Is there an Australian OVO forum group on here?

First time poster here (having just joined the Ovo family for our electricity supply), we are shortly to have our solar replaced (thank you QLD hail!) and I’m wondering about adding a battery to reduce power costs over the long term. However I’m trying to get my head around the “no more power bills” chant that so many quote. I mean, does everyone who has battery storage not connect to the grid at all, or if they do, surely the power companies still charge a daily fee just to be connected? Do these power companies have dedicated “solar with batteries” plans and I presume you can send excess generated power back to the grid with an FIT? I also read that some battery set-ups can send power back to the grid at night too (to be topped back up through the solar through the day). Is that true for all battery systems?

Lots of questions, but thanks in advance!

Sorry ​@Mikeymike0710 but no. This is a forum set up and used by OVO UK and so as you say, answers are somewhat difficult for Australian users. The forum is open to all but when related to country specific issues, there might be significant differences.
I don’t know if you’ve tried something like the DIY Solar Power Forum … that’s more global

I didn't ‘t know that OVO is also in Australia. For some reason, non of the British sources mentions it. But if you ask google about it, it refers Australian customers to the main OVO Energy Forum [see screenshot].

One question that is not relevant to the topic, why Australian OVO can pay interests to the credit on the customer account, but the UK one couldn’t? 

I doesn't stop you asking any questions though. I'm sure we have users of this forum who are Australians living over here who may be able to help. Asking the question costs nothing but I agree with ​@BPLightlog we are primarily UK based but you never know who might see the question.

The other thing is Google has it's web crawlers and your question would end up on there as well. Many a time I've tried to research a question posed on here and seen the very same question on Google (other search engines are available) pointing me back to the OVO forum. Spin the wheel of fortune!

Peter

The other thing to know is that while we’ll still try to answer questions if we can, we can’t guarantee they’ll be 100% relevant/accurate for you if you’re outside the UK. But we’ll always let you know if that’s the case and if we’re able to, at least try to point you in the right direction

One question that is not relevant to the topic, why Australian OVO can pay interests to the credit on the customer account, but the UK one couldn’t?

We used to have that feature here in the UK as well. OVO Interest Reward was turned off in the UK in 2022 at the request of the regulator Ofgem (whose remit obviously doesn’t cover Australia). It remains active down under because the rules are different down there.

costeek wrote:

I didn't ‘t know that OVO is also in Australia. For some reason, non of the British sources mentions it. But if you ask google about it, it refers Australian customers to the main OVO Energy Forum [see screenshot].

…

There is a link from the main website 

and given the AI Google response, that just shows that it’s not the best for accurate information

Looks like the 2.0 models pick up on the mistake if you challenge it

I used Google search engine by typing in my question, as in the old good days. It generates AI response without any request. So, I showed how people time by time come here with the same question regarding Australian OVO Energy Forum. So, I assume, it would be good for the forum to place some kind of information which would be related to the Australian customers. It seems that there is some request for that. Also, with “there is the link” would be helpful to put the actual link.

Yeah, it’s a tricky one really! We get folks from Australia stopping by from time to time, maybe around once every six months or so? The biggest complication is that while both OVO UK and OVO AU are definitely part of the same OVO Group, they have to run things in a massively different way - and on totally different time zones!

We’re mostly equipped for OVO UK here (and that’s also the one which “owns” the Forum) and the way things work in other countries is often pretty different compared to the UK. One of the biggest challenges I can think of, would be the extra workload of figuring out how to handle the split between the two sides - and also how to run the show when someone comes here to ask a question about the other OVO that’s currently asleep.

If we get more folks stopping by, I might think about raising the discussion further in terms of what we can do as Forum Volunteers but at the moment we don’t seem to get many of our Australian friends stopping by so we tend to handle them on a case-by-case basis.

I’ve only seen a couple of requests from OZ over several years

I actually said “there is a link” in response to your suggestion that British sources don’t mention OVO Australia

Sorry if the image isn’t clear enough for you 

If there is any Energy Forum in Australia? Doesn’t have to be related to OVO. The place where people discuss energy related questions which are specifically for Australia. 

Seeing that OVO is slowly expanding to other countries, I could guess the number of visitors from outside of the UK would grow. 

Not one that I know of, but it could be that some form of one exists on social media platforms (which I don’t monitor).

Personally… My suspicion is that if OVO AU was to have a Forum like this one, it’d probably be on a dedicated instance so that things don’t get tangled up as much. IIRC they already use Zendesk Suite so they could probably just turn on the Forum functionality.

BPLightlog wrote:

costeek wrote:

…

So, I assume, it would be good for the forum to place some kind of information which would be related to the Australian customers.

I’ve only seen a couple of requests from OZ over several years

costeek wrote:

 Also, with “there is the link” would be helpful to put the actual link.

I actually said “there is a link” 

Sorry if the image isn’t clear enough for you 

 

Not funny. Customer friendly approach would include the actual link. It is ways easier than creating an image with the giant arrows. 

I’ve no idea what a link to the OVO Australia website would help with ..

I was merely commenting on your suggestion that British sources don’t mention it 

I don't want to add fuel to the fire here but I thought that ​@BPLightlog  ‘s big yellow arrow was actually humourous in a way in that it reminded me that I had seen that link before but forgotten that it was there. I think it's related to the fact that I'm not on the app so much since I defected but I still use it to check my relative's power consumption to see that she is ok.

Morning everyone, 

Just to add to the conversation that a lot of our content, community members experience and specialisation is within the UK and the energy infrastructure. There’s a risk that anyone from outside the UK coming to our Forum could receive the wrong advice leading to issues that could’ve been mitigated.