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

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[VIC, NSW, QLD, SA] Free Electricity Usage 11am-2pm Daily with The Free 3 Plan & The Basic Free 3 Plan @ OVO Energy
Go to Deal
spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 16:12 ovoenergy.com.au (5806 clicks)
Last edited 30/11/2023 - 13:43 by 2 other users

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 (724)

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

This is part of Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals for 2023
Electrical & Electronics Black Friday Electricity

Related Stores

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Comments

  • WhyAmICommenting on 24/11/2023 - 16:15
    +3

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

    • AustriaBargain on 24/11/2023 - 16:43
      +11

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

      • Name on 24/11/2023 - 16:44
        +10

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

      • botchie on 24/11/2023 - 17:49
        +6

        any deals on "grow lights"?

      • CyberMurning on 25/11/2023 - 10:04

        Is that a happy light?

    • plague69 on 24/11/2023 - 16:57
      +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.

      • ezzaf on 24/11/2023 - 17:25
        +16

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

        Fixed it for you.

        • Daabido on 24/12/2023 - 12:51

          Damn. I thought it was magic for a minute.

      • botchie on 24/11/2023 - 17:50
        +19

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

        • bio on 24/11/2023 - 17:58
          +1

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

        • nasesco72 on 24/11/2023 - 19:09
          +3

          I think 6000k battery is enough to power adelaide

      • AustriaBargain on 24/11/2023 - 17:51

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

        • botchie on 24/11/2023 - 18:03

          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

        • ssdexecutor82 on 24/11/2023 - 18:04

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

        • tunzafun001 on 24/11/2023 - 19:26
          +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.

        • mickmac on 10/12/2023 - 14:45

          You’d need 2 meters for a start.

      • Jamesx on 24/11/2023 - 18:35
        +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.

        • ShoeyAU on 24/11/2023 - 19:17
          +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

      • prhino on 25/11/2023 - 08:47

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

      • frewer on 26/11/2023 - 17:39
        +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

    • delfredo on 09/12/2023 - 08:17

      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.

  • stumo on 24/11/2023 - 16:18
    +8

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

    • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 16:22

      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

      • stumo on 24/11/2023 - 16:25
        +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!

        • Funky-munky on 24/11/2023 - 17:24
          +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.

          • stumo on 24/11/2023 - 17:29
            +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.

      • Eskeee on 24/11/2023 - 20:37
        +1

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

      • sm3llycat on 25/11/2023 - 15:35
        +1

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

    • v00d00 AU on 24/11/2023 - 16:23
      +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)

      • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 16:26
        +1

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

        • stumo on 24/11/2023 - 16:36
          +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.

      • botchie on 24/11/2023 - 17:52

        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

        • SydBoy on 24/11/2023 - 19:36

          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…!

          • Guybrush57 on 24/11/2023 - 20:15

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

    • frewer on 25/11/2023 - 09:51

      Still cheaper than my current one https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/31171/108688/screensho…

  • denserham on 24/11/2023 - 16:27
    +9

    Gonna fire back up my cryptofarm! Yahoo!

    • AaronR on 24/11/2023 - 17:04

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

  • Jamesx on 24/11/2023 - 16:27

    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.

    • Xizor on 24/11/2023 - 16:30

      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.

      • Jamesx on 24/11/2023 - 18:30

        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.

  • ihuntbargains on 24/11/2023 - 16:28

    Not available to me :(

  • photonbuddy on 24/11/2023 - 16:34

    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.

    • mskeggs on 24/11/2023 - 16:38
      +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.

      • Tyrx on 24/11/2023 - 17:27
        +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.

        • WhyAmICommenting on 24/11/2023 - 20:02

          There’s no minimum FIT from government in Qld.

          • Tyrx on 24/11/2023 - 20:24
            +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.

          • Xizor on 24/11/2023 - 21:45

            @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.

    • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 16:48

      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.

      • v00d00 AU on 24/11/2023 - 16:51
        +5

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

      • Franc-T on 24/11/2023 - 16:55

        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.

        • 1st-Amendment on 24/11/2023 - 17:51
          +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.

      • kongkurr on 24/11/2023 - 17:00
        +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?

        • ezzaf on 24/11/2023 - 17:27
          +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.

        • 1st-Amendment on 24/11/2023 - 17:54
          +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.

        • Xizor on 24/11/2023 - 21:51

          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.

      • OrangeBJ on 24/11/2023 - 21:23

        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.

    • morebunnings on 25/11/2023 - 12:44

      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.

  • figarow on 24/11/2023 - 16:35
    +1

    Fire up the bitcoin miners?

  • t0087669 on 24/11/2023 - 16:37

    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?

    • elecpurch on 24/11/2023 - 17:00

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

    • netjock on 24/11/2023 - 17:10

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

      • xyzed on 24/11/2023 - 19:23

        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.

        • Jamesx on 27/11/2023 - 09:46

          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.

    • toecutter69 on 25/11/2023 - 06:39

      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?

    • rbut on 25/11/2023 - 21:25
      +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.

      • t0087669 on 25/11/2023 - 21:27

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

  • easternculture on 24/11/2023 - 16:38
    +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

    • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 16:49

      How much to install?

    • 811b11e8 on 25/11/2023 - 06:36
      +1

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

    • fitr on 12/12/2023 - 11:30

      bomb in the hole

  • FutureTech on 24/11/2023 - 16:39

    how fast i can charge my powerwall during 3 hours

    • mskeggs on 24/11/2023 - 16:44

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

  • 51OL on 24/11/2023 - 16:51

    A bit sceptical about the whole pre-payment…

    • gumbs on 24/11/2023 - 17:10
      +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.

      • Guybrush57 on 24/11/2023 - 17:42

        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.

        • Cousin IT on 25/02/2024 - 20:23

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

    • 811b11e8 on 25/11/2023 - 06:39

      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.

      • Heybargain on 25/11/2023 - 07:07

        Request a pause in your payments until March.

  • hazwing on 24/11/2023 - 16:54

    no demand tarrif?

    • Heybargain on 24/11/2023 - 16:57

      depends on your postcode and distributor.

  • herbo on 24/11/2023 - 17:06

    I think this would be a good offer to take up to test how good solar may or may not be for you. You would be testing to see if you can shift your habits to turning things on during solar production time.

  • Dougaldog on 24/11/2023 - 17:10
    +1

    Could pop the 3 phase cEV charger on the Tesla and pop 33kwh in over that free period. Would be handy.

    Just need 3 phase power and an EV and I’m right to go.

    • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 17:14
      +1

      Yep 3 phase is 11kw/h for the Telsa Model 3/Y or 22kw/h for the Model S/X

  • Saul Goodman on 24/11/2023 - 17:12

    OVO has a terrible rate for SA

  • geekcohen on 24/11/2023 - 17:19
    +1

    I believe OVO required direct debit details though to, so they just take the money. Not a huge fan of that.

    They are kinda cheaper for me (VIC in AusNet area), but I have solar so the 11-2 is useless to me really.

    • AmexReferralPlease on 24/11/2023 - 17:27

      I was on the Globird equivalent even with solar - great for "free" heating in winter.

      This actually enticed me to switch to Ovo, for their normal plan (for Summer).

  • Opaquer on 24/11/2023 - 17:19
    +6

    Just a heads up - please check the fine print and compare numbers before signing up. As an example, where I am in Brisbane region, OVO is always very expensive, but their so called "cheaper" plans (like their solar plan they had, or in this case the Free 3 Plans) are always MORE EXPENSIVE than their basic plans for me. I have a spreadsheet that tracks everything usage wise for me and their various costs, so all I have to do is update it, and the basic plans through OVO always end up cheaper. This plan may work for some people who can stack a lot of usage during the free period, such as dishwasher/washing machine etc, but do some number crunching to make sure it's good for you before signing up. In my case, the peak rate for The Free 3 Plan is about 10.8% higher than the basic rate, and the solar export is only 3c/kw instead of 7 on the basic. Everything else between the two plans are the same. Using my numbers, my spreadsheet reckons I'll be about $1.20 worse off per day by going with the Free 3 Plan, which is kinda close to what their website reckons too.

    • spiderbite88 on 24/11/2023 - 17:24

      What if you shift more of your usage into the free period?

      • Opaquer on 24/11/2023 - 17:30

        I've done some number crunching for that - for my current numbers I would have to use at least 4-5kW per night to break even with their basic plans. We can shift things like the dishwasher and washing machine over, but we don't run that every night unfortunately. It's just two of us, and we have a pretty big solar system but no batteries or EV yet, so there's just not enough stuff we can power at night to make it worth it.

        As I said though, I'm just one person and it very much depends on where you are and what you're getting charged. OVO seems to be amazing for a lot of people, just not quite for me in Brisbane

        EDIT: I just did some calculating - I have a hot water system I can move to be on the free plan which would technically make it roughly as much or maybe slight cheaper than the basic plan, but for me the rates are still super expensive, and it still ends up being more expensive than other suppliers

  • ezzaf on 24/11/2023 - 17:30
    +4

    Just be aware Ovo make an inquiry on your credit file when you sign up

    • rickdwp on 24/11/2023 - 17:48
      +3

      Pretty sure every energy retailer does, just looking at my file I have Simply Energy, Momentum, Tango, Alinta and ReAmped atleast

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