Struggling to achieve Power Move target!

The whole idea of this is that at peak times we often have to turn on ‘bad’ carbon energy like coal power stations. Power Move aims to see if users can alter their usage times to avoid some of this.

Redimps - I’m guessing that a range oven might use a lot more energy than my single electric so savings would not be so great in my case.

Apologies for my random responses, no idea how to answer directly to individuals. BPlighlog - your response will need to be in words of one syllable! 😂

I used to work for a company that used a LOT of electricity I think it was something like 20 megawatts. We used to either run our own generators or turn stuff off if possible between 4-7pm during the winter, the cost savings were a lot. This is just the same thing on a smaller scale. 

Agree

It seems to me that the less energy you use, the less opportunity you have to cut back!

Not sure which bit you need to explain better .. 🤷‍♂️ but happy to if I can 

Short of flicking the main switch to 'off' on the consumer unit I just can't see how we can realistically use any less power. We dont use the large appliances beteen those times anyway and the fridge freezer is rated A. We cook with gas. At half way we were at 14.66% While we've always been frugal I'm just not prepared to sit in candle light. I also would be interested to know how many people get the discount and how they managed to do so.  Right, I'm off to turn the fairy lights on  

Also a single person here and I've given up trying to hit the target. With little use already, finding 12.5% is almost impossible. Would be happy to be proven wrong though

I think this challenge is only achievable by families with several children and all using every gadget available.
£20 a month off my bill would be brilliant but not at the expense of my mental and physical health! 😥

I disagree families with several children  need to use electricity between 4 and 7 to feed children when they get home from school plus computers  and extra lights are needed to do homework.  So it would be quite difficult for them to achieve any where near the 12.5%

Only those who do not need to cook using electricity or use a kettle during this time will be able to reach the target.

We use the washing machine and dishwasher during the day.

Between 4 and 7 we only cook using gas (if using the oven we prep food in advance and turn it on at 7) have lights on in 2 rooms and 1 or 2 tv's on, we turn off anything that is meant  to be on  ie fridge or frezzer and gas heating and have managed just under 10% on average. 

Power Move is about switching when you use electricity not reducing its use, however we have also reduced ours usage a little.

I’m a single person and managed to hit the target last month. Only just, mind you! I’ve turned off the lights and sockets in the rooms I’m not using, moved dinner to after 7pm and have my last cup of tea before 4pm.  I do work from home, which I think has helped as my energy use throughout the day has obviously increased compared to when I worked in an office, otherwise I don’t think I’d be hitting the 12.5% target. 

Glad to see I’m not the only one who think’s the target of 12.5% is actually an impossibility, short of burning a metric load of power outside of the 4-7pm time to make it work and thus negating any point in this whole exercise. 

I’ve been tracking my data daily using a handy little download script someone built so I can see my actual usage (vs. the Ovo summary we get), every 30mins, every day and I’ve only gotten under 12.5% a total of 3 times since Power Move started. We really did try and moved all appliance use, except the over for the kids tea to outside 4-7pm (I also work from home as does my wife so our power use outside 4-7 should be fairly high)

As a result of this I’ve advised Ovo I’m not interested in this anymore and will use the power I need when I want - great work Ovo to motivate me do the exact opposite of what they wanted.

For anyone wanting to use this handy too - forum posts here - Can we get access to the OVO energy online account API to download our smart meter usage data? | The OVO Forum

J

You want access to the raw data - read over this thread

Can we get access to the OVO energy online account API to download our smart meter usage data? | The OVO Forum

Page 8 has the bit you want - someone made a handy bit of code to pull the data down from Ovo so you can then track it yourself. The EXE works a charm for me but clearly use at your own risk as it’s not official software. 

I was 12.56% at the middle month notification.all i have done  is change my showering from every other day to every day that burns an extra 50 p of electric x 15 or £7.50 per month has brought down to 12 .34% so achieved the target and saved £12.50! Good job I’m not on water meter otherwise the water company would have claimed my £12.50😩  

We achieved 7.91% in November and 7.16 in December, so, for us the scheme is working- we’ve made some minor savings, but have been able to reduce our usage during the 4 to 7 period by moving use of washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher and oven/ hob to the morning or evening. As I understand it, the aim of the scheme is to move our power usage away from the 4 to 7 period, when fossil fuels are more likely to be used for generation, to earlier or later in the day when green energy sources are more likely to be used. If this achieves some savings as well, then that’s a bonus, but primarily it’s purpose is to take pressure off of the grid and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in the late afternoon/ early evening period. I agree that whilst this hasn’t been difficult for us, it would be less easy to achieve if we were a lower energy (electricity) user, or used gas for cooking.

Brizzle55 you have hit the nail right on the head.

The aims of the scheme are simple and easily understood, the maths are simple, robust and easily understood and even for low electricity users like the two of us in our house (average 2.6kwh per day) we can hit the figures. Is 2.6kwh low?

So I think you and I should bash away coining the cash, and making the necessary changes to enable us to achieve this.

Well done

Len

I can't believe how low I've managed to get it so far this month, last month it was at 2.75%

That doesn’t seem possible! I reckon even if I switched everything off permanently apart from fridge/freezer I’d use more than that! I have given up trying to achieve challenge since I’ve never used a lot of energy between 4-7 in the first place. At my age the most important thing is to keep warm.

Looking good here but it would be a different picture without the battery. Much less grid charging going in the sun is shining more and more each day 

As per last month, a pointless exercise. My freezer and fridge on, work out to more than the figures quoted by these lucky people. There is only two of us in the house. Two washes a week, tumble dryer only if we can’t get it outside. Two TV’s, the shower twice a day for 2 minutes and the oven maybe twice a week. How do you get to 1 or 2%? I would be really interested. We tried the first month and changed absolutely everything we did. Sat in the cold and dark between 4 & 7pm, just 2 TV’s on and the fridge and freezer. Still not below 15%!

How are you doing it? Is everything on at all the other times so you have high usage in every other hour? 
Help!!

I’ve given up too as it’s only me in the house ! I reckon I’d have to sit with no heating on & in the dark to achieve the 12.5% OVO is looking for. I seriously have tried by not having appliances on etc apart from essentials on between 4-7pm but I’m still achieving 15-17.5% no matter what I do. I wonder how much energy it takes to keep my smart meter plugged in-haha!

What do you class as essentials?

We only have central heating (gas) 1 or 2 LED lights and a TV on and are at 8% so far this month and 9% for the last 2. (WiFi Fridge and 2 freezers never get turned off.)

The only big change we have made to help the scheme is make sure that we do the washing and drying during the week rather than the weekend. My main use of the oven is still at the weekend when I bulk cook for the week.

Because I am a low user (just me 4 days a week + partner F- Sun)  and it is a percentage based reduction that Ovo are looking for, I DO sit in the dark with no heating on Mon - Fri 4 - 7 to help achieve that percentage reduction. I do have TV on & laptop if i want on battery and if i really need need to 1 small low energy lamp - but that is the max!  I have also moved weekend energy using chores (washing, vacuuming, diy tool usage,   etc etc ) to weekdays outside of 4 - 7 to increase my M-F usage (NOT my overall usage)  and as somebody suggested much earlier on, If i’m fancying or planning a high energy use dinner (eg oven roast) then it is done on a M-F after 7  - so Sunday roast is Fri evening roast to boost weekday usage whilst not increasing overall usage.  I also try to charge gadgets mon to fri (not weekends) outside 4 - 7 to increase wk day usage, whilst not increasing overall usage. 

That's good as matter of interest on average what us your daily lecky usage in kwh?

​​​​​​3 folk in a 3 bed semi. No one in from 8-4 weekdays.