Power Flex Move trial now seems to be testing how little notice can be given of events. Am I the only one who received less than two hours notice of events yesterday and today ?
Solved
Short Notice of Power Move Flex Events
Best answer by Chris_OVO
Updated on 21/01/26 by Chris_OVO
Over the 18 months, Power Move Flex (as part of CrowdFlex) has shifted 864,700 kWh's and paid out over £1.02 million in bill credits.
We've had over 100,000 customers take part over the 3 trials in which Power Move Flex helped match the demand to the power being generated. So homed used cleaner, greener energy.
The trials were aimed at understanding how households can contribute to a greener electricity grid. The learnings we gathered from being part of these trials will be essential for the Electricity System Operator to plan for the future of the electricity grid, and how our customers can play a role in this. Together we've been making energy better for people and the planet.
Our current trials are now closed, and we'd like to thank our users for their participation.
You can find more information Power Move can be found here:
Morning
I asked Ash from Power Move Flex about the recent events and he said “The last 2 days we've had events with 2 hours notice, this is correct and part of the trial, and learning based on time, reward value etc”.
How do you feel about the short notice? as we’re still trialing, any feedback you give us goes a long way in shaping how it looks in the future.
yeah same here - less than 2 hours notice. I get there’s probably a reason behind it but it is such a shame, because with a bit more notice and time to plan, we could make more of a useful difference.
Think so, I got told :
Power down For 1 hour between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM on 18 December.
Power down For 1 hour between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM on 19 December.
+7- Super User
Yup, I got one for 2024-12-19 17:00 to 2024-12-19 18:00 at 2024-12-19 15:11. I missed it, but I had a little nap from 16:00 for a couple of hours with not much going on meanwhile, so who knows? Even if any reward isn’t significant, adding a brownie point to the number of successful challenges might pay off.
Yes, I think it’s quite likely that they’re testing whether people can react at really short notice. They’d have to if a bunch of terrorists blew up a pylon or two, after all. We may all have to get used to the idea ...
I don't think your rather dramatic scenario could be fixed by everyone delaying their evening meals by an hour !
+7- Super User
Well, with terrorists like Darragh cropping up with increased frequency, you could imagine a scenario where a felled pylon could, instead of blacking out half of Wales, only affect a smaller area because National Grid were able to shuffle supply around a bit by persuading some customers to demand less power than usual. Who knows?
+4Updated on 21/01/26 by Chris_OVO
Over the 18 months, Power Move Flex (as part of CrowdFlex) has shifted 864,700 kWh's and paid out over £1.02 million in bill credits.
We've had over 100,000 customers take part over the 3 trials in which Power Move Flex helped match the demand to the power being generated. So homed used cleaner, greener energy.
The trials were aimed at understanding how households can contribute to a greener electricity grid. The learnings we gathered from being part of these trials will be essential for the Electricity System Operator to plan for the future of the electricity grid, and how our customers can play a role in this. Together we've been making energy better for people and the planet.
Our current trials are now closed, and we'd like to thank our users for their participation.
You can find more information Power Move can be found here:
Morning
I asked Ash from Power Move Flex about the recent events and he said “The last 2 days we've had events with 2 hours notice, this is correct and part of the trial, and learning based on time, reward value etc”.
How do you feel about the short notice? as we’re still trialing, any feedback you give us goes a long way in shaping how it looks in the future.
For me, two hours is too short, particularly at meal times, but that is only because of my personal circumstances.
More generally, I think it might cause many to miss the event as they don’t see the e-mail in time.
For me, the shorter the notice the more it’s just luck that I take part - luck that I’ve seen the notice, luck that I can flex. With more notice I can factor that in my day and to plan / organise ready to Flex my Elec up or down.
I don't personally like short notice because I feel I don't get chance to make a useful difference to consumption without the time to organise my Elec use but I get that as a trial, it needs to be known what happens with short notice eg power distribution issues / failures etc And, as a trial just my taking part is useful :)
I guess also a lot depends on numbers of participants. If Flexing becomes a way of life for all, then with 28 million households it probably wont matter if some miss the notice.
Two hours notice is way too little, I don’t have the time to sit and monitor my emails constantly therefore by the time I see the notification either the event is already over or I’ve already used the appliances that day so I can’t participate.
The timing is too short and doesn’t take into account people’s lifestyles. Emails come in about 7am or 8am. Unless I am wfh it’s not enough notice (assuming I ever see them in time).
Why can't we have more notice of upcoming Power Ups? I just now - 1730 hrs - received notice of this evening's. Had I known this morning, there are several activities I could have saved until then, but now they are done.
+8- Super User
IIRC it’s currently decided by National Grid rather than OVO due to the CrowdFlex Project.
OVO can’t change it until at least after the end of the current project that powers PMF.
I know what you mean sometimes you get notice early of these events. and other times you don’t. l can’t always opt in for these events. sometimes l am work.
I would suggest here just set a reminder in your favourite App or an alarm on your phone as a reminder. The power move flex events are usually short notice so this would be the easiest way to remind yourself of a forthcoming event.
I didn't even see the notification until the next day! I am finding it almost impossible to fit in with these events
+8- Super User
It's a National Grid trial to see how people manage with different response times. It enables them to work out the Demand Side Flexibilty for a grid that has more renewables than it has ever had before. DSF is a key component to Net Zero targets. Here's a peek into what is going on in the background.
Peter
+8It would be useful if the National Grid could get together with our electricity suppliers and develop an app for this. It could send notifications, then more people (including me!) could see an event was coming up. I don’t read my emails frequently enough throughout the day either and I missed a half price Octopus event for charging the car last Sunday night. Read the email Monday morning 🤦🏼♀️
+4What model of phone do you have
+4Thanks for your insight here
+8- Super User
Also, you have to use the free kWh within an hour meaning that the load has to be at least one kW or half an hour for a 2kW load etc. The problem there is if you switch on the oven it takes about 2.5kW for about 10-15 minutes depending on the temperature and then switches on and off intermittently. How on earth are you supposed to work out what's been used unless you have a 1kW electric heater running for an hour.
Given the size of the reward I don't think people know how they benefit from this and will probably get tired of trying to make the effort. Something that the NESO are currently finding out and it's the same in other countries.
Peter
+8Last year Octopus sent Updates via WhatsApp to say there were Saving Sessions that day. I think I was able to use one of them. From my point of view it’s not about the financial reward so much as helping balance the grid. I could get the vacuum cleaner going at short notice (if I was at home).
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