Interesting 2-hour change of the time period to 6pm-9pm. Due to the lighter and warmer evenings and/or the switch to BST perhaps? Although whether it’s GMT or BST people will still be coming home from school/work at the same times as during winter so you would generally expect the ‘peak times’ to remain the same.
I also note that the maximum reward has been reduced to £10. Maybe too many were achieving the £15 rewards?
PS. My browser security settings (and one of my adblockers) still block that Power Move page in the online portal. If yours does the same then temporarily change your browser/adblocker settings, or try a different browser or the OVO phone app.
For the techies among us it’s blocking cdn.optimizely.com that causes the issue with the Power Move section and various other sections on the portal - allow that through the blocks and the Power Move and other sections display as they should. For example this is it allowed through on the OVO portal (only) in my Malwarebytes Browser Guard.
@Crisse2004 you are welcome. Thought I would post as last year I didn't find out about it until it was nearly over, I don't understand why OVO doesn't send out an email giving us the information.
Interesting 2-hour change of the time period to 6pm-9pm. Due to the lighter and warmer evenings and/or the switch to BST perhaps? Although whether it’s GMT or BST people will still be coming home from school/work at the same times as during winter so you would generally expect the ‘peak times’ to remain the same.
I also note that the maximum reward has been reduced to £10. Maybe too many were achieving the £15 rewards?
PS. My browser security settings (and one of my adblockers) still block that Power Move page in the online portal. If yours does the same then temporarily change your browser/adblocker settings, or try a different browser or the OVO phone app.
For the techies among us it’s blocking cdn.optimizely.com that causes the issue with the Power Move section and various other sections on the portal - allow that through the blocks and the Power Move and other sections display as they should. For example this is it allowed through on the OVO portal (only) in my Malwarebytes Browser Guard.
Possibly another reason for the change is a significant amount of solar generation coming up in the 4-6pm period offsetting the high demand at that time. Whilst that won't be true on cloudy days the 6-9 pm slot has probably been identified as the time when the most power will be demanded from conventional generation.
Reducing my yearly fossil fuel usage with an EV (-900 litres petrol saving about £950/year), A2AHP (-8,700 kWh gas, cost neutral) and Timed Immersion heater (-1,500 kWh gas, £20/year more expensive but reducing as the gas price goes up)
It's like every 3 months they're making it harder and harder to achieve / give a worthwhile reward. 6-9pm makes it pretty unworkable for us. With our working hours etc., it basically means waiting until after 9pm to have our tea. 7pm was OK but 9pm? No chance. Same with the washing etc. Putting that on at 7pm is doable but 9pm means only getting one load done before bed. And all the effort for a potential £10? Doesn't seem worth it does it?
I'd try one of the other smart meter apps' usage reduction schemes but my electric meter STILL isn't sending data to the DCC even though it's sending data to OVO. So I can't use any other app anyway. Probably can't even switch suppliers if I wanted to.
OR you can move to Octopus Tracker and save an absolute fortune (I worked out based on my smart data I would have saved £200 since Jan by not being with Ovo) for zero effort vs trying madly to get a tenner back by shifting power use and failing horribly since having kids means moving dinner time is a challenge if you want to have a kitchen left!
I guess the reduction in reward follows the reduction in profit caused by lowering of the price cap from April 1st. I for one won't be joining the latest scheme even though my personal circumstances make it easily achievable. £10 a month won't even cover the standing charge anymore and my state pension increase of almost £85 a month will almost pay my whole dual fuel bill - God bless the "triple lock"!