New to Power Move- Any hints and tips?

One of my other tricks overall has been to have a relatively stable and consistent load throughout most of the day, which only really peaks when I put my dinner on. Given that I’m also a fire service volunteer, the random nature of my duties - such as when they take place - also works to my advantage for Power Move Plus as I’m often out when they take place… Or in one case, I slept through an entire PMP event using smashing my target by just 0.13 kWh after doing an exercise the previous day that meant I slept for the next two days straight.

Admittedly, not everyone can pull off the same tricks as I can, but I felt that sharing this may potentially help someone, even if they never come back to say anything here.

The difference between Power Move (an OVO promotion) and Power Move Plus (the OVO name for the National Grid Demand Flexibility Scheme) has been explained many times on these forums.

In particular the first has a percentage target whilst the second has a kWh target, that alone should tell you the difference.

I'm sorry if you cannot understand those differences.

However-

If you think that either (or both) of the two different promotions/schemes is “a con” then you have a simple solution - ignore them and don't take part.

Nobody is forcing you to take part in either scheme.

Hi @pauly113, quite a few on here seem to be there or thereabouts with the Power Move target.  
 

Why do you say “practically no-one” will achieve it, as a matter of interest? Are you basing this on any kind of survey or is it just a gut feeling?

And if you estimate a reasonable weekday target to be more in the region of 20%, can I ask does this mean you feel most people are currently compressing well over a fifth of their weekday usage into the three hours of 4 -  7? Maybe 30 or 40% or something? 50%?

If you feel the present target is unachievable, and I agree it may well be for a number of consumers, why do you say the National Grid still manage to “achieve their objective”?

I don’t think either of the schemes are a con (especially as somebody on this forum has now assured us that OVO are passing on all they get from the National Grid for the Power Move Plus scheme).

But, there are two major problems with the Power Move Scheme, namely the amount we can get is not proportional to our usage, which is unfair for heavy users, and it is also severely stepped, which makes it very difficult for people with limited moveable workload to achieve anything at all.

Why does OVO use this scheme (Power Move Scheme) instead of something like the variable price unit system used by Octopus???  Their scheme doesn’t have either of the two problems detailed above, and everybody can save a bit proportional to both their usual usage and their efforts.

   Rgds,

            Steve

This has nothing to do with Power Move. This is the result of a successful Power Move Plus event where the customer has been rewarded for using 0.1 kWh less than the target. 

You opted out of Power Move on 20 November, so you won’t be earning £15 towards your energy bill for December. Thousands of other OVO customers will, many of them light users like me. You can still opt in for this month. 

Or use 87% of your weekday kWh before 1600 or after 1900 hours.

Can I ask what exactly you turned off previously, during the 4-7 slot? You see, I don’t think turning off the “always on” stuff makes any appreciable difference in the Power Move initiative.  As it’s all about percentages, the always on stuff doesn’t really impact at all. The only possible exception so far as “always on” stuff goes might be heating, which is likely to be on more during 4-7 than at other times.  But heating during the 3 hours 4-7 can be compensated for by using heavy stuff (i.e. the stuff that’s not always on) outside the 4-7 slot, to make the weekday 4-7 slot “look good” in comparison with the overall weekday usage. 
 

It’s a commonly-occurring misconception, this business of “switching everything off” during 4-7.   For most consumers that won’t make the slightest difference towards achieving the Power Move target, because what you’re switching off is not what’s at stake, except for those very few folk who are abnormally low users, averaging under say 2 kWh a day.  For those few, then yes, some slick thinking is required.  But for most people moving stuff from the weekday 4-7 slot and from the weekend/bank holiday slots into any weekday slot except 4-7 of course, that’s what does it.

The challenge is not for everybody, but by repeatedly asserting “it’s a con” doesn’t make it a con, I’m afraid.  It pays for nigh-on 50 kWh of electricity per month for those who do manage it. 
 

Give it a go this month…I think I remember your saying you’d come close at 13.6% previously? Apologies, I may be confusing in my memory posts from two entirely different people!  But if it was you @pauly113 then that’s about as close as you can possibly get, and is actually under the upper limit of the Jan-Feb Power Move.  Nobody’s forcing anyone to take part, any effort at reducing emissions during peak hours is good for all of us ultimately, and if it doesn’t work for some, then it doesn’t work for some consumers, it’s no biggy…but it’s not a con either!

Hi.

im not sure its a con or not.

I signed up only for my electricity meter to stop sending info halfway through the first month.

miraculously started again just before engineer visit midway December  … so I’m still trying it.

Anyway, just here to say I love your analogy (and it would stand opp YCFC!) 🤣

I signed up for this last year, without understanding what it was. Despite that I got £8.x in September, and £15 in November. I was at 7.4% mid December, so guessing I made it then. Missed out in October because I was away for much of the month, so my usage was low and flat.

How I managed it without trying? Because I am on economy 10, so with offpeak rates from 1-4pm, and 8-10pm, I have developed habits of not using power between 4-8pm anyway. 

So it’s not impossible for everyone.

Hi All

Can anyone tell me why I never get a chance to join power move plus?

Hi @Sally123 I’ve never participated in the Plus initiative, as it would be impossible for me to lower my consumption at the likely Plus times, but if it helps: my understanding is that you have to apply, then there has to be either a “real” Plus event or a Plus exercise, for which you have to be selected by email a few hours’ in advance of the event, should there be an event.p in the offing.
 

Is it that actual selection part you’re querying? There are others on the forum more knowledgeable than I am on that, but I guess it would depend on several factors based around geography and whether one’s usage profile fits the bill.  
 

You could search for more information using the term

Demand Flexibility Service

I know the EnergySavingTrust.org website has something on it, and there’s been quite a bit on the forum I think, too.

Good luck!