Power Move - we want to hear from you

Since I'm disabled and home bound, I can adjust my times to whenever.  But I feel for the users that have to balance work and home schedules, especially if they have kids !!!  Sometimes it just can't be done.  I guess this is one positive thing for being in my predicament, among so many negatives !!!  LOL 😁

I've completed the survey and have to say that preparing my evening meal before 4pm and cooking it after 7pm suits me fine as it means I eat no later than 7:45pm.  Cooking and eating before 6pm would be as unthinkable for me as not being able to cook my meal until much later. Do most people really have their evening meal either earlier or later in the summer months? 

We are a retired couple and on days we are at home I can cook at lunchtime. If not at home we wait till 7 pm to cook then eat. We are still watching news from 6 pm to 7 pm and keep the gas central heating on. We are low users as we have solar so on sunny days it helps with cost of dishwasher and washing machine. We joined half way through the month and have not had any feedback yet. 

Thanks @Mike Hansen @Tricia  and to anyone else who has completed the survey so far!

We really appreciate you taking the time to fill that out.

Hi @Abby_OVO ,

I haven’t completed the survey because all year round we usually cook between 6 and 7 so all the slots are the same. I appreciate that we may do more salads in the summer and some (not us) will do barbecues but that just reduces overall usage rather than time-shifting it.

Thanks,

Simon

Done, but:

does one question count as a ‘survey’?

Yes.  What else would you call it ?

A  question?

LOL 😂

A ‘survey’ with just one question is sometimes called a referendum.

She did specify it was a ‘short survey’! 😁

According to the one single source of truth which is Google, ‘The one-question survey is simply a survey with just a single question’.

I have a problem.  I am lucky to have solar panels so I use less electricity during the day.  I have tried the challenge by sitting in the dark with a torch with nothing electrical on. I saved less than a £1 so its not for me. Not bothering again.

I don’t even bother now, signed up for each power move and earned about £5 total. I’m just moving to Octopus Tracker as it’s a load cheaper and based on my last 3 months smart meter use (thanks Ovo for the data) I’d have saved £100 a month by not using Ovo since their pricing, like every other supplier, just sits at the cap and they don’t try to innovate or be competitive. Was good while it lasted but Ovo is no longer the great company it used to be. 

@Abby_OVO  Now that the Spring challenge has been launched, how do the peak hours it covers match with what the surveyed PM pioneers responded?

You did say “We want to hear from you to understand what time slots work best for you and your routine,” so could you share the result of the survey with us?  

If you do share the result, we’ll be able to work out just how much notice was taken of what OVO’s customers wanted. If you don’t, we’ll know exactly how much 😉

Very interesting points raised Firedog! I’ve taken this straight to the team and will let you know what they respond 😊

Hey @Firedog,

Got a response from the team: 

In the summer months, we use energy slightly later - meaning the peak times are typically later. 6-9pm was the highest scoring time slot (behind 4-7pm) so we've listened directly to our customers and what would work best for them

Very diplomatically put - thank you, Emmanuelle. 

Of course, 6-9PM BST is 5-8PM GMT, so it’s really only a 1 hour shift with respect to sun time, and it’s the sun that affects a good deal of our energy usage - time spent indoors, lighting and heating. 

It would be helpful if you could clearly say what hours apply to what months.

Having spent a month carefully avoiding 4-7 to be told I haven’t met the targets for 6-9 is pretty demoralising and feels like a scam.

Even reading your website afterwards it isn’t clear.

Please communicate better.

The email you received for the April month and the start of the Spring Challenge did make it clear - we also said it until we were blue in the face on the Forum. It’s currently 6pm to 9pm.

OVO did make reasonable efforts to tell you. If you ignored them, I’m afraid that’s kinda your problem.

The same here.  I was not informed of the time change either. 

Here’s a screenshot of my Power Move page:
  

Why do you think this isn’t clear? Or are you referring to a different page? Your answer might help persuade those responsible to think again …

Firedog wrote:

Bob2 wrote:

Even reading your website afterwards it isn’t clear.

 

Here’s a screenshot of my Power Move page:
  

 

Why do you think this isn’t clear? Or are you referring to a different page? Your answer might help persuade those responsible to think again …

 

It doesn’t say which months are at which hours.
I thought it was a constant 4-7 all year round.
Am I supposed to check at the start of every month?
Perhaps there could have been a highlighted line in the emails saying “NOTE THE HOURS ARE CHANGING to 3PM-6PM!!”

Caveat Emptor.

The Winter Challenge was 4pm to 7pm. For the Spring Challenge which is the current one, the shift to 6pm to 9pm was clearly advertised upfront before the Challenge started.

I find it impossible to get near my power move, I work part time and have two kids so need to make our evening meals between 5-7 depending on our schedule but I rarely use my oven mainly using my gas hob and/or ninja. I never use the washing machine during the evening, mainly using it early morning and don’t own a dryer or dishwasher. TVs are switched off at the wall until we choose to watch them along with kettle, toaster and microwave. Not much more I can do to cut our energy 

Here we go. I extracted this from the email sent at the start of the Spring Power Move Challenge. It’s literally right there in black and white. You probably didn’t read the email properly.

It also clearly stated that Power Move is paused on Bank Holidays:

As I said before, Caveat Emptor applies here. If you don’t read the large print (let alone the small print!), that’s your problem.