Here’s Why I’m Not Doing EDF Energy’s ‘Sunday Saver’ Challenge
Recently my energy supplier, EDF Energy, has been sending me invitations to sign up for what it calls its ‘Sunday Saver’ challenge.
The way this works is that you sign up to shift some of your electricity usage on weekdays away from peak hours (4pm-7pm). When you hit your target (which is set individually for each user by EDF), you earn free electricity the following Sunday.
EDF say, ‘The more you shift, the more you earn – reduce your weekly peak usage by 40% and you could earn up to 16 hours of free electricity per week.’
The challenge is due to take place monthly, starting on the first Monday of each month.
At first glance you might think this is a good offer. But as I have looked into it more, my doubts have grown. Here are my main reservations…
- To benefit from this scheme you have to cut your daily energy usage every weekday between 4pm and 7pm. That’s quite a long period (three hours), and coincides with when I would normally be cooking my evening meal. To have any realistic chance of cutting my energy use during this time, I would have to eat either ridiculously early or significantly later than normal. For various reasons, including my health, I prefer to eat between 6 and 7 pm and no later. So that in itself is a big ask and would impact drastically on my normal routine.
- Free electricity on Sunday sounds great, but the devil is in the detail. EDF say that you will get ‘up to 16 hours’ of free electricity if you meet their targets, but are very vague about what this means in practice. Specifically, they don’t explain how your energy-saving targets are calculated, how any reduction in usage translates to free hours, or when on Sunday you will be able to use the free electricity awarded.
- In addition, they say there are ‘fair usage’ limits to how much free electricity you can have. Again, they are vague about what this means in practice. The obvious way to use your free electricity would be to charge your EV, and I strongly suspect limits would be placed on this. As for me, I don’t have an EV and don’t want one, so my options for benefiting from the free electricity would be limited. I could shift use of appliances like my washing machine to Sunday but doubt if I could save more than a few kw/h this way (obviously the exact number would depend on how many free hours I was allocated, which is anyone’s guess). That means my free electricity would likely benefit me by no more than a pound or two.
- Lastly, as a solar panel owner I already get some free electricity anyway. My panels obviously generate less in the winter, but during daylight hours they still produce something. That means any benefit from free electricity on Sundays will be reduced, especially if (as is likely) the free hours are in the day rather than at night.
Overall, then, I am not much enamoured of EDF’s Sunday Saver challenges and won’t be signing up. Ultimately, I am not prepared to make major changes to my day-to-day schedule in pursuit of what will likely be (in my case anyway) minuscule rewards.
Obviously some will see this differently and I wish them well. And it’s good that EDF (and other companies) are exploring ways to help customers reduce their bills. I do just think this particular one – for me anyway – is a non-starter.
I would be interested to hear any comments from people doing this challenge (or similar ones from other energy companies) as to whether they find it worthwhile, and whether the benefits really do justify the changes you are required to make.
- I do still recommend EDF Energy based on my personal experiences with them. And as I’ve said before on PAS, I can offer anyone switching to EDF £50 off their bills if they use my refer-a-friend link at https://edfenergy.com/quote/refer-a-friend/sunny-koala-9462 when applying. I will also get £50 off my bill if you do this, which is duly appreciated 🙂
UPDATE 22 OCTOBER 2024 – I am indebted to the readers (especially Harry!) who have taken the time to comment on this article and address some of the points raised in my original post. Based on this I have changed my views somewhat and am considering registering for the scheme when it reopens in November. If you’re still wondering whether to take the plunge, please do take the time to read the comments as (like me) they may influence your decision. I will publish an update in due course if I proceed with it next month.
UPDATE 28 NOVEMBER 2024 – Thanks again to everyone who commented on this post. Sorry I couldn’t reply to everyone individually. You may like to know that I just added a new post about why I changed my mind and registered for the EDF ‘Sunday Saver’ Challenge and how I got on in my first month. Please see https://www.poundsandsense.com/heres-why-i-changed-my-mind-about-edf-energys-sunday-saver-challenge/
October 10, 2024 @ 8:59 pm
I have recently signed up for Sunday Saver, but as my usage was already very low, between 4-7 pm, there is no way I can reduce it further.
Cooking and heating are by gas and I don’t think switching off fridge and TV would achieve much. Dishwasher and Washing Machine already used outside these hours.
October 11, 2024 @ 6:34 am
Thanks, Harry. Yes, I suspect many people will struggle to make much (if any) money from the EDF Sunday Saver challenge. Good luck, though! Please do post another comment after the first has happened to let us know how you got on.
November 19, 2024 @ 5:58 pm
They won’t let me join! My smart meter is and always has been set to send readings every half hour but EDF say they not receiving enough readings. Nothing to do with me, and if it wasn’t sending readings shouldn’t they have told me? EDF say it is to do with DCC. It took them nearly 2 months to tell me this. I am thoroughly disgusted with EDF
October 11, 2024 @ 9:15 am
Thanks Nick. I was hoping to get enough free electricity on Sunday to power up my PHEV, but I don’t see that happening. I’ll let you know how I get on.
October 12, 2024 @ 5:43 pm
Update:
I’ve just had a statement from EDF to inform me that I’m on course to earn 4 hrs of free elec., subject to making a bit more effort at reducing my peak hours consumption – this would not be easy because these are already very low. However, if by some miracle I manage to achieve this and get the reward, I would need to be up and about by 8am on a Sunday to claim 11.25kWh. This would just provide me with about 20 miles range in my PHEV. Not sure it’s worth the hassle.
October 13, 2024 @ 9:31 am
Thanks very much, Harry. It’s great to have some feedback on how the scheme actually works in practice. As you say, the benefit in terms of free hours (and max kW/h) does sound borderline (at best) for the effort involved.
At the current price cap rate of 24.5p per kW/h, that means your free electricity will be worth about £2.76. To be fair that’s slightly more than I thought, but hardly a fortune for all the effort you have to make. And obviously, if you are already on a discounted tariff, the benefit will be worth less than that.
As for me, since I don’t have an EV I would struggle to use 11.25 kw/h of electricity in four hours on a Sunday morning (especially as my solar panels will be generating some free energy then anyway). That means the benefit would probably be even less for me. I am still quite content with my decision to pass on this!
October 13, 2024 @ 12:14 pm
Thanks for your comments Nick.
I seem to be getting daily updates on my EDF app. Apparently, I’ve already qualified for my free 4hrs and I only have to reduce my peak usage by a further 0.4% to get 22.5 kW/h between 8am and 4pm.
I’ll let you know at the end of the week what transpires.
October 13, 2024 @ 2:12 pm
Thanks, Harry. That’s a bit better then. It works out as just over £5.50 worth of free electricity at the price cap tariff, or maybe 40 miles in your EV! Still not a fortune, but I guess worth having if it’s not too much hassle. Thanks again for the updates.
October 15, 2024 @ 11:17 am
Just had confirmation from EDF that I have earned 11.25 kW/hr for use next Sunday morning. Apparently I have been ranked in the top 40% of my comparison group of 673 people and have saved 189g/co2.
So next Sunday, I will get up early to plug in my charger for 20 miles range; doesn’t seem much, but currently that’s about my average weekly mileage.
I could try setting the timer on the charger to avoid getting up early, but I’ve never tried that function before and it could go wrong. Besides, I don’t like the idea of leaving the cable connected overnight.
October 15, 2024 @ 11:24 am
Thanks, Harry. Appreciate the updates. Enjoy your free electricity!
October 15, 2024 @ 4:42 pm
Hi Nick; I’ve just been reading your introduction to EDF Sunday Saver again and noting your concerns about how it works. It would appear that much of the detail you were looking for is only revealed after you sign up for the Challenge.
October 15, 2024 @ 7:05 pm
Thanks, Harry. Yes, it appears so. That’s why it’s so valuable getting your feedback, of course.
October 16, 2024 @ 1:14 pm
A further update, Nick:
To quote the words of Alice: it gets “curiouser and curiouser”.
It would appear that I’m now on target to reach the maximum reward of 45kW/hr after the second week of my challenge and without doing anything different. It seems that I was already minimising my peak consumption, even before starting the challenge, so not much of a challenge for me. My challenge now is to work out how I can use 45kW/hr on a Sunday, without getting a car with a bigger battery!
October 16, 2024 @ 1:45 pm
Wow. I’m starting to wonder if I should try it myself now!
October 16, 2024 @ 2:56 pm
I should give a try, Nick. What have you got to loose?
October 16, 2024 @ 7:43 pm
Apparently I am too late for the October challenge now, but I may sign up for November. I don’t have an EV but I might be able to use the free electricity to charge up my home battery.
October 16, 2024 @ 3:39 pm
I must have missed the original info so started late! But on Monday this week I had an SMS telling me I had earnt 4 hours free electricity.
It tells you everywhere you get your free hours on the following Sunday. Now is it the Sunday following your reduced usage week or the Sunday following the notification of what you have earned? I feel I missed something!! Thanks
October 16, 2024 @ 3:51 pm
I’m sorry I don’t know the answer to this, Pat. Maybe Harry can help you? 😄
October 16, 2024 @ 7:22 pm
Hi Pat and welcome to the challenge!
I signed up to SS on 7th Oct, was notified on 15th of free hours to be provided on 20th.
Hope this helps.
October 20, 2024 @ 7:09 am
Regarding point number 2. All those questions under this point are answered on the website under the tab that shows your progress entitled: tell me more about how this works. I am still looking for a fair usage policy though.
October 20, 2024 @ 7:21 am
Fair comment, but you can’t see this until you have signed up for the challenge. In my view all this information should be provided up front so you can make an informed decision whether or not to sign up.
November 25, 2024 @ 1:48 pm
Late to the party but personally think it’s a mute point whether information provided before or after. For the click of a button to sign up and no penalty if you.do absolutely nothing differently then the worst that can happen is you gain nothing (and incidentally lose nothing)
Good luck and hope it’s working in your favour now.
October 20, 2024 @ 12:32 pm
Further to the above comments, “fair usage” is on a sliding scale calculated according to average peak usage at the end of the qualifying week.
For instance: 20.3% average provides 4 hrs between 8am and midday and 11.25kWh. This is what I have just used this morning to charge my small PHEV battery (actually only able to make use of about 9kWh).
I am currently on target to achieve the minimum 13.5% by the end of the week, to provide 45kWh between 8am and midnight, although I’m still trying to figure out how I could use this.
Between these two allocations, there is a sliding scale calculated from what you are able to achieve.
Apparently, targets are calculated on an individual basis, so you would need to sign up to find out how they might affect you.
October 21, 2024 @ 11:57 am
Thanks again for your input, Harry.
October 21, 2024 @ 10:56 am
Nick. I signed up and earned 12 hrs the first week, which I used yesterday and earned the max 16 hrs last week. All our cooking is electric and usually done 5-7pm. Being retired it’s was easy for us to cook our main meal around 2pm. Like you I have solar panels, so this as well as our usual high usage at tea time means i had a realistic target for reducing usage.
Had a cooking day yesterday, immersion heater and other electric heaters on. Have an EV, but was on 60% so didn’t even plug in. Used 32kWh in the 12 hrs, so happy with that. Will let the EV run down this week, and charge next Sunday with the extra hrs.
Regards
Michael
October 21, 2024 @ 11:55 am
Thanks, Michael. That’s very impressive. Based on your example, and what others here have said, I may well change my view about doing this!
As I’ve already said, I don’t own an EV myself, but I do have a home storage battery. This won’t take as big a charge as an EV would. It should still be worth doing, though, especially as at this time of year my panels aren’t charging the battery to anything like 100 percent.
October 21, 2024 @ 5:06 pm
Update from EDF today: didn’t manage to reach my target of 13.5% (but then wasn’t really trying), only managed to reach 15.8%, but that still gets me 33.75kWh to be used between 8am and 8pm next Sunday.
More than I will be able to use, but at least I can avoid that early start!
October 21, 2024 @ 5:25 pm
Thanks, Harry. That would be more free electricity than I would be able to use too. Looking forward to trying this myself in November now!
October 27, 2024 @ 9:13 pm
Just come to the end of my free 12 hr period of electricity; only managed to consume 14.5kWh (£4-10) of my 33.75kWh allocation.
Started off by setting timer to start charging PHEV battery at 8am, finished charging at 11am having consumed about 10kWh. Now have 23 miles predicted range. Thereafter, 2 dishwasher loads and 1 washing machine load. As it was a nice sunny day, mowed lawn with my electric Flymo. Turned off gas central heating and switched on immersion heater for hot water.
So 19.25kWh unused!
Next Sunday, I am on track to earn 22.5kWh between 8am and 12am, so should still be more than I can use. I’m not sure why the difference between last week and this week, as I’ve not been doing anything different.
October 28, 2024 @ 11:24 am
Thanks, Harry. Very interesting, as ever. I wouldn’t come close to using 33.75 kWh in 12 hours either. But obviously the free electricity is well worth having as long as it doesn’t require too much hassle. I will be interested to see if they amend the rules when the next one launches in November. Currently I plan to give it a go myself.
November 5, 2024 @ 5:27 pm
Hi Nick
Update
I Did the challenge last month and managed 12hrs, 16hrs and 16hrs free electricity. My target was to reduce usage from 20.4% to 12.2% and managed 9.2% in the last week. This months challenge is based on my October usage, so my target now is to reduce usage from 11.2% to 6.7%. Yesterday I managed 24.1% so not much chance to get down to even 10.1% to get 4hrs!
October 28, 2024 @ 2:28 pm
Yes Nick, I’ll also stick with it, providing it’s not too much hassle and providing I can qualify for at least 10kWh. It’s been an interesting experiment to learn how SS works.
October 31, 2024 @ 10:51 am
Has anyone actually received any credit back into their EDF account?
I have had one payment but nothing since considering hitting weekly challenge each week
October 31, 2024 @ 4:51 pm
Hi Andy,
I read somewhere that credit will be paid at some point, but I haven’t been aware of any yet, after receiving two “free” Sundays. I am now heading for my third Sunday with 8 hrs “free”.
However, this may well be my last, as I have failed to get anywhere near my 13.5% target, currently “off-track” with 28.4%, although my start point was 22.5%! I would like to know how targets are calculated, as I haven’t done anything different this week, compared to the two weeks previously.
I can’t say that this will be much of a loss and not really worth the hassle anyway. I will be interested to know how Nick gets on after he starts his challenge.
November 1, 2024 @ 1:33 pm
Hi all. I’ve tried for the last few weeks to hit my targets but find this virtually impossible, I have no idea how the targets are worked out and with my electricity usage already so low, I really am struggling to reduce it any further – I find this all a waste of time!
My starting point is 10.9% and I have a target of 6.5%. This target has remained the same since the clocks changed, and so you’d think my usage between 4pm – 7pm will automatically go up, however there is no one home on most of the days between Monday – Friday anyway! Even so when we get home it is nearly 6pm, and the main usage at this time would be 10 minutes of the microwave heating up food, and the dining room light. Bearing in mind my electricity cost for the whole of October has been £24.75 (excluding standing charge).
I’ve made sure any appliances on standby are turned off, and don’t have any other ideas as to how to hit my target – any thoughts are welcome!
November 1, 2024 @ 8:46 pm
Hi Kumail
I seem to be having a similar problem, probably because my usage is also low; in fact the standard charge, which cannot be varied, accounts for nearly half of the cost. I’m surprised that I did so well during the first three weeks. Having started with a fairly low usage between 4pm-7pm, I am now unable to reduce it any further. Perhaps I should now “shift” some of my usage back into peak time so that I have something I can “shift” out again?
November 5, 2024 @ 12:43 pm
I did the challenge in October and got one 12 hours free and 2 16 hours free after quite an effort changing cooking methods, showers etc. I signed up for November only to find that they’d changed my target from 20.9% of the daily usage to 12% which I think is pushing it! I’ll probably just give up and go back to normal, which is probably not quite what was intended.
November 5, 2024 @ 12:56 pm
Thanks, Janice. I have just signed up for November too (for the first time in my case). My target is to shift my usage from 24.8% to 14.9%. I do wonder if EDF feel they gave away too much in the October challenge and are getting a bit more demanding now. As you say, that could easily be counter-productive, though. I will see how I get on this week anyhow. I am cooking gnocchi tonight, which only takes three minutes, so that should help reduce my usage!
November 5, 2024 @ 3:16 pm
It’s a waste of time. I did all I reasonably could to reduce and then when I got 8 hours of free electricity used all I could which amounted to 9 kwh so at 21p that £1.89. Now they have moved the goalposts and I have to reduce even more to get the same. Bearing in mind it gets dark earlier and it’s getting colder it’s just impossible so I am reversing all my changes as the inconvenience will get me nothing.
November 5, 2024 @ 4:18 pm
“curiouser and curiouser”. So far, I have enjoyed three Sundays of “free” electricity and without making much effort to avoid the 4pm-7pm peak period. However, this coming Sunday, and without doing anything different, my reward has dropped to zero! To add to the confusion, I have now been told that I am on track to receive the maximum 12 hrs on the following Sunday.
To muddy the waters further, I have just received my bill for October, based on Smartmeter readings, and there is no indication of any deduction being applied for Sunday Saver.
November 5, 2024 @ 10:13 pm
Just discovered that the deduction should appear on the following month’s bill
November 6, 2024 @ 10:50 am
Thanks for all the comments, which are coming in faster than I have time to reply to them! I am getting the impression that this scheme is worth doing at first but it then gets progressively harder to cut your usage any further. That isn’t exactly surprising, of course. I shall be interested to see how I get on in the November challenge and will obviously post about this in due course, either here or in a new blog post.
November 6, 2024 @ 4:34 pm
I’m beginning to think you were right all along in being sceptical, Nick.
For the time being , I’ll continue with the challenge to see what happens.
November 8, 2024 @ 3:04 pm
More fool you. I’ve been taking a nap during the 3 hour week day period earning me 16hours of free energy on a Sunday. Sunday is now my day for washing carpets and clothes including drying.
From memory 16hours equates up to 42KWh.
November 8, 2024 @ 4:26 pm
I signed up to the challenge in October my usage was already fairly low and my target was to shift from 15.2% to 9.7%. I failed the first week but have had 2 x 16 hour free Sundays and 1x 8 hour. They have now set my goal to reduce usage from 11.5% to 6.8%. What’s worse is last week I was only home for 2 days so how on earth did I only manage to get 8 hrs….just not sure I trust their system. This week I have been home 4 days and I’ve made loads of changes but unplugging items, no charging laptop or phone in fact only using electric for fridge, my tracker says I’m not on track and sat at 13.8% I’m sure there’s a gremlin in the system!
November 8, 2024 @ 5:00 pm
To update my own situation, I signed up for the November Challenge. According to my weekly tracker page, I am on track to get 16 hours of free electricity this Sunday by reducing my weekly peak-time usage from 24.8% to 14.9%. I have done this mainly by shifting when I cook my evening meal to 7 pm or later. So far so good, then, but I expect that achieving further weekly targets will become harder. That seems to be the general consensus among those commenting here.
November 8, 2024 @ 5:21 pm
We signed up & managed to get free electricity on Sundays but like others have said November is based on a really low week in October when we were doing the challenge so your set to fail. Perhaps at end of this month I’ll purposely use a few appliances between 4 – 7 🤣
November 8, 2024 @ 5:26 pm
We’ve been doing the challenge right from the start from September through October and managed 8 hours, 16 hours and a succession of 12 hours now we’ve sorted our routines out switching stuff off etc. Our targets have changed with each month of course from starting points of 10%’ish to 7%’ish and now 5.5% for November. For every week so far we have never failed to to be < 5% by CoB on the Wednesday. That has meant that we are hitting the 4%'ish 'target' every time to earn at least 8 (usually 12) and on one occasion 16 hours. For November that has now changed considerably … we start at 5.5% with a target of 3.3% but (doing exactly the same things) so far this week we only moved from 5.5% to 5.3% and now it has gone up to 5.4%. I can only conclude that I am not being measured (per 1% of my peak usage) the same in November as I have previously been in September & October because I am cutting out exactly the same things between the target times of 4pm to 7pm. So as it stands this week for the first time I stand to earn zero free hours according to the Energy Hub having (so far this week) only reduced from 5.5% to 5.4% (with a target of 3.3%). If that turns out to be the case then obviously I won't bother next week or the rest of November. I get that the targets set each month are in part based on the previous month's usage but I do not understand why doing exactly the same things this month hardly register at all. Makes me wonder whether their algorithm is now measuring the same time period as we humans after the clock change i.e. we are all working one hour earlier than we were last month but the computer is counting the same time period as before and therefore only sees a reduction of 2 of the three hour slot because of the DST differential. I guess we'll never know but I'd be interested to see what others think and have experienced this month compared to Sept. & Oct. Thanks KenM 8Nov2024
November 9, 2024 @ 1:35 pm
Doing exactly the same things won’t get you any rewards. Once you’ve minimised your peak usage and are unable to reduce any further, perhaps you should try going into reverse? i.e. start maximising your peak usage so you have something to “shift”. After all, the emphasis is on “shifting”, not actual units used. If you are not currently earning any rewards, you may as well hammer the peak period for a while, so you then have something to “shift”. A bit of a game really.
November 9, 2024 @ 5:25 pm
Yes that thought had occurred but then I can’t basically be bothered to play their silly games to be honest. Having worked on the EDF billing systems in the past and from what I glean from others still working in the IT industry (such as it is in the UK these days 🙁 …) the energy companies are spending millions rejigging their billing and network management systems to be able to implement energy rationing as the next generation of smart meters start to come online. So instead of trying to manage energy shortfalls at peak times by blackouts (like we had back in the ’70s for those old enough to remember) we will most likely be presented with our own personalised energy ration plans where we are restricted at times by amount of maximum current we can draw from the grid as a household, overall capacity (kWh units) for a given period and each according to their ‘need’. So for example a retired couple may be deemed to be less in need of energy at peak times than say a family of 2+2 adults & kids or someone with a specific need to power heating and/or respiratory equipment because of ill health.
And all of these wonders made possible remotely by the installation of all those smart meter ‘dimmer switches’ we will all eventually have in our homes. So my guess would be that there is another side to these peak saver challenges that the likes of EDF and Octopus engage in and that is behavioural management (aka ‘Nudge Factor’). By the time these changes are forced upon us a lot of us should already be habituated to the consequences and where possible have made our own provisions to best mitigate the immediate effects by investing in battery technology and solar (where it’s worth it … which in my opinion in this country is a mixed bag tbh and not always worth the outlay).
Anyway no more games for me I’m afraid. This week for the first time I have earned zero free hours of electricity despite all week making sure that I adhere to a regime that in every other week has seen my peak usage shifting by at least 35%. So I’m done now and I doubt I’ll be re-joining because it all seems a bit pointless. Bet I’m not alone in that view either …. Cheers K
November 12, 2024 @ 2:04 pm
Interesting to get some comments from someone who’s worked on EDF billing system.
One aspect of the system that does concern me is the remote disconnection facility of the smartmeter. Under the customer address is the “Rota Disconnections Alpha Identifier”, which identifies the group for disconnect in the event that load shedding becomes necessary – an ever increasing risk in our race to nut zero!
I am one of those older people you mentioned who remembers the 70’s blackouts; at the time, I had to travel abroad frequently, remembering to bring back a stock of candles, as the UK stores were completely depleted. The gas central heating was left on 24 hr operation, so that it would work whenever there was electricity, the fabric of the house acting as a giant storage heater.
I’m also old enough to recall, visiting as a student, the World’s first full-scale nuclear commercial power station at Calder Hall. This was suppose to herald the advent of cheap, unlimited power for all. How times have changed!
November 11, 2024 @ 7:41 am
Can’t be arsed to be honest mate. Last week after doing our usual peak time reduction exercise between 4pm to 7pm Monday to Friday it only registered a net 0.1% which of course earnt me nothing. So from now on I just won’t bother and will revert to my usual day to day activities during that period and just track my normal weekly/monthly consumption for billing purposes without any regard to if/when I should consider doing it at some other time to ease the strain on The Grid. Why would I? I have no incentive anymore. If they change up the rules like this without really communicating the likely effects then what do they expect? I imagine I won’t be the only one dropping out now in November … with little to zero prospect of re-joining again down the line. Again … why would I? They have clearly, at least in my case, changed the game.
November 12, 2024 @ 12:13 pm
I have just heard that I qualified for the full 16 hours of free electricity this Sunday (17 Nov). That’s obviously good news, though it remains to be seen how much free electricity I am able to use, as I don’t have an EV. Based on other people’s comments here, I suspect that meeting the weekly targets will become progressively harder now. But we shall see, I guess.
November 13, 2024 @ 7:53 pm
So my target for November is now to reduce my average peak time usage from 5.5% to 3.3%. Doing my usual reduction routine between 4pm to 7pm this month only resulted in me achieving 5.3% last week … which as I’ve said of course earnt me nothing.
So this week I am not doing anything between 4pm to 7pm Mon. to Fri. to reduce my peak time usage … and predictably at the end of Tue. this week the Energy Hub. shows that my average usage so far this week is 10.7% … roughly twice what I was scoring in the weeks that I was cutting down.
So my point is with no incentive to just maintain my roughly 5-4% average I’ve been getting since the the start of challenge and by not participating anymore my usage at peak times has effectively doubled to 10.7%.
That’s the bit I don’t get … with no incentive to just maintain the reduction level already achieved eventually surely more people will do just as I am now and the energy consumed during the peak period will keep going up again the more people effectively drop out because they get no payback for maintaining their reduced level of consumption.
Seems like a flawed assumption that everyone would just continue to practice energy reduction during peak period whether they were being rewarded for their efforts or not. Hard to follow the reasoning there really …
November 14, 2024 @ 10:32 am
… unless of course come December (if there is another round of Sunday Saver) those like me who dropped out are not invited or accepted into that round. In my experience after the carrot inevitably comes the stick 🙂
November 14, 2024 @ 12:46 pm
Thanks for your comments, Ken. Your views in general echo my own. I expect the scheme will evolve and change over the coming weeks and months, but EDF do need to ensure that it continues to work for those who have been doing it for a while.
November 21, 2024 @ 4:47 pm
I think I must now be in the “stick” mode.
November 14, 2024 @ 12:48 pm
As a matter of interest, according to the weekly tracker page, I am currently on course to earn 12 hours of free electricity on Sun 24 Nov. That’s less than last week, but will still probably be more than I can use. My target this week is to cut peak time usage from 24.8% to 14.9%. My current figure (as of Thursday 14 Nov) is 15.6%.
November 14, 2024 @ 1:07 pm
I’ve just been approached by EDF to leave a review on my experience with SS and needless to say, my response was somewhat critical. They asked for my email address, should they wish to contact me for further comments. If they do contact me, I will provide a link to this website, which should provide them with plenty of material.
November 14, 2024 @ 3:36 pm
Thanks, Harry 😄
November 15, 2024 @ 9:41 pm
Yes I had the ‘survey’ too … think I’ll probably give this site address too if they follow up by email. Good idea.
KenM
November 19, 2024 @ 4:46 pm
So, we’ve been doing this all November. We are lucky that my partner works nights and doesn’t wake up till 6pm and I don’t get home till about the same time. For the 1st 2 weeks we had to get our usage down to 5.6% which we did and thus got 16hrs free the following Sunday between 8am and midnight, we have 2 electric vehicles and fully charged them during this time along with all out washing and using tumble drier etc. True to their word we’ve received back into our account the amount we spent on these Super Sunday days. They have now lowered the target to 2.6% which would mean turning EVERYTHING in the house off which obviously we’re not going to do, we still got down to 3.1% and gained 12hrs free electricity this previous Sunday
November 21, 2024 @ 6:28 am
Good for you Scott 🙂 … Two EVs could potentially push you past your freebie limit tho I guess. Don’t forget their fair usage caps …
‘We’ve put a fair usage cap on the amount of free electricity you can use each Sunday: 11.25kWh with 4 free hours; 22.5kWh with 8 free hours; 33.75 kWh with 12 free hours; 45kWh with 16 hours. This is subject to change.’
November 26, 2024 @ 1:54 pm
Having more or less given up of getting anywhere this month, I have reluctantly signed up for December, but only because I will automatically get 4 hrs of free electricity on Xmas Day. How much of a benefit this turns out to be is a moot point.
November 27, 2024 @ 7:00 am
Same here Harry. My starting point for November was about 1% higher than the very lowest percentage I was able to achieve in previous months but in the first week of doing my usual peak hours reduction routines & shutdowns it was clear that the goalposts (for me at least) had changed and I was never going to get even close to achieving the minimum award of 4 free hours so we didn’t bother for the rest of November. No point if there was to be no payback even for just achieving the same level of peak hours reduction as in previous weeks … so my peak hours usage initially returned to my previous level and with onset of cold weather has inevitably now increased.
That said I have also signed up for December but will most likely not continue if the first figures of the first week indicate that I am to get no benefit. Interesting you say they have offered you 4 free hours on Xmas Day. My text message says I will get 8 hours 8am-49m on 25Dec. Go figure 🙂
November 27, 2024 @ 10:39 am
You’re right about 8 hrs Ken. Just had text confirmation from EDF; I probably mis-read 4pm as 4hrs.
November 28, 2024 @ 2:50 pm
Thanks again to everyone who commented on this post. Sorry I couldn’t reply to everyone individually. You may like to know that I’ve just added a new post about why I changed my mind and registered for the EDF ‘Sunday Saver’ Challenge myself, and how I got on in my first month. Please see https://www.poundsandsense.com/heres-why-i-changed-my-mind-about-edf-energys-sunday-saver-challenge/
December 2, 2024 @ 8:53 pm
I’ve signed up knowing I’ll only get Christmas Day this month due to using 45kwh batteries charged on Economy7 overnight and we don’t use any Grid at anytime at tea time.
Our figures are to reduce 0.3% of our usage to 0.2% to qualify for 16 hours. This will be based on 200watts Flux of the Inverter catching up with loads.
However, now I’m getting to Grips with how it works, we have started charging the EV with 1kwh at 4:15pm. To bring our usage away from Flux. Then we’ll apply again in January and during the month stop adding 1kwh to the car.
This will bring usage reduction to a level we can achieve to get 45kwh on the 16hour bonus.
As we’re Economy7, charging at peak price will cost £4 more but the gain is £28’s worth of electricity for free.
EDF should pay battery owners already removed from tea time demand a payment to acknowledge their investment is for the greater good of the Grid and why they are offering the scheme.
I will continue experimenting to keep benefits ongoing by sacrificing buying electricity I don’t need in order to qualify.
December 2, 2024 @ 9:08 pm
Thanks, Lee. Ultimately I think EDF will have to revise the rules of this scheme, as being required to reduce your peak time usage to just 0.2 percent is clearly ridiculous. As you say, people should be rewarded for reducing their peak time usage. They should not be penalised by then having impossible targets set for them going forward. Otherwise people will simply give up.
December 3, 2024 @ 9:53 pm
0.2% = “reductio ad absurdum”.
December 14, 2024 @ 12:06 pm
I started the challenge on 4th Nov. and got 16 hours ‘free electric’ for the following 2 Sundays. Then my ‘target ‘ was reduced and reduced to what is now 10% – I rang EDF and asked how to I get to 10% as the only items on were fridge/freezer and the TV – do I really need to switch these off as well??? EDF customer service have no idea how this Sunday Saver works – it’s not part of there remit! I asked if I emailed EDF would someone be able to answer my queries – I’ve no idea she replied!
So I used my electricity all day on the allocated sundays . On the 10th Dec I received £10.33 credit to my bill which was for 4 weeks. According to the chart on my first week I’d used £5.13 on my first free 16 hour Sunday. So, it’s NOT free, there a large cap but no one seems to know the rules, certainly not EDF – or are they deliberately keeping us in the dark. Oh and before I stop, I just found out the this idea was devised by the ESO (national grid) and they pay the energy companies and then it’s up to the energy companies how much they pay out to the customers and HOW MUCH THEY KEEP…………EDF must be raking it in..
December 14, 2024 @ 4:16 pm
Thanks, Sonia. Yes, the way the scheme is currently set up is absurd. As you have discovered, initially the targets they set are quite easy to achieve but they quickly become harder and then impossible. EDF need to address this or it will damage their reputation.