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Tim_OVO
OVO Staff
OVO Forum Legend
October 18, 2023
Blog

Help us spread the word about Power Move

  • October 18, 2023
  • 39 replies
  • 668 views
Help us spread the word about Power Move

We’re looking for customers who’ve benefited from Power Move, to be part of our case study–helping more people to discover it as a way to save money and shift energy use habits.

 

Happy to help us do this?

 

Talk to us about Power Move

 

If you’re up for it, you’ll have a video call chat with someone from our Power Move team about your experience and results. We'll then share snippets of the conversations on our social media, website and with journalists.

 

We’ll compensate you for your time as a thank you for getting involved. 

 

Interested?

 

Let us know by leaving a comment below. 

 

Thanks,
The OVO team

39 replies

Rank 2
October 20, 2023

Absolutely no offence taken and I have to say OVO should be given credit for offering this scheme. As you rightly say these opportunities are rare. Cheers.

Nukecad
Super User
Super User
October 26, 2023

I have to agree that whether or not you already hit the target previously does not matter at all.
It's only hitting the target NOW that counts, so if you were already hitting it anyway then you already qualify without changing anything.
(Call it a deserved reward for already having a lower peak consumption?)

I myself only started in October, but I had switched to half-hour metering and had been monitoring my usage during September without changing anything usage wise, just to get a baseline of what I was already using.
I found that I was already hitting less than 10% most days but got up to 20% some days, so would probably have already qualified for 13.5% over the whole month.
It hasn't taken me much at all to get those 20% days down below target, although see the next paragraph.

I have been experimenting, that's just my nature, and for the first week of October was regularly hitting 4%-6% each day.
So some of the measure that I was taking at first weren't really needed, and I find that I can boil the occasional kettle or cook the occasional meal between 4-7, so getting up to around 20% for the odd day and still meeting the 13.5% target overall.

For example:
Last Friday I deliberately cooked fish and chips in the Air Fryer at 6:00 PM, microwaved some peas, and boiled a kettle for a cup of tea to have with them - just to see what effect that would have - and it was 20.31% that day.
But even with that 20.31% result it averages out, and currently I'm at 7.28% for October which is almost over.

PS. The 1/2 month email from OVO was 0.5% different to my own figure, that's because I'm only calculating to the 2 decimals on the website account whereas they calculate to 3 decimals.

From what I've been reading on the forum it is those who cook with gas who are going to struggle to meet the target, and probably they won't be able to if they don't already.
Cooking with electricity between 4-7 is the obvious high usage to move, and if you cook with gas you can't do that.

If you do cook with gas then about the only thing you can try (other than not boiling an electric kettle between 4-7), is to increase your non-peak weekday electricity use, probably by moving washing/ironing, hoovering, etc. from weekends to weekdays.
Whilst that's not strictly what Power Move is trying to achieve, it is within the rules and calculation as they are and might get you to the 13.5% target.

I said, Hey - Watts going on.
waltyboy
Rank 8
Rank 8
October 26, 2023

Good thinking @Nukecad …keep up the experimentation, it’s obviously paying off!

Walt. 2013: 3.2kW PV East/West + Fronius IG, >26MWh (of which, to date mid-2025, 20MWh exported). 2023: 2.4kWh LiFePo4 battery. 2024: Tadö wireless smart stat v3; Electriq split unit 2.6kW AAHP (“air conditioner”).
Rank 2
October 26, 2023

Excellent comments. I have also switched my cooking habits and now eat dinner around right 8pm instead of 7pm. I have also discovered that when my gas central heating boiler is pumping water around the house every 15 minutes or so, electric consumption increases dramatically according to my Smart Meter Monitor and have found that turning the thermostat down a few degrees decreases the pumping cycle to around every 30 minutes.

Some really good stuff on this forum!

Firedog
Super User
Super User
October 26, 2023

I have also switched my cooking habits and now eat dinner around right 8pm instead of 7pm.

 

Sadly, having shocked your system by moving dinner from 7 to 8 PM, next week you’ll have to shock it again when the clocks change. The 4-7 PM timings don’t change, so instead of starting 3 hours after midday, it will then start 4 hours after midday. Your stomach won’t know that, of course, and it may take it a few days to acclimatize, so to speak.

This is when the system really comes into its own: the peak period for electricity consumption currently stretches from around 5 - 8 PM BST, which will become 4 - 7 PM GMT. Power Move and similar schemes run by other suppliers will begin to make a real difference; the amount of fossil fuel that has to be burnt to meet peak demand will decrease, and the likelihood of scheduled power cuts recedes. 

 

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. |
Nukecad
Super User
Super User
October 27, 2023

For those who still like/want to eat a full meal between 4-7.

One thing that I have been doing is cooking off-peak and then putting it aside to microwave later.
4 or 5 minutes microwave use between 4-7 is not going to alter your percentage that much, (unless you have a 3KW industrial microwave, LOL), so unless you are very borderline on meeting the target you should be OK doing that.

Things like rice and pasta with sauces are ideal for doing that, cooked mashed potato (homemashed not instant) reheats very well too, as does any already cooked veg.
The trick is to use your off-peak power to cook it, and then only use a small amount of peak power to reheat it through.

You can also batch cook things like stews and broths and freeze in portions to microwave later. (pre-cooked rice, pasta, mash, veg, etc. can also be frozen).
Remember to take them out early to fully defrost on the worktop, or move from freezer to fridge in the morning to defrost there, or defrost them in the microwave before 4PM to heat through later - DON’T use the microwave to defrost them, or reheat them from frozen, between 4-7 - that's just using peak power again.

TBH I don't think that the change from BST to GMT will make much of a difference, other than to the amount of daylight so you'll want your lights on longer. And if you have low wattage LED light bulbs then they use very little power.
But the daylight declines rapidly both morning and evening as winter comes anyway, whether you move the clock or not you still have exactly the same amount of daylight hours.

PS. I don't believe that turning the boiler thermostat down will help towards the Power MOVE target at all.
Although it will decrease your overall usage it will decrease it whenever in the day the boiler timer is on, it won't MOVE it out of peak hours.
(Boiler pumps usually only use about 75-100 Watts anyway).
If you do want to change it to help meet the Power Move target then you are better setting the boiler timer so that it's off for 1, 2, or all 3 of the peak hours.
I'd suggest you start by setting it off 4-5, on 5-6, off 6-7, and see if you are still warm enough with that, then adjust the on/off peak times as necessary to be comfortable.
(Even before joining Power Move I had mine set to off from 2PM-6PM, I’ve had no reason to change that up to 7PM).

I said, Hey - Watts going on.
Rank 2
October 27, 2023

My earlier posts echo your cooking tips and have a freezer full of hearty but healthy batch cooked meals. I'm a single pensioner and have been doing this for years not only saving money by cooking in bulk but buying family packs of groceries. My observations about boiler pumps is a tip about savings in general however small. Another tip I have you've probably heard of - it's about Granny and eggs!

Emmanuelle_OVO
Retired Moderator
Retired Moderator
October 30, 2023

Really really brilliant tips here! 

 

I recently invested in an air fryer- will be interesting to see how this impacts my energy consumption. We have a tremendously inefficient old oven so I’m hoping a lot!

 

I wonder if it’s more energy efficient to re-heat dinner in a microwave or air fryer?

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.
BPLightlog
Super User
Super User
October 30, 2023

Really really brilliant tips here! 

 

I recently invested in an air fryer- will be interesting to see how this impacts my energy consumption. …

I wonder if it’s more energy efficient to re-heat dinner in a microwave or air fryer?

It will depend on the model but from what we’ve seen over the last 6 months or so, the air fryer uses less power but does need pre-heating

Bring me Sunshine ~ E&E {Solar PV, Battery Storage, Hybrid EV, ASHP and Home Assistant automation}