Power Move and Solar Panels - do they help or hinder me hitting my target?

I know nothing about solar panels I’m afraid but I’m thinking as its free to join and there's no penalty for not reaching the target you could give it a go and see. 

I have solar panels too so, particularly in Summer, it would be almost impossible for me to do it as I import virtually nothing during the day. Fortunately for me, I also have an EV which uses about a third of my total energy use and charges outside of the power move times so it brings me back in line. Even without an EV, you might do it during the winter.

Go for it. You’ve got nothing to lose so if you do it you do it, if you don’t you don’t. 

Sorry I am doing it and it's saying I use 25% of my energy then

It’s nigh on impossible with solar panels and batteries -  you are already switching what electric you use by having batteries. We managed it last month(just).  Solar gives a false impression. I never use washing machine, dryer or dishwasher between 4 and 7.  The boiler is on at that time and I had to use either microwave or Ninja for meals.  

We have solar panels with a battery & we’ve hit target every time so far. We joined power move part way through September & managed to get a credit. It was sunny & the battery helped. Now, it is cloudy or dull most of the time, the battery hardly fully charges, & the grid is supplying a chunk of our electricity. 
In October we got the full credit, with 7.5% power move switch, & we’ve just got the November credit, but with 12.77%. It’s taken a bit of juggling to achieve - but having a solar system battery has not really helped as the battery hadn’t been charging very well because the weather where I live has been pretty drab. It’s also been very cold, & having just had my gas central heating properly fixed I’m now making use of it so my usage is up a bit due to the electrical bits of it - pump etc. - that we obviously haven’t had to use until now. 

We do the things other people do - keep everything inessential out of the 4 to 7 slot. Hot dinners eaten at lunch time, washing machine used in the morning, phones & laptops charged out of the 4 to 7 slot, we have the heating on 3 times a day - getting up time, 2 to 4, then 7 to 9, if needed. Hot water we try to do 7 to 8 & wash up when it’s hot - we don’t have a dish washer. 
Showers etc taken in the morning. We use energy intensive things like the toaster & air fryer etc out of the 4 to 7 slot. I cook extra so each meal I cook lasts at least 2 days so I just have to use a heat cooking source once, or I batch cook & freeze portions. We make a flask or two of tea to drink during the day & evening so we’re not putting the kettle on. 
We don’t watch tv much at all - just streaming via a PlayStation & we do that from 2 to 4 (hubby works nights). The PlayStation is pretty power hungry. 
And I try to keep a rough idea of what my usage figures are as we go through the month. 

Hi

I have solar panels and a battery, installed towards the end of October, so this is the first full month of them,

I did come in at 13% so achieved the target by the skin of my teeth! However, with a battery I don’t think I can actively do anything towards this target - I use a residual amount just to keep everything connected with a little burst every so often if I exceed what the battery can deliver, eg kettle plus toaster plus … , and only this weekend is the first time I have drained the battery and had to use off the grid for a significant amount (cloudy days / entertaining / lots of cooking). 

So as with comments above, I can only treat this as a bonus, although it did make me think about delaying cooking till after 7pm on Friday as I knew my battery was running low!

There is no Power Move in the summer so using SPs in the summer (with or without batteries) will not disadvantage you.

For about five months in the winter (approximately centred on December 21st) you only produce about 10% of the total power for the year so again, SPs won’t particularly disadvantage you but it will make it slightly harder to meet the target by removing your non-peak usage from the grid. If you have batteries though you can use what little power you do generate to use in the Peak which will tip it in your favour.

To be honest the only reason why I can meet the Power Move challenge is because I have an EV and I only charge up outside of the Peak during a weekday. For November I achieved 9.0% even using an oven about half the time in the peak. I don’t have SPs.

Peter

 Say 100% of my days usage is 

Washing machine

Dishwasher

1 cooked meal

Heating 16 hrs 7am til 11

Lighting 7 hrs 4 til 11

TV 7 hrs 4 til 11

And the top three are close to being free

and the other 2 reduced between about 8 & about 4

Surely I can't use less than 25% in those 3 hrs

Hi @Katymac, I can see how frustrating it must feel!

@solarrolar and others above have largely said what I can only repeat, I’m afraid.  However, you’re doing very well to have your washing machine, dishwasher and 1 cooked meal close to being free!! I envy you that, I must say! My solar panels produce, if I’m lucky, no more than a daily total of 1kWh, maybe 1.5kWh if I’m very lucky, during the darkest months Nov to Feb. That’s up here in Sunderland…maybe you live somewhere with more winter brightness, South Coast perhaps? Plus of course my PV array, being split, the NW is virtually 50% in total darkness during the winter months, and it’s not a very large array in any case. 
 

I would say, though, if you are using 25% of your total weekday consumption (and it’s important to stress weekday here, weekends and bank holidays do not count for Power Move purposes) during the 4-7 slot, then it sounds as though there is indeed scope to move some of this to weekday slots other than the key 4-7 slot. After all, 4-7 slot is only 12.5% of the total 24 hour weekday in terms of hours  Would you regard it as a cheek on my part if I asked roughly how many kWh this 25% weekday average consists of? The only reason I ask is that if your average weekday 4-7 consumption is under, say, 350Wh (0.35 kWh), then this means that your total weekday consumption is around 2kWh on average (phenomenal in winter), and with those sorts of winter figures without storage batteries you are doing absolutely famously, it’s going to be hard to improve on. I hit the target only because I have a (small) storage battery for nighttime use (especially Power Move 4-7 slot) and I recharge it every day regardless of whether or not the solar panels contribute much. They usually don’t in winter. The day before yesterday, for example, they generated only 0.4kWh.

And remember, the weekday usage is aggregated up at the end of the month, it doesn’t matter if the odd weekday percentage here and there is exceeded as long as other weekdays smooth things out. 

Do not be tempted to cut back on your 4-7 usage of stuff like LED lighting, led TV (small aside, is your TV consuming a lot, if it’s an older one like my Sony, with all sorts of surround sound and various boxes hanging off it? We only use our small LED one during 4-7), CH pump, all the background stuff like router etc. Honestly, you are most unlikely to make headway in achieving the target in cutting back on those relatively economical items, same goes for ‘fridges and freezer, not worth messing with.  No point in causing ourselves undue distress or stress, possibly even hazards and risk.
 

I would say you deserve great praise for your low winter usage, keep it up! I just hope that you will look again at the Power Move incentive peak hours percentage requirement, and perhaps move one (or two, or three?!) weekend heavier tasks to a weekday (not 4-7, obviously!) to make your weekday 4-7 slot “look good” so to speak.  Have another careful look at your OVO account half hourly usage pages for, say, the last week of November (including both weekends as well as the Power Move weekdays) and work out if there’s anything you can move around in order to hit that 13.5% target. And we’ve got those two bank holidays later this month (and the January First one, too) as well as the usual weekends, all available to jiggle tasks out of where possible. 

ah, I’ve just noticed your “and the other 2 reduced between about 8 & about 4”…that’s a bit puzzling: did you mean reduced between about 4 and 8?

All the very best, let us know what you think? I would guess that the experience you’ve related is of great interest to most of us consumers on here…good luck

Heating and lighting (less so) will be helped by solar panels in the day

TV only has the roku attached & a switch occasionally

I think the average is pretty low I may have worked out a Hiccup we had the boiler replace in Nov, which involved power tools and heating on for more than normal which skewed

I reckon my average is bigger, maybe between 3 & 4 

But with only lights, telly and fridge etc I'm stuck with it

I'm east anglia with a southwest facing roof and 12 (I think it's too cold to go and check) panels