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iainjp
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January 26, 2025
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Will averaging of daily readings following extended power cuts impact Power Move?

  • January 26, 2025
  • 16 replies
  • 418 views

OK, here’s an interesting one for someone at OVO to explain, and sort.

Courtesy of “Eowyn” I had no electricity from just before 1600 on Friday until just before 0800 on Saturday as was the case with a large part of Argyll & Bute Council area (amongst others). I can’t praise SSEN engineers enough for getting out in the atrocious weather conditions and sorting the carnage that quick as well as laying on mobile food outlets. If you don’t believe me re the outage please refer to BBC news or SSEN!

When I did my regular daily check of usage for Powermove via the OVO website yesterday it was showing that I had used 2.11 kwh for the day on Friday with nothing past 1600hrs (correct - I couldnt!).  Imagine my surprise when logging in to check things today and I find although Friday is still showing no use after 1600, the daily figure has jumped to 4.80kWh with Saturday daily showing as 4.79 starting with 0.06kWh for 0730.  Total for the 2 days 9.59kWh. 

Looking at hourly figures for both days Fridays total 2.07kWh and Saturday 7.44kWh – unsurprising with heating and cooking making up for lost time as well as recharging everything.  Total for the 2 days based on hourly readings = 9.51kWh ie the new daily readings have been adjusted as an average suggesting that my use had doubled on Friday despite being off grid, although hourly are correct.

Whilst I have generally been keeping well within the top tier for Powermove savings and may not be affected by this arbitrary averaging glitch I am sure it will impact others on Powermove who may be less observant and closer to the limits.  Can someone at OVO please explain to me why this has happened and more importantly sort the computer programme (or is that programmer?) such that such “averaging” is not only resolved this time (for everyone) but also does not happen again in the event of extended powercuts. Having had to cope with being off grid for 16hrs, it’s unacceptable and insulting to say that “we couldn’t get accurate readings and had to average things” – the hourly reading downloads (0 or -) ARE accurate.

I look forward to an early response

Best answer by Blastoise186

Updated on 15/01/26 by Ben_OVO

​@iainjp I have had a response back from the Power Move team. Additionally, a member of the team wishes to speak with you directly. Please monitor your Private Messages here and you’ll see it when they reach out. If you feel the need to verify the user, feel free to ping forum@ovoenergy.com and the Forum Moderators can assist.

Other than that… This is the response from the team

The long and short of it is, Power Move would never use estimates in the calculations, it's very cookie cutter either we get real data, or we don't. We'd never use inaccurate usage data in our calculations, and only take into account what you've actually used.

If there is no data to be received, it'd go down as a non-comm (if we didn't get enough data).

Full Power Move info can be found on our website here, and in this Forum article:

 

 

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Firedog
Super User
FiredogSuper User
Super User
January 26, 2025

… attached are what I am now seeing when logging into my online account.
  

You didn’t share the meter readings …
  

Re your comment about midnight data transfer, nothing normally shows on my account these days until mid/late afternoon.  
  

I don’t think I wrote about ‘midnight data transfer’. Meter readings are stored in the meter at midnight*.  The actual data transmissions (separately for each set of data) take place later on request from OVO, spread out for all the millions of customers over the next 12 or more hours. Your readings may make clear what actually happens during a power outage that spans midnight. I could imagine that the backup battery will chip in to make this storage possible while it’s busily making sure that the internal clock remains accurate.
  

*   … at least for the Aclara meters commonly installed by OVO. From the user manual for my own:
  

The [Aclara] SGM1400-B Series meter stores 31 daily billing data sets before overwriting 
occurs.
The snapshot will automatically occur on the crossover of the midnight boundary.
The daily billing data includes the following:
 • Tariff TOU Register Matrix
 • Tariff Block Counter Matrix
 • Total Active Import Register
 • Time and date stamp in the Daily Read Log
 • Total Active Export Register
 

 

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
Blastoise186
Super User
Blastoise186Super UserBest Answer
Super User
January 27, 2025

Updated on 15/01/26 by Ben_OVO

​@iainjp I have had a response back from the Power Move team. Additionally, a member of the team wishes to speak with you directly. Please monitor your Private Messages here and you’ll see it when they reach out. If you feel the need to verify the user, feel free to ping forum@ovoenergy.com and the Forum Moderators can assist.

Other than that… This is the response from the team

The long and short of it is, Power Move would never use estimates in the calculations, it's very cookie cutter either we get real data, or we don't. We'd never use inaccurate usage data in our calculations, and only take into account what you've actually used.

If there is no data to be received, it'd go down as a non-comm (if we didn't get enough data).

Full Power Move info can be found on our website here, and in this Forum article:

 

 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way! Remember, I'm just like you - AI Powered Evil Geniuses aren't Staff!
    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    Ben_OVO
    Community Manager
    January 27, 2025

    Hi ​@iainjp 

     

    Following on from ​@Blastoise186’s reply, I’m going to reach out via Private Message to you, so that I can relay some information to our Power Move team. I look forward to hearing from you.

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    Firedog
    Super User
    FiredogSuper User
    Super User
    January 27, 2025

    What do you see on the readings history page for 25 January? Is there a smart reading? This is the one that would normally be time-stamped 2025-01-25T00:00:0,
      

     

    I’d really like to see what you found …
      

    Incidentally, ​@BPLightlog mentioned the difference between ‘–’ and ‘0’ in tables like the ones you’re looking at. There’s no standard that I’m aware of, and ‘–’ meaning no data is a common convention. I had a self-imposed power cut between 17:00 and 18:00 on Friday, and that shows up as ‘0’:
        

    Now that I’ve seen the screenshots of your usage tables, there’s an interesting difference between yours and mine:

    • When there is no power to the meter (because of an external power cut), the meter records ‘–’ meaning no data (the transmitted value is probably null);
    • When there is no power from the meter (because the house main switch was off), the meter records ‘0’ meaning zero usage (the transmitted value is probably 0).

    ​@BPLightlog  please note that you were quite right!
      

    Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA | It may look as if I know what I’m talking about, but don’t let that fool you. |
    Rank 2
    iainjpAuthor
    Rank 2
    January 27, 2025

    I’m not great with forum postings and getting replies to right person so all bear with me.

    I am now in contact with Ben from ovo.

    In response to ​@Firedog  there is no reading for 25th.  I find it strange that the 2 sets of related data (midnight meter reading and hourly usage) appear to used independently and not as back up for each other.    

      Rank 2
      iainjpAuthor
      Rank 2
      January 27, 2025

      For anyone suggesting that this issue won’t make any difference, I’ve now just done the arithmetic.  Depending on what figures are, or are not in fact utilised, my Powermove % could go from approx. 4.5% to 8% .  Friday could show as the totally incorrect massive 50% peak usage with Saturdays (off peak use)being cut by a third. On the other hand I may get the standard “insufficient data” excuse

      I also find it interesting that when splitting the total, after rounding less is allocated against off-peak Saturday (4.79) than Friday (4.8) !  Enough said!

      Obviously anyone else who was already running closer to the cut off could be even worse.

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