Daily "life" has to stop between 4 - 7pm for Power Move challenge

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 9, 2024
27 replies
748 views

Sanka14
Rank 3

To meet the latest challenge (as of October '24 - I'm a newbie) I basically have to refrain from everything but the most vital electricity use between 4 - 7pm!

Extraordinarily difficult, because I'm already using approx. 60% less electricity compared with similar OVO households (according to OVO's app).

Hence, I have to

- boil the kettle prior to 4 pm to fill a flask for 2 cups of coffee or tea until 7 pm;

- defrost prepared dinners, ready to cook at 7.01 pm, stomach growling with hunger;

- walk around my flat in semi-darkness with the help of a torch (despite balance problems + sight difficulties!);

- battery-charge my laptop (I free-lance from home) + phone for hours before the crucial period;

- washing machine cycles strictly in the mornings;

- baths only in the evenings;

- miss the daily 6 pm news and watch it at 10 pm;

- try to read using the screen light of my laptop and/or phone torch;

- do any house work + cleaning before 4 pm;

etc. etc. etc.

I like a challenge, need to reduce my bill somehow and did in fact "earn" almost £2 off my bill for only 1 week in October '24 (message from OVO: "you're on your way meeting the £12 November target!"), but I realise - as many in this Forum have already pointed out - that this peak-time energy saving scenario only benefits high usage customers!

It's unfair to + unpractical for those 24/7-at-home dwellers (already energy conscious!) with physical disabilities and/or users with children!

Any more tips for me welcome!

Nukecad

I'm also a low electricity user (124.705 kWh last month) and have attained the maximum reward every month since I joined PM last November.

All that I really need to do is not use my electric hob/oven during the PM hours, use the microwave and air fryer sparingly*, and avoid using the electric kettle during PM and try to remember to fill a flask beforehand.

*Yes, I do still sometimes cook and eat during the PM hours, just not using the big hob/oven.

Pre-prepared, frozen and defrosted dishes, or ones that have been cooked earlier and left to cool, can be microwaved hot again in 3-5 minutes or so.
As can many store bought ready meals, although those can be expensive.
Frozen oven chips only take 10-12 mins in the Air Fryer, put sausages, chicken pieces/nuggets, or whatever in at the same time. (Tip- Hot Dog sausages air fry really well, just take them out of the jar/can and throw them in).

My PM philosophy, which works for me, is don't forgo the small energy usage stuff, but do avoid using anything 500 Watts or higher (except for a very short time such as 5 mins to microwave something).

Obviously I don't use the washing machine, hoover, or other power hungry appliances during PM, but as for the rest I don't really change anything.
The fridge.freezer (95W when the compressor is running) stays on, as does the gas CH (75W when the circulation pump is running).

My laptop stays plugged in, as is my router of course.
I can watch TV, films, whatever on that. Between them they use about 24 watts so unplugging those for 3 hours would save very little energy anyway.

(It you do prefer to watch a TV then use your IHD to see how many watts it consumes, turn it off completely, not standby, see how many kWh you IHD says you are using, turn it on again and see what kWh you are using now, the difference is what the TV is consuming.
TV power use can vary a lot depending on age, size, and manufacturer).

All my lightbulbs are 8.5W LED bulbs, so again not much saving by not using those whenever I want to. Although TBH I tend to use a 3W rechargeble wall light most of the time.

As said not everyone is going to be able to attain the Power Move targets, but for those that can then with a bit of thought you can work out what you need to avoid using during the PM hours, and what makes so little difference to PM that you can keep using it anyway.