Updated on 23/01/25 by Abby_OVO
We love seeing the innovative ways our customers are using tech to help monitor and manage their energy usage. It’s inspiring us to think about ways to do energy differently. We know some customers have been using some of the application programming interface (APIs) behind our public facing services. While we’re OK with that, we do need to make you aware of a couple of things.
These APIs are designed to be used by OVO teams only, and aren't public facing. There are some downsides to using APIs that aren't for the public, and we wanted to let you know what these are. Behind the scenes, OVO uses APIs to share and update information between systems that power your bills and your online account. This is done in partnership with Kaluza, the tech company that’s part of the OVO family. They’ve built the billing platform designed to put our customers in the driving seat of their energy usage.
These internal APIs are intended for use by Kaluza and its clients, who are energy retailers like OVO, rather than customers. Because of this, there’s no support for them being used anywhere else, which means they may be discontinued with no notice when we update our products and services.
OVO Energy and Kaluza need to be able to monitor these APIs, and may block access if there's any problems in the future.
We know some customers may have put time and effort into developing solutions that use these API. So, now that you know the risks, we want to hear from you on how you’re using the APIs and the problems you’re solving with your DIY approach.
Is there anything you’d like to see from OVO to help you monitor and manage your energy better? Leave a comment below to tell us.
Blastoise186 wrote:
The Hildebrand Glow IHD from https://shop.glowmarkt.com combined with the Hildebrand Bright app is probably going to be your best bet. It’ll give you the API access you’re after as well as local MQTT data if you desire it.
Direct API access via OVO is something that’s still on the cards though, but it’s a bit of a lower priority right now.
davidgray wrote:
Did a bit of research and I found out I have a smart meter generation 1, which is collecting data every 30 mins, however there is no visual display or any way to plug in a device such as Hildebrand as you suggested. I spoke to OVO and they said that they will only replace/upgrade as and when the Gen 1 devices are broken.
So it looks as if I cannot plug anything in to my current setup which would allow me API access, and OVO do not provide an API or the ability to download data :-(
Not sure I can do much else unless and suppliers are offering to give latest generation meters with a switch…
Blastoise186 wrote:
The Glow IHD doesn’t need to be plugged in as it’s wireless. If you’re still unsure, contact Hildebrand directly via support@glowmarkt.com and they can advice whether the Glow IHD will work for you or not.
If it will work, Hildebrand have ways to pair it without needing to get OVO involved.
Stand by @davidgray things may get a bit techy!
So it sounds like your smart meter is happily sending readings to the DCC?
If you can see your data in the Glowmarkt ‘Bright’ app then things are looking up.
Go to their tariff comparison prototype website:
http://www.smarttariffsmartcomparison.org/home
Log in with your Bright username and password. On the results screen there is a csv button to download your data.
If you open this in Excel you should get a looooong list of timestamps and your usage in Wh for each time interval.
Use the formula =CONVERT(A2,"msec","day")+DATE(1970,1,1) to convert the timestamp and change the format of this cell to custom and use dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm or similar for it to make sense. That should give you the last 13 months of stored 30 minute usage data.
Have fun!