Power Move vs Economy 7

Exactly my point! Economy 7 was designed in something like the 1980’s (don’t quote me on the dates please!) for a purpose where it was vital back then. In more recent times, E7’s original purpose has faded somewhat and it’s more often used for other purposes. In some cases, having E7 is basically mandatory.

If you mess up, the penalty is that it’ll cost you an absolute fortune.

OVO Power Move is a COMPLETELY OPTIONAL scheme that encourages folks to move power usage away from the 4pm to 7pm peak and try to spread the load around the day more evenly.

If you mess up, nothing happens other than not getting the reward. And if you deliberately ignore the challenges, again, nothing bad happens to you - you just don’t reap the rewards.

And yeah, obviously don’t go milking or gaming the system. OVO can just as easily implement Anti-Cheat protection to punish cheaters by revoking their rewards.

And if trying to outsmart the initiative by simply using more during off peak, end up paying for energy which is not required .. not sure that is worth the credit offered 

That too should serve as a powerful Anti-Cheat by itself. But if OVO decided to implement their own Anti-Cheat measures as well, I’d definitely be OK with that.

If I am not mistaken the aim of Power Move is simply to get people to use less power between 4pm and  7pm when the grid is under pressure. 

It has nothing to do with Green energy.

So if people only used their ovens and microwaves for cooking during these hours plus unavoidable uses likwe freezers/lights, etc that should do it.  The point about Economy 7 is that users should be properly incentivised to use as many appliances at night when the grid has capacity.

We need cheaper rates from OFGEM (Standing Charges) and Energy companies (directed by Government) to encourage all users, not just those with Storage Heaters to use Economy 7. Then the new revamped Economy 7 need to be promoted and maybe also with a version for EV charging too (similar to Storage Heaters).

I think Power Move is a poor strategy and it is open to gaming (Fraud???)

I am not holding my breath………!

What they should do is, as you say make the economy 7 cheaper all day, or at least the same as the usual cost.  I run dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer (when I can't air dry) overnight. When the kids were here, it probably was more econimical than standard tariff. But as you say, I can't move much else so I'll probably stop the dual tariff. With no incentive to use these over night, why should I do the more complicated night time.  When the trial ran, I didn't see how I could get below 18 percent.... Very possibly below 15 but no where near this target

During that period, any incremental demand has largely to be met by burning fossil fuels. Moving demand to other hours of the day would allow at least some of it to be covered by greener sources, thus reducing carbon emissions. Last winter, coal-fired power stations had sometimes to be taken out of mothballs to meet peak demand.

This also highlights a different aspect of your E7 argument: in the winter, when storage heaters are being charged up at night by cheaper E7 electricity, there’s no solar power to help out. That’s probably not a big problem at the moment, but it could become one if much more demand - EV charging, for example - were shifted to the wee small hours.

Actually we have been using coal as a supplement recently, exactly as there is need to increase generation. One of the most polluting fuels. 

Hey @SteveCoach,

You’ve sparked a very interesting debate here! 

I have to say, I personally think power move is a really great scheme. To find out more about how using energy when the grid is greenest can reduce environmental impact why not head to our FAQ page:

If you did want to try out Power Move first hand and give your feedback, you can head to the website.