Power Move - spring challenge

So cheeky for them to not really announce the change in hours - the peak hours hasn't changed seasonally in the past so I've had 4-7pm firmly in my head, got an email to say I'm way off this month.. well no wonder when the hours have changed. Would've been helpful if this had been in announced in a separate email, the email subject line, the first sentence of welcome to spring power move?! Ridiculous. OVO clearly not making enough money from us, drop the reward and hide the changes. 

You’re on your own there I’m afraid @sianmichaela .

The emails did make it very clear that the times had changed, it was posted in multiple places, announced in advance, mentioned on the Forum 10,000 times and every email update reminded you as well. If you didn’t read any of those, that’s your problem.

And on top of that, the Forum Volunteers - myself included - have spelled it out quite a few times. If you still didn’t get the message, OVO can’t do much more than that.

Caveat Emptor as they say.

Sorry if you were offended by my feedback @Blastoise186 not a personal attack on the forum moderators/volunteers, I've never really used the forum before in my 10 years with OVO. I open and check all emails from OVO and went back through them to locate the change. As I said no pop-ups in the app, and no indication of any changes to look out within the email intro or subject line, so relies on reading the full email which all other months tells you the same info, which I no longer read in full after being in power move for over a year. Obviously this is a nice to have, a perk, so they're not obliged but as this is the first change of this nature (the changes to reward levels were more clearly announced) it seems a little sneaky to bury it. I've not missed other changes (that I'm aware of!) Clearly the forum is the place to be, but as far as I was aware this was an add on optional feature for those who needed support not where communications were primarily delivered. Would love to see these multiple channels, and announcements - they didn't make their way through in the way you've described via email or app notices. 

Nice to have such an empathetic welcome to the forum though..

I've just been snarkily told it's just me who missed the change. It is included in the emails from Spring/April onwards, but no specific or dedicated email announcement of this new change, like they do for other issues. Glad I'm not on my own after all. 

Just wondered if you did contact them about the time change, and what they said? I'm lucky I suppose as I've only just started going off track so have only just realised there was a change! Would be interested to hear if they responded, as in 3 months there was never a change in comms to redress or clarify. Wonder if this will remain throughout Summer and Autumn as the new peak time or change again. 

The times so far have been 4pm-7pm Autumn/Winter Challenges, and 6pm-9pm Spring/Summer Challenges. I suspect that’ll probably continue.

With that being said, I’ve just had a chat with one of my contacts at OVO who knows a few things about Power Move (thanks Addy!). Man, OVO’s Live Chat is overpowered today. :D

It’s been confirmed that what I’ve said so far is more or less accurate. However, OVO Support have commented that if you feel very strongly about this, get in touch with them and they’ll talk about it with you. Can’t promise anything, but they’re willing to talk.

As for making this more obvious in future emails, leave that with me - it’s been submitted for review because my contact agrees that it could be a bit easier to find.

Hey @sianmichaela 

Sorry you felt the communication of the spring challenge time change wasn’t clear enough. As Blastoise186 mentioned, this hasn’t tripped too many people up but there have been a few others who have felt the same way, so we did double check with the Power Move team what the communication of this change was, and they have taken on the feedback for future changes.

I double checked with the team that there had been an email that detailed the time change on the spring challenge, and they did confirm emails were sent out with the new time, £ and % on 1st. The email should look a little something like this one below.

 

I’m sorry you’ve not been on target so far, but there’s still time to bring that % down. I know it’s not easy for everyone, and it’s why the challenge is optional, as it may not work for everyone’s lifestyle, there are a few helpful topics below from others who’ve previously struggled to meet the target, with lots of hints and tips on shifting power outwith the timeslot:

 

 

Keep us updated with how you get on with the challenge. 

Like Blastoise186 also mentioned you can reach out to the Support Team to open a complaint on the matter.

It is something the team have already taken on board, hopefully future changes will be communicated more clearly.

Hi @Abby_OVO thanks for the message. I was able to find the emails once I knew there was a change to search for. Usually when there's a change it's actually announced not just included in the brackets.. which if you were reading quickly could easily be missed. Not worthy of a complaint, it's a perk after all, more an observation of disappointment and frustration as I had changed my habits to be a part of power move to then see it's been for nothing for the last 3 months (nothing, aside from my inconvenience) is disappointing and means I'm not making best use of the grid. If power move was truly to support us in using off peak it would've been a headline change in the email so we could adjust our habits accordingly and not just from April, but ahead of time so we knew change was incoming. Especially as for those of us who've been part of the challenge for a while last Spring/Summer peak was still 4-7pm for the challenge. I'll wait and see what comes of the Summer challenge this year.. and these 'peak' usage times.