This is a pointless challenge! As I never use my washing machine, dryer, dishwasher during these hours it is impossible to meet the target! It may have been possible if for the last few months I deliberately used these machines at this time.
However, I am enjoying the use of the 2 Tapo sockets provided as an early member of the challenge group, so I do have a reward for having previously switched my energy use.
Hi @NoelS Good that those sockets will come in handy.
But remember to meet these November and December PowerMove challenges, you don’t necessarily have to switch more and ever more usage from the peak weekday slot of 4-7. It sounds from what you say that you’ve already managed low usage in that peak period? As this particular challenge is all about working out the 4-7 usage or consumption as a fraction of the consumption in the remaining 21 hours of each weekday, with the aim of hopefully achieving a fraction which works out to 13.5% or less, you may already be more or less there? If you’ve already in previous months switched usage from the crucial peak time, your fraction might already be there or thereabouts without having to take many further measures, if any?
it would be interesting for you to look at your half hourly figures for, say, 1st - 3rd November in your online OVO account usage page and work out the percentage?
Let us know what you think…
Hi @NoelS
I am a low electricity user myself so wondered how I could possibly meet the target.
I have done it quite simply by Moving when I cook by electricity. (And being careful about using a kettle between 4-7).
If you don't cook with electricity but with gas then I agree that it's going to almost impossible to meet the Power Move target - simply because you have no large electricity use to MOVE.
If you do cook with electricity then I have already shared my best tips to meet the target, (and still have a hot meal between 4-7) and am quite happy to collect them all together again if you would like.
Try clicking here to start with for my tip about hot meals between 4-7:
I too am a low user, we cook mostly on gas hob and on woodburner, there is nothing for us to move out of the 4-7 slot, as we refuse to sit in the dark without TV, lights, router, devices and ‘phones etc, but we manage to comfortably meet the PowerMove target.
Provided the fraction of weekday 4-7 usage over the remaining weekday 21 hours usage equates to 13.5% or less, you’re home and dry.
But if we’re doing all we can to move heavy consumption out of the peak period, and still cannot quite achieve the desired percentage, then as @Nukecad says, it’s not worth worrying too much about it. It’s a goal is all, very difficult in the dark months, but any step we can take along that route has got to be a good thing. It’s definitely made me keep a sharper eye on my IHD!
Actually, of course, I’m incorrect, and clumsy in what I’m saying: the key fraction is comparing the weekday 4-7 usage with the total 24 hour weekday usage…apologies.
Here’s a tip for you Abby/OVO
why not tell me before the autumn power move challenge starts, not over half way through it.
why not tell me before the autumn power move challenge starts, not over half way through it.
Abby’s post is dated 29 September. OK, that’s only two days before the challenge started, but it was in plenty of time for anyone interested to join. We passed the halfway point a couple of days ago.
We learnt some time ago (sorry, I can’t remember where) that it was enough to have data for 14 weekdays in the month for performance to be assessed, so late joiners have a chance, too.
why not tell me before the autumn power move challenge starts, not over half way through it.
Abby’s post is dated 29 September. OK, that’s only two days before the challenge started, but it was in plenty of time for anyone interested to join. We passed the halfway point a couple of days ago.
We learnt some time ago (sorry, I can’t remember where) that it was enough to have data for 14 weekdays in the month for performance to be assessed, so late joiners have a chance, too.
We did the Power Move in October. What a waste of time!
We switched everything off apart from the fridge. No cooking, washing or anything..
And still ended up with 13.6% of power use 4-7pm
Have concluded its impossible target to meet and given up!
Well I did think of one possible use that might help with Power Move:
Use them as a timer to ‘lock out’ a plug so that it’s always off between 4 and 7.
For instance a kitchen plug so that you don’t forget and put a kettle/microwave/air fryer/washing machine/etc. on during the Power Move peak hours without thinking about it first.
Didnt do any of those things in October and still ended up with “13.6%” usage. It really is a con
@pauly113 you seem to be missing the point of Power Move, don't worry you are not the first or only one.
The idea is NOT to reduce your electricity usage overall.
You should use the same - but use less of it between 4pm-7pm and MOVE it so that you use it at other times of the weekdays. (Weekends don't count).
If you don't normally use much electricity between 4-7, eg. if you cook on gas, then yes it will be a struggle to hit the 13.5% target.
A gentle nudge to move key usage out of peak hours is better than the other potential which is that usage will be charged like everything else and peak time usage will be much more expensive
Or worse. IIRC Level 12 or possibly 17 of one of the emergency plans that National Grid has, is to basically blackout literally the entire country. I might be thinking of something else though, but I’m sure it was something on the cards last year...
What a shame @pauly113, 13.6% is just about as close as you can possibly get to 13.5% without actually hitting it! So very well done on that, closer than many of us on here.
For the November challenge that we’re now in the middle of, can I ask what tiny additional step you’ve considered taking to grab back that 0.1%? And is November so far just as close as you were for October?
Say you’re using 10kWh a day as an example, then by my maths (not my strongest suit!) 0.1% meant in October you only exceeded the target by 10 Wh over the 4-7 slot, which would be something like 3 Watts an hour, a minuscule amount. Or, put another way, you’d only need to shift say 80 Wh of usage from a weekend task into your weekday (but not 4-7, of course!) to “mask” that tiny excess in the 4-7 slot.
I’m also wondering whether the October change to GMT threw any tiny spanners into the works, so you can keep an eye out for any small trip hazards in Nov and Dec…did you have a go at the September incentive, for instance, which at 12.5% was a slightly harder bar.
Good luck with it, do let us know how your Nov figures so far compare…if they’re as close as October’s 13.6% then you’re in a pretty enviable position as far as the Nov target goes….and of course plenty of days still left in November to adjust stuff by small amounts….
We have given up now !
The 13.5% threshold is way too low
We had to sit in the dark and cold for a month just to get to 13.6%
For targets to be an incentive, they have to be realistic
If just running our fridge between 4-7pm puts our house over the limit, we might as well all give up now!
We will just need to go to a loan shark to pay our Ovo bill
To the other contributors
We did shift all our cooking, tv, washing, ironing, kettle use to after 7pm
It still didnt work
The threshold needs to be 20%
Yes @pauly113, I can sympathise with how you’re feeling, and as you say for some households it might not seem a realistic target. But not for all households.
I’m just so exercised by the frustrating fact of your being within 0.1% of the target in October!! But I wouldn’t be happy about sitting in the cold or dark either, no way. In fact I wouldn’t even consider it. Anyway, it’s positively dangerous, especially to old geezers like me! And certainly it’s not something anyone at OVO have advocated.
As the 4-7 peak slot represents only 12.5% of your total weekday 24 hours, then to achieve the 13.5% target (and it is only a target, granted, it’s not possible for every household) the aim is to use no more, or only very slightly more, in the 4-7 slot than the average of all the other 3 hour slots in the weekday. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a high or a low user of electricity, it’s the comparison between all the 4-7 totals and all the weekday totals in the month that’s the crucial factor.
For your ‘fridge to be throwing out your percentage, you must be a really really ultra low weekday user (enviably!), so extremely well done on that, and very well done you on getting down to that 13.6% figure in October. Maybe you could shift one or two “invisible” (for the purposes of this Power Move incentives) weekend tasks to weekday(s) if that is possible for you? Not into weekday 4-7, obviously! It wouldn’t be increasing your overall OVO consumption, but it would make your weekday 4-7 slot totals “look good” at month end when compared with overall weekday totals. Even better would be shifting any spare 4-7 weekday usage into the weekday outside the 4-7 slot, as it sounds like you have been doing in fact, but constant or routine basic background stuff like the ‘fridge, CH pump, some LED lighting, router etc. is not worth trying to shift or mess about with.
And you’re absolutely right: no more sitting in the dark or cold, nobody should ask us to do that.
All the very best to you…
Or worse. IIRC Level 12 or possibly 17 of one of the emergency plans that National Grid has, is to basically blackout literally the entire country. I might be thinking of something else though, but I’m sure it was something on the cards last year...
***********
I think I watched that documentary last year
Then again it swear it had David Tennant in it
Might have got my wires crossed somewhere 🤭 lol
To the other contributors
We did shift all our cooking, tv, washing, ironing, kettle use to after 7pm
It still didnt work
The threshold needs to be 20%
Just to add to the good post from @waltyboy
Obviously I don't know what you have already looked at.
You could investigate what is on during the shift.
There is a huge difference in the efficiency of fridges and freezers for example. Whether they are worth replacing is another matter. Modern routers draw less power, we have recently had our router replaced.
Also the standby power of some older devices isn't great as other posters have noticed.
Basically most new appliances have improved over the last few years when the energy efficiency ratings were updated.
Even those that don't quite make the target are helping longer term. If we can consistently reduce the peak load it has the potential to save billions in electricity infrastructure costs over time, hence reducing costs for everyone.
If the OVO target was too easy it would become unaffordable for OVO which wouldn't help anyone.
September 9.42%, October 5.27%, November 0.82% of your total daily electricity during the peak hours of 4pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday.
By fitting batteries and charging overnight, even with electric cooking. We still do dish and clothes washing and occasionally drying overnight. In September it was a higher % because we weren't generally buying our power from OVO, but from our solar panels. So what little we used was a higher proportion of a lower total. In early November we added another battery because there wasn't enough capacity for the full day. The panels from 2015 have now paid for themselves. The batteries from 2018 will take longer.
Before the panels, batteries or the challenge we still washed overnight, because it saves money on economy 7. Sadly nothing like as much as it used to.
HI everybody ss someone new to tis part of the forum.
I have managed to meet the targets so far but I do find it a bit amusing.
This I have done by moving some of the jobs I used to do at the weekend and spreading them through the week eg I used to do all the washing on a Sunday and now do one load a day Monday-Friday.
The Tapo plugs were nice as they save me getting out of bed in the morning to turn the TV on. Not that they actully save me any electricity - instead of the appliances now being off at the mains when not used the Tapo plug/socket is on.
One small saving I make on regular basis is boil to water before 4pm and put it in flasks for my hot drinks during 4-7. I also cook my meals before 4 and then just heat them up in the microwave when I actually want to eat.