OVO has paid customers over £808,000 for shifting their electricity usage out of peak times over the past year.
So far, customers have collectively shifted more than 756,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity out of the peak hours of 4pm to 7pm when the grid is more heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
This shift is said to have helped avoid 64.6 tonnes of carbon, which is roughly equivalent to boiling the kettle 3.6 million times.
But savings haven’t just been for the environment. In the last month alone, Power advance, OVO’s year-round reward scheme, and Power advance Plus, OVO’s DFS initiative, have collectively rewarded more than 77,500 customers over £463,000.
The highest individual saving for Power advance Plus was £28.14, with the top five percent earning an average of £7.13 so far.
The Power advance winter challenge rewards customers £15 a month for using 13.5 percent or less of their electricity during the peak hours of 4pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday.
This is roughly equivalent to an average household moving three dishwasher loads, or four loads of washing each week from peak to off-peak times.
Power advance Plus, OVO’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) scheme which launched in November, alerts customers to shift usage during DFS-triggered events to slash energy bills even more this winter for helping to balance the grid.
OVO customer, Graham Felton, 68, who lives in a four-bedroom 1970s detached bungalow in Burnely earned a total of £160.16 for shifting his electricity usage out of peak times over the past year. He earned £25.07 through OVO’s Power advance Plus scheme so far.
Mr Felton said: “I signed up to Power advance Plus to save a bit of money and to be a part of something bigger.
“I’ve earned about £25, which is a good saving for a very small behaviour change that didn’t inconvenience me at all.
“We have an electric infrared heating system so whenever there’s an event, we turn the thermostats down and that saves us enough electricity to hit the target. We also avoid cooking during the events but that’s about it.”
Mat Moakes, chief commercial officer at OVO, said: “Our customers are collectively saving hundreds of thousands of pounds and cutting carbon by shifting their electricity usage out of peak times.
“To really make a dent in bills, cut carbon and balance the grid, we need to reward long-term behaviour changes.
“Power advance maximises rewards and runs all year round, on top of the DFS scheme, to incentivise people to shift electricity use out of peak energy times. Consistent, collective action will make the biggest impact overall.”
To be eligible to combine an OVO scheme, customers typically need to have a working smart meter and opt into half-hourly readings, as well as an active email address.
To find out more and check eligibility for signing up, people can visit the OVO Power advance page or the Power advance Plus page.
Those who aren’t customers of OVO will be pleased to hear a number of other energy providers will be joining the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) to help customers save on bills. For the full list of providers who have joined the scheme, click here.
