Received this yesterday, my target seems very low. Can someone explain how they came to this calculation.

 

Ours is 0.3 and I totally don't understand how it is worked out and how we are supposed earn anything 

Is it worked out on your average consumption? If you are already a low energy user the percentage will be lower for you. 

I would be interested also. I am already on Powermove, so consumption between 4pm and 7pm is already minimal.

Broken2 can you clarify average consumption. Is average consumption over 24Hrs or average consumption between 4 and 7pm

 0.5kWh  ?  Try getting 1KwH below my 0.1kWh target.  

In my case, the target probably just happened to be my highest usage in that hour over the past couple of weeks. The thinking behind that could be ‘if you could get below that on most other days, then you could do it every day’. It makes you think about why it was so high on the high days and lead to a change in behaviour.

@cliveyb You’re not being asked to get 1kWh below anything. You’re being asked just to get below your target. The reward won’t be worth bothering about, but the thinking might just make a difference. 

I got a target of 0.2 kWh. I'm presuming that any reward earned will be on a pro-rata basis so, if I achieve that target, my anticipated reward would be only 60 pence. Not exactly a king's ransom, is it?! Since being on Power Move I've already cut my electricity usage between 16:00 and 19:00 to minimal levels. To take it any lower would mean turning the fridge/freezer off along with my desktop computer (for radio and TV), central heating pump and lighting. I'll be damned if I'm ggoing to have to exist by candlelight though.

I've opted in to this Power Move Plus challenge purely as an experiment and to see how it pans out. But, and it's a BIG but, I'm somewhat sceptical as to how worthwhile or rewarding I will find it to be. As it stands, it only appears to be worthwhile for people who are users of larger amounts electricity than me. I suppose that much might depend on the nature and timing of future challenges.

Not sure about the times exactly, as some have already highlighted since our respective posts it does seem that being a low user in general as well as the specific times of 4-7 pm will mean less of a return.
 

As I’m sure most of us appreciate the big idea has always been to get as many consumers as possible to switch usage to alleviate peak demand. I appreciate that from a national perspective the more of us who adopt balanced consumption throughout the day the less likely it is that we need to fire up more carbon intensive sources of electricity generation for peak demand.
 

I do understand how a decent financial incentive encourages people to remain on board. From our perspective we have reached a point where the only option left open for us to cut usage any further is to switch off everything to achieve any return worth mentioning. As others have said this is a step too far.
 

We will abide by the principles as we find it has provided a focus for us to rethink how we use what is an expensive resource in more ways than one.

Mine is 0.1 which is even worse already only use t.v. between 4 to 7 as I am already on power move

I'm also on Power Move so I think the only way I could conceivably reach this is to turn my electric off for an hour and I'm definitely not going that for £3.

Just to depress you even more, you may find that the TV is a real power pig - use your IHD to check just how much power it’s drawing. An alternative is to use a laptop on battery to stream the programs you can’t miss: a router might use only 1% of what a TV can guzzle.

Thanks for posting these reasoned comments  I hope others will take them on board.

Just to add: the more of us who adopt balanced consumption throughout the day the less likely it is that ... the national grid will have to impose power cuts in the event of extreme demand. e.g. during an exceptionally cold patch.

To answer some of the questions above about how Power Move Plus works:

Your personal target is worked out using your consumption over the previous 10 weekdays (I think it's 10) during the same time period as the trial.
So if you haven't / don't normally use much during that time period then your target will be low.

Your aim is to use less than your target.
For each kWh less than your target that you use in todays trial you will be rewarded with £3.00

It is pro-rata so using 1kWh less than your target would earn you £3.00.
Using 0.5kWh less than your target would earn you £1.50.
Using 0.1kWh less than your target would earn you £0.30.

Unlike Power Move what you use outside of the trial period is irrelevant to PM+
It's all about using less than you did before during the times of the trial period and only that period.

As todays PM+ period coincides with the Power Move periods then anyone already doing Power Move is going to have a very low target for todays PM+ trial.
Future trials may be for different periods so you may get a more generous target.
But as said if you are a low user anyway then you are not going to get much, if anything, out of PM+

Anyway todays trial period has started.
(I didn’t join in today, I also had a 0.1 kWh target so could only have made 30p and only by switching everything off at the consumer unit for an hour)

Quite interested to see the results of my Power Move Plus challenge. We switched off everything, including the Fridge Freezer, any extension lead with an LED, all devices on standby were isolated, not a single light on in the place and it made me 57p. We went to the pub and I spent £17.90 on two rounds, rather than sitting at home in the dark! I hope I am creating some benefit here in the overall plan for mankind, but at this stage I’m unconvinced. It remains to be seen how often these challenges come up and if there may be some genuine benefit, but OVO still sit on hundreds of pounds of our money and still keep taking too much every month, despite getting these £15 credits with Power Move. Ho hum.

I completely agree with you.  We sat with a torch on, everything switched off, but did better than you, I got 99p.   Won’t bother again!

But if you stay in credit they will pay you 5% interest

We, like you and your family felt incentivised by the marketing campaign and the potential rewards to "do our bit". But the stated rewards did not come to fruition. Our's, like yours and many others who joined in was significantly less the marketed. The returns will not tempt many to go through the effort again and OVO need to revise their offerings, or go back to the drawing board. This campaign is doomed to failure and will leave consumers even more disgruntled. Neil, you should have tried we did - candle lite bath for an hour - searching for the soap was great fun!. Power to the people - or not, as the case may be!

OVO didn't design the Power Move Plus scheme.

It is the repeat of the trial nationwide scheme that was deemed a success last year that shifted 350MW of electricity.

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/industry-information/balancing-services/demand-flexibility-service-dfs

It is basically a trial of a quick response emergency demand reduction scheme.

It won't suit everyone, particularly those with low usage anyway during the peak hour and some of those using Power Move which is OVO specific.

I agree the marketing could be clearer. The £3 per  kWh headline needs better context. Many users will save less than  £1 in a single 1 hour session.

When OVO give out the target kWh it would be useful if they provided some target £ figures for savings to avoid any potential confusion.

Everyone who takes part is helping even if their immediate financial reward is low. So personally I am not disheartened if I don't save much immediately.

If the country can limit the emergency peaks, we can all save longer term. Net zero electricity transmission and distribution upgrades are projected to cost 10s of billions of pounds all of which are going on our bills. If the national grid etc are confident we will reduce our usage in an emergency then some of these upgrades won't be needed saving us money forever not just short term. I for one would like to see increases in standing charges which fund upgrades kept to a minimum if I can help it.

Many of the changes we need to make are not going to save us lots of money if anything in the short term

If you live alone and are retired it’s easiest just to arrange to be out between 5-6 pm for the Power Move Plus challenge.  

That doesn’t make any difference.  I switched everything off, except the fridge/freezer and the internet, had nothing on standby, switched the cooker off and sat with a torch and only got 99p.

But you’d have been a lot more comfortable elsewhere (!). I got £1 something I think (well every little helps I guess!) lol

Tell me where!

I went to my local library.  Not knowing your neighbourhood I really can’t help with that query!

Hey @Lydia Lee,

This topic has some handy hints and tips!