Is Power Move worth the effort - time to look elsewhere for a deal?

I’m totally on the same wavelength as yourself. The target is nigh on impossible to achieve for a medium or low user.  I was keeping my loyalty with Ovo but now with others offering 3% below cap fixes and a rather nice “agile” tariff from a company with eight legs, todays news I have failed on this target (despite shifting everything) has led me onto a journe of discovering other tariffs.  

I’m wondering if you don’t understand the scheme? 
 

if you went away for a month and only had the freezer running, then every hour, you would be using (about) the same amount of energy… so during the three hour power move period (4-7pm) you would be using 3/24th of your energy for the day. That’s 12.5% so over the target. 

what you need to do to be under the target is to use power before and after the period so your use during the period is below the target. 
 

I have consistently achieved the target every month since they started the scheme - I work from home, but honestly it’s not much different from when I was commuting. I just don’t use plug in timers anymore.
 

On a ‘typical’ day I cook something in the morning that can be reheated for dinner (in winter that’s often something in the slow cooker or a slow roast, in summer I made things like quiche or pasta salad that were good cold) , and I have all of my electronics plugged into charge in the morning.

At just before 4 pm, I boil the kettle for an hot drink, unplug my laptops and finish up my workday using the battery. After work, I watch a film or two on my personal laptop using the battery. I can either have an early dinner with what’s already hot in the slow cooker at 4, or microwave it for a couple of minutes later. 
 

after dinner, I might fill the dishwasher and sort a load of laundry (depending on the forecast). at 7 pm I turn them both on so they’re done before I go to bed. Then I plug my phone laptop etc back in to charge if they’re low. 
 

This means during the period the only power I’m using is light in the room I’m in, occasionally boiling the kettle, and a couple of minutes of the microwave. I average between 8-10% 

I guess the clue is in the name. 

"Power Move"

If you don't shift move your usage from a peak period to a non peak period, you won't get a reward.

My electric usage runs at about £160 a month and my gas, about the same in the winter months.

I decided that as my usage was pretty constant, if not higher,  during the day, than the peak periods, then it wasn't worth the effort to save £15 or £20. So now I don't bother.

At least OVO still pay interest on credit balances. Not a fortune these days, but better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick, as they say.

Have to respectfully disagree. I am also retired and also a low user. I achieved the target quite comfortably three months in a row simply by switching my cooking habits to before or after peak time. For me personally, not a hardship. Many on the forum have pointed out that this is not a one size fits all scheme and for some the targets won't be achievable. 

Please don't think about "spending more in the day" simply to hit the target. This defeats the object of Power Move.

If your peak time and off peak time usage is very low to start with, it simply may be you don't use enough energy during peak time to move it around.

But this is not a cause for despair - ultimately you're not losing anything and there are many great suggestions on this and other forums on energy saving.

I’m what’s classed as a low user - I use about half the national ‘average’. My total bill for gas and electric last month was £120 and about £50 of that was electricity - so it’s worth it for me as £15 is a fairly high portion of my bill (and it’s not something I find inconvenient). 

Thank you minithedog.

Ariarnia, totally understand how it works. The month away was in isolation and I wanted to make it linked to not much use, but failed. I dud all the things you suggested and a grest deal more but never achieved target.  Got fed up of sitting in the cold! You were fortunate to be at home. I had to travel to work. You would think that retiring and using more electricity, I would get nearer !?! 

The December just gone was my best with 18%! 

Been around the block with using more power before the deadline and after and still never achieving the target. Lived as we wanted for most of the period but feel we are helping the environment by what we have done. Just think it's time to look around for better deals. We'll done you though. Kind regards

From whst I have seen, low users have benefitted.  

I haven't but steel feel I have given benefit to the environment with cut in usage overall. With all the increases in costs, my payments never changed, so in reality a decrease! Politicians way of saying it anyway. Sad I just see it as a big marketing exercise.  I wrote to OVO but never got an response , that's loyalty and care of customers for you!!

Personally, I would be very happy to see all the "it's a con" and "it's impossible" posters leave. Then we could focus on those who need a little extra help to hit the target - especially those who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. 

I agree, it’s not great to have my email inbox flooded with these threads - it jams up the pending questions and makes the other stuff harder to find...

I agree Simon. But it is not like that, wish it was. 

As a couple we do voluntary work at the local Food Bank, help at the local Jab centre. Raise money for national and local charities, plus on top of that have reduced our energy consumption and increased our recycling commitment.

If it was all positive comments on the forum, it wouldn't really be a forum! I just felt it was time to personally get something off my mind and see if others were having the same issues as me about achieving the target after trying our hardest to so.

just had my email, last month 7.85% of our usage was at peek time.  We hit the target every time.  The issue is people not understanding what power move is.  The clue is in the name power MOVE, its nothing to do with reducing your usage its all about moving that usage to off peak.  If you are a low usage customer it’ll be very difficult to shift things off peak as you won’t have much to shift and what you do have will be pretty much base load, wifi router, fridge freezer, etc and realistically you’re not going to move that without lots of pain. 

Hi Blastoise186

I thought as a forum volunteer you may have had more understanding.  If everybody just said nice things what a perfect world we all would live in. I am sorry I am bunging up your inbox today. I haven't written anything on here for over a year and just wanted to see if other folks were still having issues achieving the raised % target.

I will unsubscribe now and leave it to the do-gooders to carry on spouting on about all things nice. Thanks for listening though, even if it was with contempt. Bye

I get that (and I do a ton of volunteer stuff too), but what kinda grinds for us is that rather than using (or at least reading) existing threads, folks making these particular complaints constantly make more and more of them which becomes a never ending river.

If it was a con or a scam, it’d be deliberately impossible e.g. use 0% power during peak hours but alas 13.5% is definitely not impossible for absolutely everyone under the sun and it’s definitely not 0% either.

A lot of the complaints seem to relate to not understanding the scheme properly. And it does get a bit tedious for us when we’ve already explained it 5,000 times...

We have consistently hit the Power Move target since signing up for it in August with anywhere between 2.5 and 5%… and consider ourselves to be low users with avg monthly bills of £70.

I work from home, ensuring that I have a flask of boiling water ready for 4pm when I unplug my lap top, turn on a fully charged LED lamp and carry on working fuel-free until 5 or 6pm.

Then I leave the house, often meeting my partner as she cleans down her local cafe business. We get back home for around 7pm and so long as we use any electricity at all, we’re guaranteed to stay on track. Dinner may be food left over from the cafe, or something I’ve been slow-cooking throughout the day (until 4pm), or a previously batch-cooked meal to be micro-waved, or a takeaway….

We realise how fortunate we are to live in this way...

Hi Blastoise, a very constructive answer, and I do understand your grief. It's probably my understanding of how the forum works. Apologies there, as i have not commented on many before.  I think because my wife and I tried our hardest and changed the whole way we lived and ate to help the Power Move project. We sat in the cold, ate later, moved our washing, dishwasher on once every two days. We could not get anywhere near the target.  It was absolute frustration on seeing people hitting 2.5% and many under 10%. I could not think of any other way to get to the target. Sorry once again about me setting off another subject. Kind regards

I am too a low user always 50% - 60% lower than most households but with similar changes to Ariania I always reach the target. My electricity bill is roughly £32 per month including standing charges so £15 credit pays almost half my bill. Just wish they would start something with gas

There is no peak/off-peak gas I’m afraid, so Power Move wouldn’t work for that.

Same reason as to why Economy 7 for gas doesn’t exist.

Quick thought, make sure you put the washing machine on during the week, particularly if you have a cold water fill and are using a 40c wash or above. If you use it at the weekend it won’t help you

The closest is Octopus Tracker.

This varies the price of gas every day as the wholesale price changes. But that doesn't help much with shifting.

It has been consistently cheaper than any fixed rate or standard variable rate recently but there are no guarantees the wholesale price may spike.

These are the rates for one region as an example.

https://octotrack.co.uk/region/a-eastern-england

@GilDean . You've basically answered your own gripe. You say you've moved your washing and dishwasher to every two days. Have you actually moved the time you use them to off-peak or merely reduced the number of times you use them? Simply cutting down usage isn't going to achieve the purpose of this scheme nor is sitting in the dark which is just silly. As for having a dishwasher in the first place, does everybody these days expect technology to take over their everyday chores? Food delivered, robot vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, even robot lawn mowers. No wonder that obesity and diabetes are at the top of greatest killers. As far as I see it we will have committed voluntary suicide through being bone idle long before we need to worry about climate change!

I remember my mother doing the weekly wash in a tub using a washboard. Wringing out the washing on a mangle and drying naturally either indoors or outdoors depending on the weather. My father would cut our lawn with a manual push mower and trim the edges with a pair of shears. Both, having survived WW2 lived into their 90's. Today's couch potatoes rarely achieve 80 and thousands considerably less. Enjoy the Apps until they kill you!

Ultimately it's up to the individual how they live their life, some will contribute to the greater good, most, unfortunately are sucked in by the grotesque culture of celebrity and wealth.

That's my New Year 2024 rant! Hopefully not in vain?

errrrmmmmm apart from the FACT that people live longer now than in the 50s a statistical sample size of 2 isn’t really helpful ;o)  life expectancy in 1950 was just over 68 it is now 82 U.K. Life Expectancy 1950-2024 | MacroTrends so I’m not sure what you’re point is

£75/£85 per month you are Very lucky. Mine is £400 just for one storage heater…I have 4 of them so calculate what it would be if I had all four running. These are new Dimplex Quantum energy efficient heaters but costs an arm and a leg to run. Economy 10. Council ripped the gas out of my house in favour of these.

@IanFerguson 

Hi Ian, we changed almost everything. It made us really think about how we used not only electricity but also gas. Cooking, time in Showers, use of electrical stuff in the garden. Unfortunately my push lawn mower gave up 35 years ago. But now have a battery one so I can charge when it suits. Hoover - Battery. My parents, who are both in their mid 80’s did without a lot of things and my wife and I the same. None of this put it on the credit card, because it is our right! I went wholeheartedly into the Power Move project, understanding exactly how it works and at the same time looking at our overall usage of power. (Electricity with OVO)  I think I must fit into your first comment, that my overall power usage is low and it is quite difficult to hit the target. As to the Dishwasher, due to skin issues for both my wife and I, we have to use it. The kids left home 5 years ago, so no help there! Washing machine has much lower use due to kids not being here and is used outside of peak times. Unfortunately our scrubbing board and mangle gave up when my Grandparents threw them away in the 1960’s. (Tongue in cheek) I will continue to work towards cutting my energy and recycling everything I can. It would appear that a simple question and statement lit the touch paper and I apologise for that.

That is probably enough on this subject, as I read all the comments and not one really answered my question on how to solve my issue. We must just be low users and well done to me and the Mrs.

Your rant was not in vain, it merely confirmed that I am not a wealthy couch potato and am a valuable member of our local society.

Now where can I buy a mangle? (Tongue in cheek - some wouldn’t see it like that)

kind regards

Dean

That is such a shame the council did that to your house. £400.00 sounds really excessive. Can you not group together with your neighbours. I know I could not afford your bill on my pension. 

Thank you Jeffus for the link.