Power Move - spring challenge

A quick question for all those keenly tracking their usage by the half-hour: have you had the data for 31 March?

Usually I get my daily data from Glowmarkt, but there were some anomalous readings when I tried around 10 this morning (loads of 31 March HH readings showing 65 kWh!). But n3rgy data (energy import consumption) for 31st March download at around 10AM this morning seems to have worked fine :

024-03-30 23:300.0012024-03-31 00:000.0022024-03-31 00:300.0032024-03-31 01:000.0012024-03-31 01:300.0012024-03-31 02:000.0012024-03-31 02:300.0012024-03-31 03:000.0012024-03-31 03:300.0012024-03-31 04:000.0012024-03-31 04:300.0012024-03-31 05:000.0012024-03-31 05:300.0012024-03-31 06:000.0022024-03-31 06:300.02024-03-31 07:000.02024-03-31 07:300.02024-03-31 08:000.02024-03-31 08:300.02024-03-31 09:000.02024-03-31 09:300.02024-03-31 10:000.02024-03-31 10:300.02024-03-31 11:000.02024-03-31 11:300.02024-03-31 12:000.02024-03-31 12:300.0012024-03-31 13:000.02024-03-31 13:300.02024-03-31 14:000.02024-03-31 14:300.02024-03-31 15:000.02024-03-31 15:300.02024-03-31 16:000.02024-03-31 16:300.02024-03-31 17:000.02024-03-31 17:300.0012024-03-31 18:000.02024-03-31 18:300.0022024-03-31 19:000.0022024-03-31 19:300.0022024-03-31 20:000.0022024-03-31 20:300.0022024-03-31 21:000.0022024-03-31 21:300.0012024-03-31 22:000.0022024-03-31 22:300.0022024-03-31 23:000.0012024-03-31 23:300.0022024-04-01 00:000.001

and the Kaifa meter showed the time corrected for BST, when I looked last night at around five minutes past  midnight, which surprised me. So do we take it that the midnight “bits” of data are the “correct date”, so to speak:

2024-03-31 23:300.002

2024-04-01 00:000.001

EDIT Forgot to say, my 31st Mar figures not yet available from OVO, as at 8PM today 1st Apr

I didn’t have it yesterday, but it’s there today and the OVO portal handles/displays the hour change fairly well.

Firstly 01:00 and 01:30 are correctly ‘skipped’ and not there:
 

Then to keep that column length the same as usual an extra 12:00am and 12:30am are show at the bottom with no usage figures just a dash:
(I’d have just put a dash for the times as well rather than repeating the ‘12:00am and 12:30am’ times, but probably the coding doesn’t easily allow that).

The usage figures for 12:00pm and 12:30pm are at the top of the second column as normal:

Yep, I get just the same this morning (but no readings at time of writing, 1030A). This is just the same as last year’s presentation (26 March 2023) and indeed every GMT>BST change day for the past few years*, even before the switch (for me) from Apollo to Orion in 2020. So no change yet. Tomorrow will be interesting …
  

[OT I notice that the clocks also changed on 31 March 2019. However, the last time it happened the last day of the quarter in a leap year was in 1996, and it probably won’t happen again until 2052. I wonder where we’ll be then?]

Power Move is a complete rip off! I'm on only in my one bed flat during the evening and the only thing running continuously is my small fridge freezer. The TV is on for maybe an hour at most at night and I use my kettle and toaster in the morning.  No way does this use that much electric. My monthly bill is usually around £40, and most of that is the rip off standing charges!!

It sounds like your usage is far too flat here. You need to move usage around rather than maintaining a flat profile all day.

Hi @k1tto58,

The Power Move Challenge is designed to reward customers who work on shifting their energy usage outside of core times. It helps release pressure on the national grid during peak times. You can find more information in our frequently asked questions.  

If you typically have a very low daily usage, hitting the targets can be more difficult as you are already on the lower end. 

Sadly, when it comes to standing charges, we all need to pay for the upkeep of the energy infrastructure. This is similar to when a driver has to pay road tax to maintain the roads they drive on. We hope this changes one day! 

I hope this helps!

I’ve had no problems hitting all the previous Power Move targets because I understand it.

With the new shift it’s going to be so much harder for me to do it.  Yesterday I made fried chicken around 8pm and my total energy use in the peak was 39% and it took my overall peak usage for the month from 10% to 19%.

This might give insight into how to actually do the move.  Yes, it’s called Power Move.

I don’t think I’ll hit my target this month and I don’t mind and sort of feel like I’ll have a wee holiday from it.  So even though I won’t make it I’m not going to whine and moan about it because I’m doing nothing to get something for free. Because the rules aren’t what I’d ideally like I don’t feel the need to be a mewling child.

It’s early days yet. My month started badly, but I’m improving fast:
  

A big wash on Thursday morning was enough to halve the percentage. 

This Spring Power Move is kinda pointless for us. We were hiting the other ones mostly because we moved doing our washing (and drying since it’s been awful weather) from weekends to weekdays after 7pm. But due to working hours etc., no way we can move the washing to before 6pm since we’re not in, and after 9pm is too late to start a load and have it finished before bedtime. So we’re going to skip this one. The OVO reasoning of “we tend to use energy later” as we move towards warmer weather seems odd, since most people I know keep the same schedule all year round. Our working hours don’t change just because it’s getting warmer. Well, allegedly getting warmer. Not much sign of it yet.
 

I do have a question though. I remember late last year a big thing was made of if you sign up for one Power Move Challenge you’ll automatically be signed up for subsequent ones. Now we’re getting emails agin to sign up for thew challenges. What changed? And why?

Try changing the programme that you wash on.
Most modern machines have a ‘Min 30’ or simlar programme - 30 minutes at 30C -  that is quite sufficent for most loads. (Worn once or twice clothing, etc.)

It’s quicker of course, and you might be amazed at how much less electricity it uses not heating the water to a higher temperature and not doing it multiple times over a couple of hours.
Water comes in at about 20C, so it takes twice as much energy to heat it by 20 degs to 40C than it does to heat it by 10degs to 30C.

Only use the higher temperature, longer, cycles for when they are needed. Which I find is not very often at all and only for heavily soiled items.

Others have changed their washing cycle after I mentioned it here before and agree that a ‘Min 30’ wash is all that is needed for the majority of loads.
If you are sceptical then try it, if you don’t agree then you can always wash them again.

The planet, and your budget, will thank you for using less energy in the washing machine.

As far as the emails; yes I also got such an email, but yes I was signed up automatically anyway.
I think that the ‘Sign up’ emails are just sent out to Smart Metered customers whether they are signed up already or not.