If you’re an Ecodan heat pump owner there’s a new tariff option worth exploring. The tariff, available through OVO Energy, could lower the cost of powering your heat pump to 15p per kWh.

To take advantage of this, you need to:

• Be an OVO customer (you can switch if you’re not already
• Have a smart meter
• Own a Mitsubishi Electric Ecodan (from 2015 onwards)
• • Ensure your system is connected to MELCloud via Wi-Fi

If you meet these conditions, the Heat Pump Plus tariff can be added to any existing OVO tariff. For more information and to check eligibility, you can visit the Mitsubishi website.

Hmm.

Thanks for the heads-up, @editor. I'm definitely happy you're keeping us up to date with what's going on.

Regarding the actual offer, I'm a lot less happy. Without having done the sums I'd wager it's approximately competitive with Octopus' offerings for anyone without a battery, solar PV and/or EV charger. However, it's only discounting on the actual consumption of the ASHP and even then only discounting to a level I'm achieving as an average for my import in total. And in order to gain access to that "discount", the consumer has to provide OVO with access to their Melcloud data. It's like nectar points in another set of clothes.

To my mind, it's a bad deal. There are other energy providers who provide tariffs allowing people to get commensurate or better savings in more flexible ways without having to give away more personal data. 

@majordennisbloodnok I know the Octopus Cosy rates are going up on the 1st October but even then, my usage will all come at the cheapest tariff thanks to storage capabilities. Every electron I use will come at the published rates - not just what is required for the heat pump to run.

Yes, I know I have the better option over TOU tariff choice and can thus work at the cheapest times only, but OVO will still be charging their ASHP equipped customers the higher tariff at all times for the rest of their domestic consumption; doesn’t sound like a very good deal to me! And what is the potential value of all that data harvesting?

Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @toodles

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Yes, I know I have the better option over TOU tariff choice and can thus work at the cheapest times only, but OVO will still be charging their ASHP equipped customers the higher tariff at all times for the rest of their domestic consumption; doesn’t sound like a very good deal to me! And what is the potential value of all that data harvesting?

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@editor, I've just realised another response emoji I'd like to suggest - a hammer and nail to say (surprise, surprise) "You've hit the nail on the head".

Hang on a mo.... it isn't actually giving you leccy for your heat pump at 15p/kWh it is telling you that you will be compensated by £229.20 for what they deem your heat pump will use i.e. 3664 kWh annually.

Not quite  the same as "The tariff, available through OVO Energy, could lower the cost of powering your heat pump to 15p per kWh."

@abernyte The power of the word ‘could’! On the other hand … if your annual heat pump consumption is for arguments sake 5 or 6 MWh, looks like you will be paying through the nostrils! Rewards? Toodles.

Posted by: @abernyte

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Hang on a mo.... it isn't actually giving you leccy for your heat pump at 15p/kWh it is telling you that you will be compensated by £229.20 for what they deem your heat pump will use i.e. 3664 kWh annually.

Not quite  the same as "The tariff, available through OVO Energy, could lower the cost of powering your heat pump to 15p per kWh."

If you follow the link to the Mitsi site and then follow their link to the actual OVO site, you find it's actually being marketed as a "tariff addon". In other words, so far as I can see, you are on one of their tariffs with all its foibles and any kWh they see in the Melcloud data that your heat pump claims to have used will have their unit price reduced to 15p. OVO will work out what they've "overcharged" you for those kWh and reimburse you to that amount.

To my mind, that means the biggest "savers" in all this are going to be those on the most overcharging current tariff. You might save £229 per year compared with the current OVO standard variable tariff but is that a good tariff for you otherwise? Oh, and don't forget that if you have a peak/cheap rate tariff (32p ish peak, 16.8p ish night) then in the winter during the night (when your ASHP is most likely to be running and when it's coldest) you're only going to be reimbursed 1.8p per kWh used. Hmm.

I can't shake the feeling that the Emperor's clothes might still keep you warmer than running your ASHP in an affordable way with this tariff.

@majordennisbloodnok Seems to be another marketing opportunity whereby those who ‘take advantage’ of this scheme will be willingly parting with more of their money whilst supposedly feeling that they are making substantial savings! Bl**dy marketeers! Toodles.

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

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I've just realised another response emoji I'd like to suggest - a hammer and nail to say (surprise, surprise) "You've hit the nail on the head".

I looked into it today. There's no hammer and nail emoji, not on my collection anyway. So I've added one to today that's "Bang on" which kind of delvers the same sentiment

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

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in order to gain access to that "discount", the consumer has to provide OVO with access to their Melcloud data.

I think this is OVO preparing to become a Demand Side Response Service Provider (DSRSP) within the proposals in this year's DESNZ Public Consultation Delivering a Smart & Secure Electricity System. (The consultation is now closed).

Within the explanatory document on Energy Smart Appliances (ESAs), Question-12 asks

Do you agree with the proposal that electric heating appliances within the scope
of the mandate must provide two-way communication in order to receive and act
upon direct control signals, and to send signals on the device status?

To offer an attractive DSR service to potential customers in future, OVO would need to glean data which it can analyse.

Unlike Octopus, they haven't been able to gather data from customers across a variety of ToU tariffs.
So they have some rapid catching-up to do.

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok

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in the winter during the night (when your ASHP is most likely to be running and when it's coldest) you're only going to be reimbursed 1.8p per kWh used.

It's commonly the case that OVO release 'packages' which don't offer adequate savings for those on a new 'scheme' or 'trial'.
However, they respond pretty quickly to change the levels of financial incentives once they start receiving feedback.

For example, their spectacular trial of a V2G charger across 440 Nissan Leaf owners gave participants an account credit which was so low that it didn't even cover the inefficiencies of storing electricity within the car's battery and then feeding it back to the grid later.

The amount to be credited was increased 6-fold as a consequence of feedback from V2G trial sites.

That makes it difficult for us to assess the viability of this OVO joint-offer with Mitsubishi as it currently stands.

Posted by: @transparent

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That makes it difficult for us to assess the viability of this OVO joint-offer with Mitsubishi as it currently stands.

I understand your argument, @transparent, but I believe it still gives me a good assessment of the company making the offer. I saw an obvious inconsistency after only a short period of contemplation so it should have been blindingly obvious to a marketing team devoting their working day to the details of the scheme. So if OVO consistently heavily skew the benefit of their “offers” in favour of themselves, that says a lot from the customer’s viewpoint even if the benefit is made more equitable later. It smacks of seeing how much they can get away with first before becoming more reasonable when left with no other option.

@majordennisbloodnok Methinks they would be wise to take a leaf or three out of Greg Jackson’s ethos. Regards, Toodles.