Power Move - New challenge information and changes to Power Move

1. OVO have never sent me an email inviting me to Power Move Flex.
2. I never managed to get anything from Power Move, but did manage to get between £1.50 and £2 for an Power Move Plus event  - by running my fridge temperature down slightly, and by CH temperature up slightly before the event, so they didn’t need to run during it.  Too much of a pain to do every day.

What I would like is an OPTIONAL scheme, where OVO charge a little more for periods of peak usage with little spare power in the grid, and a little less for the times where the grid has plenty of spare power.  (I have noticed periods when the spot price actually goes negative).  These different periods can be predicted from the weather forecast.  If it’s going to be sunny and windy during the weekend, then demand and cost is going to be low.  If it’s going to be neither during peak periods, then cost and demand are going to be high.  Let’s have a scheme that properly incentivises us to more match the load to the supply, minimise the use of fossil fuels, and reduce climate change.  Assuming OVO have a suitable contract with the Grid, then they could make money out of this.

I gave up with this thread as I found some of the replies very condescending. I’m out of PM now and the last week has been a completely different schedule for me, leaving home early, eating early and fitting in a bit more after dinner before bed. Its been a refreshing change. 

Weekends are a bit more free as I’ll be moving laundry back into the weekday post-work slot to make the most of my earlier home time.  

I did have another thought on the scheme as a whole. OVO employees will know the figures, but I suspect that a number of people who were getting the £12/15/month payment were actually low users overall, so this £ made up a relatively large % of their bill, making it less attractive for OVO. If they’re giving back £12/15/month on £200, its less of a concern than the £60/month people. OVO were still having to buy a lot of energy at the higher rates, so the figures didn’t marry up. We can only assume, as only the OVO employees know the level of participation. 

Seems just as easy as before for the (until May) £10.

Got 1.27% so far on the Monday weekly update.

It would interesting to know the number of customers in power move.  Could then get an idea of the odds on winning a prize.

I’m not sure the actual numbers are available, but we’re talking less than 100k IIRC.

It is worth noting, however, that the already advertised prizes might not be the only ones up for grabs…

You’ll have to play the game to discover what else might be in store...

:( it takes exactly 0 seconds to ‘separate’ it

I wonder how many stats will be published. I think the one I would be most interested in is the average reward per entry. That would be the Total reward / number of entries. That would mean you could calculate your average return based on the likely number of entries you could achieve in a given month. It would be interesting to see if that would come out to about  £10 which was what I was getting 2023/24.

Anybody up for having a guess?

Obviously, the number of entries will be dependent on the number of participants and how well they moved power and that will vary each month but a ballpark figure would be interesting. At least to me anyway.

I think it is really worth pushing the point that this is risk free but I'm also hoping that you might be able to publish an average reward level if only to demonstrate that it's also not mostly ‘reward free’ as well. You never know. £2k might randomly land in your lap!

It happened in January and will again in February. My last weekly percentage was 7.95% - just under the old 8% break point for the reward. I carried on doing the same drill during the final week of the month - final result: 8.02%! Cost me £6 that did! (<G>) I realised afterwards the reason it went up is simply because the last week if January ended on a Friday, so there was no weekend! 

This will happen again in February (and to some extent, every month except those that end on Sunday). Nothing we can do about that except realise that the last report of achievement is likely to be an overestimate the off-peak usage. Of course some months have 4.75 weekends - those are the easy months!

It costs nothing to be participating in Power Move.

However, if you want to leave then  :-

Thanks for leaving PM as that increases the chance of those of us who stay, and new joiners, winning a prize.

And to add to the above.

Since I joined Power Move I have had the maximum reward each month.

It's cost me nothing, it's given me money off my bills each month.

All good things come to an end.

The rules have changed, fair enough you can't get freebies forever.

Adapt to what you can/might get now.

If I do the same as I did before and I got £12 per month then it costs £12 as I receive nothing simple mathematics 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Maybe you missed the tongue in cheek nature of my post? I’m not thinking of leaving or doing anything different. Merely ;pointing out the quirk in the sums. If you rely on the achievement indicated on Monday night after the first three weeks, your percentage is going to go up by the end of the month if it ends on a Friday. The new scheme is much better because there are 15 breakpoints instead of just 3 and affects chances rather than actual cash.

I thought it was interesting that’s all, not complaining!

I’m still missing the point. Weekends are not being counted. How the number of weekends per month affects the percentage of what we use during the peak time?

Oh, please… That chance increase is incredibly small. We have more important problems to worry about. Like the coming electricity bill increase in April, for example. And there is no guarantee that it will fall in the next three months.

I'm sorry but that is warped logic. (Or perhaps a missunderstanding of language).

Losing something that you were being given is not a cost to you.

It's clearly a 'loss' - but it isn't a 'cost'.

Financial Cost - an amount that has to be paid to obtain something.
Financial Loss - an amount that is no longer available.

It’s also worth noting that by leaving Power Move, not only do you increase the chances of winning for those who are actively playing, but you also lose out on the potential bonus rewards that can be triggered just by playing the game.

I don’t have the details to hand, but there are Easter Eggs coded into the system that may trigger under certain conditions - and you will be rewarded for doing so regardless of whether you win in the prize draw or not. It is also possible to trigger the Easter Egg and win the prize draw in the same month as well, since they’re two different elements.

Can we not call participation in this scheme as “playing the game”? I’m really not comfortable with that wording. 

February started on Saturday 1st. On Monday night, 3rd, we didn’t get a progress report because obviously there had only been Saturday and Sunday so everyone would have achieved exactly zero percent! On Monday, 24th we had the last progress report which included 4 weekends:- 15 daily peak periods out of 23 days. So, say you were hoping to achieve 5% and the progress report showed 4.95% - you think you’re on target and just have to carry on doing what you do during the peak. Then next week you get the final percentage - don’t be surprised if it’s, say, 5.02% even though you have done exactly the same as before. I’m just pointing out that the final week doesn’t include a weekend:- 5 daily peak periods out of 5! The percentage for that week will be significantly higher. The total for the month will be correct of course, it’s just that the interim report exaggerates the achievement especially when the month ends on a Friday.

That’s all. No big deal now because the difference is only 1 chance in the draw. But that might have been the one that won £2K!

I assume you are using a lot of electricity. My February update says my average PM is 4.3%, with three times reaching 3%. I’m guessing that three times, I just wasn’t at home. For the low electricity consumer, it is almost impossible to reach the 2% target.
On the bright side, it looks like my 11 entries have brought me £2 credit.

What is your definition of a ‘low electricity consumer’? Ofgem take the first quartile for theirs: the quantity that 25% of all consumers use less than. It’s currently 1800 kWh/year for dual-fuel customers, 2200 kWh/year for electricity-only customers. That’s around 5 or 6 kWh/day. By that token, my 3 kWh/day on average for the past year is really low for an electricity-only household.

I manage to keep my monthly usage below 2%. In February, the highest recorded was 2.20% for the period 1- 6 February, the lowest 1.65% for 1-16 February. For the whole month, it was 1.93%. My average usage between 5 and 7 pm on weekdays was 68 Wh.

So, it’s not impossible.

My last year electricity usage was 780kWh. On the days when I reached 3% it was about 1.8kWh. My usage between 5 and 7pm on that kind of day is 0.38Wh. That’s my definition of a “low electricity consumer”. 

Its actually simple maths. You pay average cost of electric which accounts for peak and off peak. If you take peak out of the equation but still pay the same you are paying more than the average cost. When you received a some of money back this accounted for the difference in costs. You should check the variations in costs during the day to understand what the electric costs and if it really is something for nothing

I turned off the main power for most of the days last month (so fridge is also off, good thing it’s winter) and ended up with 0.6%. Won a prize of £2 on top of the £10 so got the same amount of discount as the rest of the winter months. Can’t find better deals with other suppliers honestly.

Hey ​@lampuiho, 

Great to hear that you were succesful! One thing I’d highlight is that it’s not about turning off power, the aim is to shift power from the 5-7 window to other parts of your day. This helps the grid stay balanced and you’ll have more entries into the draw 🎉