• long running

[VIC, NSW, QLD, SA] Free Electricity Usage 11am-2pm Daily with The Free 3 Plan & The Basic Free 3 Plan @ OVO Energy

1500

Check your off peak, on peak and supply charge rate at the link. Fixed rate until 1st December 2024. No lock in contracts.

VIC, NSW, QLD and SA only.
For my location, it was the best price according to https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/

If your appliances have a delay function and you have your AC/Heater on Home Assistant, get ready to schedule everything for the free hours.
Don't forget to sign up with the refferal link for $10/month off.

T&Cs:

The Free 3 Plan & The Basic Free 3 Plan

Free energy between 11am and 2pm everyday

  1. Offer Terms
    These terms (Special Terms) set out the terms and conditions applicable to OVO Energy's The Free 3 Plan and The Basic Free 3 Plan.
    Terms that are not defined in these Special Terms are defined in OVO Energy's Market Retail Contract Terms and Conditions for small customers - available here.
  2. Eligibility Requirements The Free 3 Plan and The Basic Free 3 Plan are available to residential customers who have a communicating smart meter only. If your Market Retail Contract is terminated because you are not eligible for The Free 3 Plan or The Basic Free 3 Plan you will be moved to our Standard Retail Contract.

  3. The Free 3 Plan Billing Requirements
    The Free 3 Plan requires that you pay for the electricity you use monthly in advance on a Bill Smoothing arrangement. Your Bill Smoothing arrangement will be set in accordance with your contract with us.

  4. The Basic Free 3 Plan Billing Requirements
    The Basic Free 3 Plan is billed in arrears. You will be issued a bill monthly for the energy that you have used, payment must be made by the due date on your bill.

Referral Links

Referral: random (800)

Referrer & Referee Each Receive $10 Bill Credit Per Month over 12 Months

This is part of Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals for 2023

Related Stores

OVO Energy
OVO Energy

Comments

  • +3

    Good for those who don’t have / can’t get solar.

    • +11

      Or whose grow lights only need to be on three hours a day.

      • +10

        Whose grow lights are only running 3 hours a day. 🤣

        • they haven't been growing much lately

      • +6

        any deals on "grow lights"?

      • Is that a happy light?

    • +4

      Even with solar, charge your batteries during those hours. At 5kw/h, you can charge 15kw. Plus any cars can charge during these hours. Better than the old 8c midnight-6am deal.

      • +16

        *At 5kW, you can charge 15kWh in 3 hours.

        Fixed it for you.

        • Damn. I thought it was magic for a minute.

        • -3

          **At 5kW/h, you can charge 15kWh in 3 hours.

          Fixed it for you.

          • @spaceflight: W/h is a unit of energy - normally Joules but W/h is used for convenience. W is the unit for power. So a charger user 1W of power, 'consumes' 1W/h after an hour of operation

      • +19

        $6000k for a cheap 5kw battery
        to store $1.50 worth of electricity
        totally a bargain

        • +1

          But it will break even after ~11 years and you will start making profit!

        • +3

          I think 6000k battery is enough to power adelaide

      • Any way to charge from mains for those three hours while selling all your solar to the grid?

        • depends on your inverter, I think i can chose to sell all my solar to the grid but not so sure you can set it on specific times, probably but might need an electrician

        • very good question would like to know this also. As with solar this plan seems pointless

        • +3

          Not at the same time..it's one wire and electrons are either going in, or out.

          But you could dump a battery into the grid before, then charge during free time… but the reality is your solar would charge the battery for free anyway.

          No sun in winter would work….but this deal wont exist in winter.

        • You’d need 2 meters for a start.

      • +2

        Check your math for OVO EV plan, I pay 8c 0-6am, I get paid 10c for solar, 2c profits secured!
        When I charge during the day, I'd pay 28 to 40c per kWh if the solar isn't enough to charge my car, so I could pay more during the day.

        • +1

          That's what I found as well, the EV Plan swaps out the variance of solar for a fixed tariff. I can set my car to start charging at 00:00 no matter the weather, as solar export sells for more than the purchase price of the midnight rate.

          It incentivise you to boost the charging speed as well. I had a 15A socket put in, but probably should have put in 32A

        • Would love to get this plan for my home battery but don’t have an EV. Makes no sense why they restrict it to EV owners.

      • If you have solar you're likely charging the batteries for free during that time anyway

      • +1

        Only 15kw ? How about yank up your heater/colder turn your house into a thermal 'battery' ? How about cook your week worth of food? or turn up your water heater to max ? Buy 99PC to mine Bitcoin ? Think big people don't stay content with 6inch lol

      • Need to buy fly wheel storage.

      • Better than the old 8c midnight-6am deal.

        The midnight 8c plan also includes the free lunchtime hours - you get the best of both parts.

    • You can’t fully take advantage of 11am-2pm free period if you’re a net exporter of solar energy during this period. If you have solar and are net importer during this period then you’ll benefit.

      I wish ChargeHQ has a feature that is a reverse of Solar Tracking, so that we can automate charging of EV when there is no solar generation during this time period, so that we can charge for free. For example on rainy days with minimal or no solar generation.

  • +8

    But then do they gouge you for the rest of the day?

    • Depends on your state and energy network. Mine was about the cheapest I could find in my area, even without the free 3 hours
      Supply charge (¢/day): 117.59
      Peak (¢/kWh ) 29.59
      Super off peak (¢/kWh): 0 cents 11am-2pm

      • +3

        Actually yeah, its cheaper than my current plan even outside of the 3 free hours, significantly cheaper.

        I was meaning to change out from Tango anyway. This deal says it will save me nearly a grand a year!

        • +1

          I changed from Tango to OVO after they put up their rates substantially a few months ago.
          No complaints with OVO, about 4 months in.

          • +1

            @Funky-munky: Good to hear. Yep I was locked in with Tango rate freeze for ages It almost doubled when we came off that. Then when we finally ditched the reticulated gas I was meant to compare and switch, but forgot all about it.

            OVO is showing me $2660pa vs Tangos $3400pa. Plus there's the $120 referral bonus, and the 3 free hours of power a day.

      • +1

        Sounds like a gouge, I am paying only 0.20460c per KWH and 0.80300 daily charge from Globird…

      • +1

        In NSW peak is 60 c per kw from 2 pm to 8 pm, basically double the normal rates. No thanks.

    • +3

      It's more so encouraging your usage during these periods where wholesaler market rates are actually negative to draw power (they make money from your consumption)

      • +1

        Makes sense. There's so much solar being generated and not enough batteries to store it yet.

        • +1

          I've switched now. I work full time from home. So Imma be smashing the HVAC over summer and winter 11am to 2pm lol.

          May as well also turn off my hot water heatpump now too, and just use crank up the resistive element for that 3 hour window, (rest of the time its direct solar vac tube hot water).

          Great deal for me, thanks for posting OP.

      • yeah, I have a small solar - 6.6kw and on a good summer day can produce 40kws - dont even use 10
        there is a good case for free power or substantially cheaper rates during summer days as lots of ppl have solar now and its pumping up the grid

        • Electricity authority asking government to allow them to charge customer who supply energy to grid ….So good luck if you get anything from these utility companies…!

          • @SydBoy: Businesses and governments always find a way to bend people over.

  • +9

    Gonna fire back up my cryptofarm! Yahoo!

    • I just did the math… and it’s likely not worth it, even with a significant farm. YMMV though.

  • With OVO for almost a year, happy with their service and web interface. It's far better rates than others in my area. I'm not paying during summer even with EV.

    • Interesting to hear. Im extremely annoyed with RED energy stuffing me around trying to get off a demand tariff plan for 6 weeks now and still not done. Massively under staffed clowns. Will have a proper look at Ovo.

      • Red current rates are really bad for me.
        OVO was also smashed a few months ago, it was email only with customer service. It suits me better, don't have to wait on the phone.

        • +1

          Are you in Vic?
          There is a Victorian Government Order that dictates that a retailer must allow you to Opt out of the TOU tariff. It's called the AMI Tariff Order.

          http://www.gazette.vic.gov.au/gazette/Gazettes2021/GG2021S29…

          See Clause 7.

          • @neilsen64: thanks for the link. I have been pondering over this myself - changing from ToU to flat/single rate. I have a 5kw solar no battery. I try to use as much as solar generation for self consumption as I can - both winter and summer - running all power hungry devices during the day. Of course it's a bit shit atm in Melbourne VIC and ofc summers would be better, but is there any use case for personal usgae (details below) where T0U may come on top over flat rate tariff regardless of the season as I think AUSNET only lets you change tariffs once every year.

            According to power pal weekly reports about 40% of powerbill is due to peak usage this is I proactively try and use power hungry appliances atm during the day so lil bit of solar + off peak rates i.e. before 3PM. Things will better get in summers, so I'm failing to use the benefit of being on ToU tarrif regardless of the season. Plus I wont have to worry about scheduling stuff when before 3PM. Is there something I'm not considering? or I should look into further? Sorry for the wall of text -just trying to get another perceptive in case I may not have thought of something - the off peak lure don't seem beneficial to me

            For ref I just switched to Engie formerly Simply Energy and the plan name is VIC ENGIE Stay Plus elec - NO CONTRACT -31% guaranteed discount on supply AND usage (can change anytime by providing 20 bus days notice )and they have offering fixed lock in BASE rates till Jul 2025 across all plans

            VIC 3976

            ToU Base Rates: Daily - 132.51 c/day, Peak - 49.31c/kWh, Off Peak - 28.69c/kWh, FiT 4.90 c/kWh

            ToU Current/Discounted rates: Daily 41.0781c/day, Peak - 15.2861 c/kWh , Off Peak - 8.8939 c/kWh, FiT 4.90 c/kWh

            For the same plan with flat rate and 31% discount:
            Single Base Rates - Daily - 132.51 c/day, First 11.00 kWh usage per day - 38.50c/kWh, Remaining usage per day - 39.55c/kWh, FiT 4.90 c/kWh

            Discount Single Rates - Daily 41.0781c/day, First 11.00 kWh usage per day - 11.935c/kWh, Remaining usage per day -12.2605 c/kWh

            REAL - Electricity profile based on past usage ToU - Usage Period: 189 days - ToU

            Usage Period: 189 days
            4.6kWh used daily
            19.9kWh export daily

            Retro - Electricity profile based on past usage FLAT - Usage Period: 189 days - FLAT - had it been on it

            Usage Period: 189 days
            Anytime: 867.39kWh (peak + off peak)
            4.6kWh used daily
            19.9kWh export daily

            Come Summer - I will ofc change to their better plans like Solar - FiT 11c or Solar Plus 21c offered atm or just switch retailers when and if they up the price.

            From Engie: Across all plans:
            Prices can change at anytime with 20 business days notice i.e discount %. While the base rates are locked till July 2025
            The 20 business days notice of price change relates to your energy plan discount itself, whereas the locked in rates are in relation to the base rates of the plan.

            • +1

              @SES: Engie seem to go out of their way to hide the kWh price. You gotta click many times to see it.

              Your "ToU Current/Discounted" rate looks competitive but I don't see anything like that on their web site. Do I need a secret handshake or do I have to ask for that deal specifically?

              • @john smith apples: Not just ADHD so hyperfocus helped while I struggle to brush my teeth everyday.

                So heres the deal - they did nothing special for me actually were annoyingly impressed by my research.

                There is an awesome site called wattever.com.au - that let's your compare ALL elec and gas companies based on your past usage patterns or simply the traditional yearly. Highly recommend you check out it out and create profiles for both elec and gas and fees as much as as you can. Then it will show plans as to what suits you best. It's all free but yeah they kick from like 5 companies or wattever and if you sign up to those 5 using their link you get $50 prezzie GC too!

                In my case it was Engie that topped the chart for ToU or single, solar or no solar.

                On the below link punch in your post code and see ALL the plans with ALL the tariffs and distributors, ofc you chose your own distributor and see their fact sheets.

                Not all plans will on the homepage or wattever.com.au or any other comparison site. So I my case I signed up to my plan (all details above) with them but asked to credit me a fifty and they obliged but in hindsight I could have signed up to say Engie Perks via Wattever.com or Cash rewards or Shopback whoever got the best promo and then the plan again after 120 days to satisfy the CB period. So like intially like 26% to 31% discount on both supply and usage. You could do the math on that.

                I can confidently say in Vic in Ausnet area in SE stay plus is the best as their base across all is the same it's the discount that varies which mind you can be changed at any time with a 20 business days notice (again info above) while they base rates remain locked till July 2025.

                Let me know if you come across any plans above 31% haha and also you can change plans come summer to their Solar or Solar plus as their provide higher FiT.

                Goodluck and let me know if you have any questions. I feel like this should be a post of itself lol. Now I'm gonna fees my rates to AI to work out if flat/single rate is even better for me before I apply.

                VIC ENGIE STAY PLUS - don't let the name confuse you, it's available to all, always the eligibility criteria of a particular plan

                https://engie.com.au/help-centre/policies-and-commitments/en…

                Also, my gas is with dodogas daily is 25c rest I can't remember but it's their market offer/plan.

                Hope this helps Goodluck!

  • Not available to me :(

  • I can't see how they can keep something like this going for long.

    For example, why buy a solar system? Buy a battery and charge it for those 3 hours. You'd be able to charge a 15Kw battery easy enough, and then free power for the rest of the day!

    Given the supply charge is around what everyone else charges, it's a not unreasonable insurance if your battery goes flat.

    • +8

      Yes, this is the economics they are trying to work with. They want you to use as much power when wholesale rates are negative.
      Over the longer term, this sort of thing will improve the whole power grid for everyone.

      • +3

        It really doesn't improve the grid and is incredibly regressive. Solar households enjoy government mandated minimum tariffs which are far beyond the market value of the energy they generate, and the resulting price gap is recovered through increased service costs. This impacts non-solar households far more than solar households - especially those with batteries - and is basically the poor subsiding the energy costs of wealthier households.

        That's why OVO Energy is doing this… They save money because of the artificially high tariffs, and it also helps stems the bleeding when solar households use batteries in hours outside solar generation when energy generation costs are crazy high. Those costs have traditionally been funded through everyone paying far above the cost of generating electricity in non peak hours, which subside the cost of providing electricity when wholesale market rates spike (e.g. nights without solar generation) far in excess of pittance that people pay per kWh consumed.

        • There’s no minimum FIT from government in Qld.

          • +1

            @WhyAmICommenting: That's only the case in south-east Queensland which is related to deregulation, and despite that the government has still repeatedly threatened to introduce legislation to establish a mandatory minimum should companies there not offer a "fair and competitive" tariff. The rest of QLD has a government mandated minimum feed-in tariff which is set by QCA.

          • @WhyAmICommenting: Isn't the equivalent in nsw a recommendation i.e. not actually mandated. They do what they want. I see all all sorts of variations when i search.

    • Yeah good point. What's stopping people from charging their battery? The average charge rate of a Tesla Powerwall 2 is 7kw, with a capacity of 13.5kWh, means it will take about 2 hours to charge. Seeing a powerwall costs $15k, and could effectively give you a free 13.5kWh every day. At 30c/kw that's worth $4.05. $4.05 a day for 10 years = $14,782. Is 10 years to pay it off worth it? If the battery lasts another 10 years, maybe. But I can think of a lot of better ways to invest $15k.

      • +5

        They still make money from you drawing the power during this period. Whilst also stabilising the network

      • I have 10KwH panels and havent got a battery yet as the saving isn't worth it.

        With an electric car that you can charge (dependant on inverter and local rules etc) this would be quite good.

        • +2

          With an electric car that you can charge (dependant on inverter and local rules etc) this would be quite good.

          In this brave new world we're going to start adjusting our lives the sun. Every time the sun comes out an public alarm will sound and everyone will rush home to charge everything up, then try and limp by until the next sunburst.

      • +1

        I don't think anything is stopping you, other than the fact a majority wouldn't be around during those hours to charge on weekdays. There would be several other electrical appliances that you could power during these hours, like heating a large tank HWS, but would require a timer on the circuit (or to be programmed into some modern heat pump HWS). If the tank is sized well for your household, you could get away with only heating it once daily.

        mskeggs, how do the economics work here? If households start consuming power during 'free' hours they would've otherwise done during metered hours, what benefit is there to OVO, as I only see unbillable kWh?

        • +5

          Wholesale electricity prices can be negative, and often are when the sun is shining. Ovo can actually make money from giving you 0c/kWh energy.

        • +2

          what benefit is there to OVO

          Retailers operate on margins. In the conventional market a retailer might buy for 5c/kWh and sell for 10c giving a 5c margin. These days, due to mass oversupply in the middle of the day, the wholesale price goes negative. So a wholesaler will paying OVO 5c to take a kWh off their hands and they then give it to you for 0c, still producing a 5c margin.

        • Super easy to heat hws on solar with a big enough system or small enough element. We have a 315L tank with a 3.6kw element and it heats up in about 2hrs daily. Controlled by solar inverter to give it power when excess generation is 4kw else force run for min 2hrs by 3pm.

          • @Xizor: Do you do this with home assistant or have you got one of those solar diverter devices?

      • Is 10 years to pay it off worth it?

        at the saving or mortgage rates of 5-7%, 15k in 10 years will be worth almost double (~$30k). You need at least 10 more years to break even. Of course though calculation ignore variations of electricity price in the future.

    • Them giving you free power makes them money as wholesalers get paid to sell electricity during this peak sunlight period.

      https://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/?range=7d&interval=30m&vie…

      For the 11am-2pm period, 3 of the last 7 days they were getting paid ~$80-120/mwh to take power from the grid, the other 4 days power cost between $20-40/mwh.

      Average that for the week, assuming the same/similar usage for those 3 hours each day, thats about $25/mwh profit during the 3 hour period.

  • +1

    Fire up the bitcoin miners?

  • I am on one year contract, and you just dropped my feed in tariff
    so when Im with your contract, you can change rate anytime but I cannot leave until the contract is up?

    • They did the same to me. Sent me an email that my feed in tariff is changing even when I am on a contract :(

    • OVO has bad name in the UK for messing up billing but lets have our cake long as possible

      • I hate their billing. They send me monthly usage of like a household of 9 people. Yet my usage is like a 1/2 a person (run on battery at night) and yeah now 43.02375c/kWh and 1/2 the feed-in rate. Something like a 76% increase in 3 months.

        • Yes, OVO changed my tariff the same time my other electricity company on my other property.
          I contact OVO to change to their new The EV Plan which suits me much better, since Sep my solar FIT ~covers my electricity use including EVs.
          OVO was also smashed a few months ago, it was email only with customer service. It suits me better, don't have to wait on the phone.

    • Same. Was looking into try and break contract as that was main incentive of the solar plan they have.

      Trying to work out if this plan is a good deal for those with solar? Is there a fit?

    • +1

      You should be able to leave at any time. You just pay a $50 exit fee. Read the contract in your welcome email, specifically the 'Ending this contract' part.

      • But they are the one who changes the rate, surely that’s good enough reason to terminate contract without fees

  • +2

    Good time to buy a battery.
    Will it fully recharge in 3hrs to use for the rest of the day.

    I know someone selling an LG 10kw near new battery for $3000

    • How much to install?

    • +1

      Lol was it one of the recalled ones thats been replaced?

    • bomb in the hole

  • how fast i can charge my powerwall during 3 hours

    • They are about 11kWh usable (I think 13 kWh total), so drawing 4kw should easily do it.

  • A bit sceptical about the whole pre-payment…

    • +1

      This plan requires a smart meter so it won't be too bad. But as someone with a dumb meter their bill smoothing sucks and expect them to hold $500+ of your money due to their deliberately incorrect estimating.

      • I am with them because of their cheap rates but their billing is incredibly hard to follow. I too am on a dumb meter. I had to reduce the payment amounts and skip some payments because the account kept growing in credit.

        • Don't they then pay 3% interest on the balance?

    • The billing estimate is bad, we are hundreds of dollars in credit and with solar we won't get be getting any new charges until atleast march….

      We already turned it down to $40 a month, but our last bill was only $10 so it's still another $30 in credit.

      • Request a pause in your payments until March.

  • no demand tarrif?

    • depends on your postcode and distributor.

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