Ready for the Power Move summer challenge?

I have just crunched my data for the first six months of the year and indeed the challenge is getting harder.

The percentages relate to:

• Winter percent: The amount of my energy consumed between16:00 and 19:00 on weekdays
• Spring percent: The amount of my energy consumed between18:00 and 21:00 on weekdays.
• Summer percent: The amount of my energy consumed between18:00 and 21:00 on weekdays compared to the whole week usage.

So for June I would have achieved the best tier on the Winter and Spring challenges but only the middle tier (£5 credit) on the summer challenge.

I have been trying to use my power intense appliances at the weekends already. Would this not have been included then? What we need is a timetable making it clear as to when you really want people to use these. I find your indications very misleading 

Weekends have been excluded completely from Power Move up until now. As of yesterday, 1st July 2024 however, they are now included and considered Off-Peak all day. That’s a perfect time to use power hungry stuff.

The times to AVOID using power hungry stuff are currently 6pm to 9pm Weekdays i.e. Monday to Friday. Please note that this may change for the Autumn Challenge that’ll start in October.

Have a look at Carbon Intensity - OVO Energy. You can use the chevrons to scroll a couple of days ahead, to see when it’s best to use power-hungry gear. Pick low green columns, but steer clear of the 6-9 slot on weekdays.

I've already hit 10.75% in the challenge...was much easier than expected.

Does anyone receive a credit,I think i will have to sit in the dark

and not eat before 9pm. It looks a good scheme but not really.

Yes I did get £10 for my last bill. But this is getting tougher now. Cannot really avoid this time of the year and it is really hard. Now that the weekend is also taken it will he really hard to compete.

Yes, but I’m on economy 7 so all the heavy lifting has been done overnight since I moved here. But it is going to get tougher - so it’s essential no one frets too much about it. We all have to eat, and if early evening is the only thing that works for you and your family, then eating is more important. If you’re keen, you can batch-cook at weekends, but for many of us that doesn’t work in busy family, or they are simply not that good at planning. And it does worry me that, with the target this difficult to reach, there are people already choosing between heating and eating who will skimp on eating properly just to save money.

Yes indeed. In my case we have a electric shower where we have to use it during the time as we come home around that time and I would never let anyone to wait to have a wash after 9 cuz of this move as I have a tiny baby. It is really unavoidable. 

I've just earned my first £5 credit. I use the delay timer on my washing machine, line dry my clothes, only heat water during off-peak hours so the only power I really use during the day is TV and my fridge freezer. I also use plugs that turn everything off at the wall with a press of a button, so everything is switched off at night. Seems to be working.

Tiny baby comes first - always. If you are struggling I hope you have someone to help you. These are precious times.

I’ve got a middle/low reward every month since January purely by charging my PHEV outside peak - Despite the inclusion of weekends I think the new lower target will be harder unless we actually move some washing to the weekend.  We haven’t moved anything so far so I guess maybe OVO have worked that out!

Consider this an… Incentive to do more stuff at weekends! :D

But don’t forget that ALL weekend usage counts as Off-Peak too, not just heavy stuff. So that actually makes it a bit easier to hit the targets because you can do whatever you want for the entire day and not worry about timeslots.

I’ve got the top tier for every target with the help of the off peak usage tool that’s on the forum.  At the end of this month I was just over but worked out if if I had baked potatoes in the electric oven and did a washload that would get me into the top tier and I hit it with 10.96%.

Thinking of having July off because Power Move is a bit of a drag. 

Switching off a night might actually make it harder to meet the target as it reduces your total consumption so makes the % harder to achieve.  Power Move is a reward for moving consumption, not reducing it.

I appreciate that OVO do not HAVE to offer anything - but whereas before I would make a real effort as it was within reach - this feels like I have to go to bed at 6pm! 
 

Based on last month’s usage, I can use 11kw over 69 hours that are counting as Peak. 0.16kw per peak hour. My 24 hour average including being asleep is 0.25kw per hour

So, I guess I stay opted in but would rather live my life without the mental load

Actually, you don’t have to do that. I stay up late and do stuff even during the Peak hours and still hit targets. You just have to move HEAVY usage around, not literally everything!

I thought that this round on Power Move was to include Saturday and Sunday's as well as M - F !!!!  Could swear I read that in the introduction letter on the 1st of July (or around there).  Did anybody else see this as well ????  Mike 😵

Hi @Mike Hansen ,

Power Move now operates on Weekends as well - but NOT Bank Holidays. For the purposes of Power Move, Weekends are defined as being from 00:01 on Saturday through until 23:59 on Sunday. ALL usage during these times is considered to be Off-Peak even if you use it in the 6pm to 9pm slot. Take advantage of this to do whatever heavy stuff you need to do as it’ll help with your targets.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Mike

Hello OVO - just received my Power Move credit for August - very speedy work.

I was expecting the full £10 and received £5 and my calculations have me at around 6.13%for August. 
 

The only way I could be very slightly over 6.5% if if you included Mon 26th August use - I was under the impression as an English Bank Holiday this use was still exempt. 

You may wish to check you exempted this days use per FAQS Q19.

Regards Andy 
 

Hey @Coldspur Andy, 

I asked the team, and they advised that there was a calculation issue with your bank holiday. It’s now been resolved, and the credit has been applied. 

I thought I’d check in to ensure this was the case. 😊

All now resolved thanks Chris  - I had an online chat with Sarah yesterday who was very helpful.

regards Andy 

Hey @Coldspur Andy, 

Great to hear that and Sarah got things sorted! 

If you need anything else just reach out anytime 😊

During the time I have been on power move I have only ever reached the so called target usage. Even though I use no washing machine or dryer  and only watch tv when home during the 6pm and 9pm period . Yet I have changed nothing but no longer meet there monthly usage. I just don't understand it at all.  They also change times to between 4pm and 7pm as well with out notifications of thie time changes.