The Mathematics of Power Move (and how to achieve the targets)

Did you succeed in making more than £15 per month from Power Plus earnings?

Very interesting, the difference between moving/dispensing with peak hours usage as opposed to boosting non-peak usage…I had no idea that the difference would be so marked for Power Move purposes…many thanks.

EDIT:  re your comment @MGSteve about smart thermostat…I guess you’ll have seen the current OVO smart stat offer (very tempting, around £70, IIRC)?

No, I didn’t make £15, but I usually make well over a £1, sometimes over £1.50, for each Plus event, as compare with the 75p a day, I could make from Power Move itself.

    Rgds,

            Steve

Hi @MGSteve ,

Thanks for an interesting post. I will admit that, even though I am a complete nerd and use a spreadsheet to monitor my PM progress each month, I skipped some of the maths.

The reason for my reply is your “what I would do” section:

1. Def but make sure that you do these on weekdays not at weekends.
2. Yup.
3. Not worth the bother - very little impact.
4. I would not have a clue how to “pre-cool” my fridge. Pre-heating the house is a waste of time/energy if, like most UK households, you have gas central heating. Only worth doing if you have electric heating - like my son’s flat in central Manchester.

Finally, as far as PM v PMP is concerned, I find it much more worthwhile to chase £15 a month than £1 or £2 (at max) every now and then.

I hope that is helpful.

Take care,

Simon

Hi Simon,

   I’m sorry I don’t totally agree with you!!!

1. I did say doing this for weekdays only; it dropped down to the next line.
2. Agree.
3. My TV is 55W and my laptop charger is 23W - just measured them.  As I’ve got a 600Wh PMP target, and can get it down to 30W (for at least for an hour), I think they are both worth doing!!  (I estimate my gas CH is something like 200W of electricity, and my fridge and freezer are both 100W - all averaged over an hour).
4. To pre-cool your fridge, you turn the thermostat, normally a wheel next to the light, to a higher number - don’t forget to turn it back to normal for the event itself.   Now as for gas CH, they do use a non-negligible amount of electricity mainly to run the pump, and but also to control the burner.   Admittedly, you will use a little more gas to heat your house up by an extra couple of degrees and then let it cool down, but as I think I am saving something like 60p on electricity by not running the CH, I think it’s worthwhile.   Basically, you’re moving both gas and electric consumption to the period before the event; the gas is the same price, but the electricity is (artificially) much cheaper.

Admittedly, as I am concentrating on PMP, I only have to reduce my electric consumption for an hour.   Nevertheless, pre-cooling the fridge and pre-heating the CH does allow me to drop from 600W to something like 30W, and therefore I can get something like 95% of the possible benefit!!! (Admittedly, at the expense of a little extra gas consumption).

     Rgds,

             Steve

Do you work? Because I do and I don’t have the time to go in depth that you do with your response here. At the end of the day this is 2024 and we should by right have access to water, housing and a means to heat our homes. Victorian times had a tiny coal fire with candles for light. Look at other countries, they don’t have this utter pointless faff that we have. 

Why does it bother you so much that other people are spending their time on this @SleepySuze ?

Am I the only one who just looks at my daily use and see’s if my numbers are lower during the 3 hour window. As  I use similar every day if for some reason I think I may have used more during the window I may use the washing machine or something similar after 7. Worked for me so far

No, I don’t work anymore, I’m now retired!!!   I used to be a Data Analyst in the NHS, and now have the time to investigate the various strange discount schemes offered by OVO!!!  My views are now beginning to clarify:

1. Power Move Plus is quite a simple system driven by the Power Grid, who occasionally need to reduce the peak load to prevent the price they pay for electricity going through the roof (or even having to ask the restart of the remaining coal fired power stations!!!).   The amount of discount we get is directly  proportional to the number of units we can move.    With my (medium) usage I can get up to £1.50p for an hour’s event,  There appears to be no financial impact on OVO, cos they seem to be passing the whole of the discount from the National Grid on to us.
2. Power Move itself is quite a hybrid system.  I now view it as a stepped discount on my standing charge, if I can get my electricity usage to a certain profile.  The amount of the discount is NOT related to how much electricity you actually use, but only to its profile!!!   Everybody can save £15 a month for reducing their usage in 3 * 20  hours peak usage a month.  (i.e. 25p a hour).  Using my figures, I would have to move about 2/3 of a  unit of consumption per working day from peak to non-peak to get this 75p.   It initially looks like this is going to be expensive for OVO, cos, as far as I can tell, a non-peak unit of electricity now costs something like 6p, and a peak unit, usually between 10p and 20p.   But, as the rebate to us is stepped, OVO saves money from people who exceed their target, or those that fail to make it.
3. There is a nasty interaction between the 2 systems: if you achieve the Power Move discount, then the amount that you can get from the next Power Move Plus is  reduced, because your “target” for a PMP event is calculated using your average usage over previous PM days, where you have already reduced your peak usage.  However, a good PMP event may help you achieve the PM monthly target.

Any comments???

     Rgds,

              Steve

Commendable use of your time @MGSteve and very nicely explained. If only OVO hadn’t given the two schemes such similar names. 

Yes. it’s the much too similar naming of the two different schemes that has given rise to a lot of the confusion.

And as noted the 2 do interact, meaning that those on Power Move (and particularly those meeting the targets) already are unlikely to meet Power move Plus targets.

If the DFS events happen again after this current round then we are told that Power Move Plus is likely to be given a different name next time.
(I think that “Demand Move” would describe it better and avoid confusion).

I like @MGSteve ‘s reference to the profile. A graph always helps to explain the data so could be useful if it was relaunched under a new name, though OVO has already used about a million fancy names for all its various initiatives.

You did ask!

We’ve been power-moving for several months now, many of us since last summer. That has probably taught us a lot about how and when we use electricity and how to behave in order to maximize the benefit, both financially for us and ecologically for the planet. 

We’ve already seen some moral questions raised: is it defensible deliberately to use more electricity in the morning or to do the hoovering on Friday evening instead of Saturday morning solely in order to bring the target period percentage down below the threshold?

Here’s another moral dilemma, then, just to address your point here. We’ve seen consumers bragging about low percentages (<5). That’s really good from a CO₂ emissions viewpoint, but 5% won’t earn you any more than 10% would. To maximize the PM+ reward, then, it would make financial sense to increase the target period consumption to an average just below the PM threshold. Doing this consistently will make sure that the target for a PM+ event during the peak period stays at an achievable and profitable level, while still earning the PM reward. 

For example, a customer regularly achieving 5% for the PM challenge could double the target period consumption and thus the future PM+ target and reward while still earning the PM reward. 

I think 😉

    Interesting: I agree there are 2 distinct incentives for us to reduce electricity use: 1) Reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and 2) Reducing  the cost.  A Martian would expect that these would be directly related!!!   But, due to the National Grid pricing model, and the OVO schemes they are not!!!  And, because of the increased cost of energy, we are having to concentrate much more on the cost.

   OVO have made it quite complicated with these 2 schemes that (slightly) conflict, and  I hope my initial contribution to this conversation helps people understand them. 

   Personally, I can get my consumption down to about 5% of normal, but only for an hour or so, so I am concentrating on PM+.   Especially, with other people in the house, I don’t think I could consistently reach the PM targets, and any attempt to do so will then actually make my PM+ payments less!!!   Nevertheless, I believe my actions are generating less carbon dioxide, in total, aren’t too onerous for me, and are also helping the National Grid deal with its peak periods (and saving me a bit of money!!!).  I could actually make my PM+ payments greater by doing my dish and clothes washing during the peak period on none PM+ days, but I would consider that a bit immoral!!

  It would be so much better if the cost of electricity was more linked to the amount  of carbon dioxide produced, e.g. more like the Octopus charging algorithm, then we wouldn’t have these strange schemes, and all these extended conversations; people would just be directly incentivised to reduce carbon dioxide.   Also, the moral dilemmas about manipulating ones pattern of usage for financial advantage would disappear. 

   Rgds,

          Steve

I've been thinking about the £15 reward for meeting the Power Move percentage target.

Of course the most obvious, and most stated, is that it will cover the electricity standing charge.
Well the SC has now gone up, but £15 will still cover most of it.

But there is another way of looking at it, particularly in these cold winter months.

Instead of thinking Standing Charge you could regard it as “Free” electricity.

For example:
On Standard Variable Contract electricity with OVO is currently 28.43p per kWh. (That may be different where you live).
Which means that for your £15 reward you could run a 1kW fan heater for 52-3/4 hours.
Giving yourself an hours extra concentrated heating boost each morning or evening, both on some days.
Oh, and because you're using it outside of peak hours it counts as off-peak usage towards Power Move on weekdays.

That is extra use so probably not very green, but it will help keep your fingers and toes warm.

What an interesting discussion! 🙂

Very insightful, certainly not the first time I’ve heard the issue of the name similarity being raised. It’s caused some confusion, i’ll definitely put forward this feedback internally.