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leaphaze
Rank 1
June 28, 2024
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Power Move Flex results emails states my smart meter failed to send readings?

  • June 28, 2024
  • 15 replies
  • 305 views

The Power Move Flex results emails were fine to the end of May, but from June the email states: “Your smart meter failed to send us readings ... so we couldn’t see the full picture of your electricity use.”. However when I check the readings on the website, I have a full history over the period.

This has happened for 3 June to 9 June, 10 June to 16 June & 17 June to 23 June.

Any thoughts on what could be going wrong would be most welcome.

Thanks

 

 

 

 

Best answer by BPLightlog

I know there are minimum requirements for readings @leaphaze . It might. E worth double checking that usage info as there may be estimates used (look at the chart) which the graph doesn’t highlight 

15 replies

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Newcomer
r44712
Newcomer
June 28, 2024

(Quote snipped by Blastoise186 to reduce size)

That's nonsense.

The Smart Meter does not use your domestic internet to transmit the results.  It has it's own cellular-based connectivity.

What's more, as I understand it, the meter collects the results half-hourly but only transmits the figures to the supplier once-a-day in the early hours.

Pretty close! In the Southern Territory (basically everything below Manchester), it is indeed Cellular based, currently running on O2/Telefonica, but will likely move to Vodafone for the 4G Comms Hubs that are coming into play. The use of the Public Internet for this purpose has been explicitly banned by NCSC as Smart Meters are considered to be Critical National Infrastructure - they MUST run on a private network that can’t be accessed externally.

For those in the Northern Territory, it’s Long-Range Radio based using Arqiva.

Ah! Thanks for the clarification. As I am well and truly south of Manchester, it's probably why I thought it was all cellular.

Arqiva, now there's a name I've come across in my professional career.

S
Newcomer
Saranne
Newcomer
June 29, 2024

I did really well on the first power move event I entered and gained a good amount of credit 😁 I've noticed since then that when I 'shift' a lot of energy, they "fail' to get enough readings. If I shift a bit of energy I get the credits, which are now only 5p per kwh so running around during my lunch break hoovering, doing the dishes and loading the washing machine earns me around 10p. It's pretty obvious to me that if you shift a lot of energy, they'll tell you they haven't got enough readings because they don't want to pay you what they've promised. I've given up bothering now. It's not worth disrupting your lifestyle for a few pence. You'll save more by turning down your thermostat a bit or putting less water in the kettle etc.

S
Newcomer
Saranne
Newcomer
June 29, 2024

It isn’t a waste of time unless you can’t - or won’t - play the game properly as intended.

Increasing your usage just to hit targets is NOT the goal here and is technically cheating since you’re not doing what the whole point of Power Move is. Gas also doesn’t count either - this is about Electricity only. Likewise, getting any discount at all is better than nothing - it’s £3 less than what you’d have paid otherwise.

If you are deliberately inflating your usage, then it’s pretty obvious that you’re gobbling up that reward with the extra charges - so maybe don’t do that? :)

The DROP in usage is only required during the specified Peak Hours, currently 6pm to 9pm Weekdays at the time I posted this (it changes throughout the year!) with all other times being Off-Peak. To win, do not just raise or drop your usage - MOVE heavy loads to an Off-Peak timeslot and you’ll find it 10,000% easier to win fairly.

We have said the above advice probably a few hundred times now. If you fail to follow it, that’s your problem, not ours. Additionally, if you try to cheat the system and get stung as a result, you’re on your own there too - OVO won’t refund you for that.

With that being said, Power Move is not well suited to Extremely Low users who consume 1-2kWh of Electricity per day. If you’re in this group, you still have a chance, but you’ll just have to work harder.

Are you an OVO representative?  

    Firedog
    Super User
    FiredogSuper User
    Super User
    June 29, 2024

    The Power Move Flex results

     

    Power Move Flex is a different scheme from Power Move. It’s confusing for everyone when posts about one scheme are made in the forum for a different one. Power Move Flex has its own space here: Power Move Flex | The OVO Forum. You have to ask for permission to access it.

    Many of the comments in this thread refer to Power Move, not Power Move Flex. There are forum articles explaining each scheme: 

    Power Move Frequently Asked Questions
    Want to know more about Power Move Flex?

    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 User
    Super User
    June 29, 2024

    As has been mentioned many times before, neither myself nor Firedog work for OVO. We do work closely with OVO Staff (the Forum Moderators being an easy example), but we are not OVO Staff ourselves. We are known as the Forum Volunteers because we help out here on the Forum on a regular basis.

    We don’t get paid hard cash for doing it, but we do get “paid” with additional insights into what’s going on at OVO and the around the industry, which mostly just helps us to do what we do here - which is doing cool things.

    It’s something we choose to do because we enjoy it - the same reason I’m a Fire Service Volunteer because I enjoy that too. After all, when else can you do “mean things” and actually get away with them? :D

    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!
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