Let me give you a really simple example of how my smart meter is saving me money and also reducing CO2 emissions.

Because I have a smart meter I'm able to have a tariff that varies the price during the day. When electricity use across the country is highest, in the early evening, I pay more and when it's lowest I pay less. By shifting my use away from the expensive period I save money

The peak times are when there is more generation from fossil fuels (in general... it isn't exact). By reducing my electricity use in peak times I reduce my CO2 emissions.

My tariff is really basic. There are more complex tariffs that change the price every half hour.

You haven’t addressed a single issue.

Sorry, but your reply is self-evident.

Think: you are one user. The community is based on SEVERAL users, where several are hundreds of thousands, millions, I don’t know, ask OVO, they have the answer.

If we all shifted electricity use away from the expensive period, then the grid will suffer a surge in the window that was formerly the greenest, needing a surplus backed up by fossil fuels, or “whatever is nearest to you at the time.” But using dynamic prices and a demand constantly under the lens, the provider could scramble tariffs and eventually better speculate.

So, to me that’s just a fool. You can’t limit the freedom of doing whatever you want whenever you want at your place.

Again, my suggestions are listed above, that’s a good starting point. That’s focused on the community.

The challenges, the path to zero, the million trees...fool’s gold.

The name’s 186… Blastoise186… I am one of the most active users of this community. In fact, some might say I am THE most active user here.

You are correct. There’s tens of thousands of users on this forum. In actual fact, you are the 47,959th user to join this community forum since it launched. I do not need to be OVO to tell you that fact, I just happen to know the forum provider extremely well.

You’ll be surprised how many people actually did shift usage over winter, the Demand Flexibility Scheme run by the National Grid was a huge success in preventing blackouts and other shortages. There are rules of course too, so I assert that suppliers can’t do what you claim - i.e. they’re effectively banned from just scrambling tariffs and speculating. And even if they weren’t, screwing over your customers with a foolish move like that is a sure-fire way to rapidly drain your entire customer book to zero.

So, can I buy my kWh now? What’s the offer?

Yep! You always have had that available. You’ll always know it based on the Tariff Information Label. Need another option? Easy! https://plans.ovoenergy.com . Done.

Can I see the price of a standing charge for the rest of the year?

Again, TIL has it, as does your contract and every bill. You can’t speculate future prices though and no-one has psychic powers, so no you can’t predict the future.

Can I buy kWh from my neighbour?

Sure! If you set up a private arrangement between yourselves. :)

Can I sell the kWh I have bought to a higher price or top up my neighbours that can’t earn enough money?

There’s ways of doing it if you know how and have the right kit. Except… You’re not allowed to make a profit off of it. Sooooo… Probably not worth it.

Can we know if you guys went short in the gamble and now you don’t know where to get the green extra bit for topping up the Teslas?

That’s not how it works. Besides… you can always get solar panels or battery storage. Tesla does that Powerwall thing, so you could just suck up loads of super green eco-juice when the sun shines and use that during times when there’s less green go-juice on the grid.

Now every company Ryanair-like minded makes reward plans, cash-backs,...: it’s something you can do to your dog that learned to retrieve the stick.

Really? I’ve yet to see Ryanair enter the energy market and I doubt any supplier would try such tricks. And besides, my super smart Border Collie X Labrador managed to learn various tricks and commands that he could do easily, but few other dogs ever could. Doesn’t make him more special than other dogs.

Mind you… Still not as impressive as the Border Collie X Labrador that my parents once had. He used to pick up entire telegraph poles and run with them...

Rather: provide consumption thresholds and let me make the gamble. If I go short, next tariff is cheaper; if I go long, next tariff will be more expensive, or I can pay a forfait and avoid being thrown on a more expensive tariff.

That’s luck of the draw and how the dice roll mate. And it’s been that way for decades. Ain’t gonna change anytime soon.

Provide a fixed tariff plan with dates, with no exit fee;  you guys have a budget right?, we do have a budget as well, why should we pay your wrong budgeting? 

Those are coming back slowly, now that gas prices aren’t insanely high all the time.

We’ve already answered basically all your other questions. You can find them on other threads as I don’t feel like typing them out at 11PM at night.