the solar panels up and running yesterday.  There’s an issue with the battery, but they’re getting that sorted out with the supplier.Our system is using:Solis Hybrid invertor (Rhi 5kw Hybrid Single Phase)V-TAC 5kw battery (VT48100E)10 x 410w V-TAC half mono solar panels (VT-410B) I have a couple of questions though:1 - I noticed on the SolisCloud app that generated and consumed energy figures are the same.  Is this because we currently don’t have a battery and aren’t exporting to grid?2 - The app shows used from as being 0, but I know there has been times when we pulled from the grid yesterday.3 - When we are no longer generating power from the panels (ie at night) the invertor switches off.  Should that happen?Sorry if any these seem obvious, but I really have no clue. 

1
BPLightlog
Plan Zero Hero
17 days ago

New to creating a topic?

The OVO Forum is powered by volunteers. Here are their top tips:

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings