USwitch Moneyback sessions results

Ian82s

Yesterday I got the results back for the 14th and 17th January 2025, moneyback sessions (via the National Grid Demand Flexibility Service). I opt in via U Switch.

The last few years it has paid about for every £3kWh saved and this seemed fair and worth doing 

So the 30min session on 14th January 2025, I saved 0.54kWh and earned 9p, and the 17th January it was a 3hour session, saved 2.23kWh and got 29p. This works out to be 16.6p /kwh and 13p / kwh for every saved kWh, about 20x LESS, or a 95% reduction in reason to opt in

Sorry I know every bit helps, but turning off heating for 3 hours, delaying dinner until after 7pm etc etc for less than 10p hour, is not worth it. I won't be bothering in future.

Has anyone else had similar, equally disappointing results from this.

Lorian

Pretty much everyone, check out the octopus saver session thread for comparisons of the meagre pay-outs.

DE_612183

Mine for 17th Jan, 29th of Jan and 3rd of Feb say they are "still calculating..."

on the up side for the christmas day one 15kwh got me £4.37

Ian82s

DE_612183 said:

Mine for 17th Jan, 29th of Jan and 3rd of Feb say they are "still calculating..."

on the up side for the christmas day one 15kwh got me £4.37

I got my XMAS day rewards too - so that is good.

Hopefully your other session results will appear soon, bit I suspect they won't be as pleasing.

lohr500

I bagged £10 for the Xmas day reward, but all the other sessions are still showing  as "calculating". 
I'm not expecting to be able to book a round the world cruise though on the savings 

Ian82s

I asked USwitch to confirm that these rates are right.

In part there reply was this (which confirms - yes)

Thank you for your email, and I completely understand your concerns.

We’re in the process of getting an app update published as soon as possible, hopefully this week. Once this is live, users will be able to see what they can earn for each session before opting in.

Regarding the rates, I share your frustration. Unfortunately, the current rates are accurate, and as you've noticed, they have changed significantly compared to last year. The National Grid decides on the amount per session, and this is then calculated and provided to us. We have no influence over this decision. I understand how disappointing it must be, especially considering the effort and inconvenience involved.

So while it is good I got a reply, honestly answering my questions, but unfortunately, I won't be participating again. It is not USwitch's fault (I am not saying that at all - in fact they pass on 100% - most don't), but I am happy the promised rates will be visible soon, so you can make your own decision,

DE_612183

This is the response I got from uSwitch:

Hello.

I hope you are doing well. Thank you for contacting us.

I apologise for the delay in receiving the savings from your sessions. Some of the data has already been processed, but there are still some users whose results are yet to be processed and displayed in the app.

I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please rest assured that our team is actively working to ensure that this information is accurately reflected in the app alongside your results. We are in ongoing communication with both Hildebrand and National Grid ESO to expedite this process.

Once we receive further updates, your app will be automatically refreshed with the savings, and you will be notified via push notifications. However, I would like to inform you that payments for these savings will not occur until the end of the scheme, which would be in March, as per the terms and conditions.

We’re hoping this will be sorted soon and that future sessions won’t take so long to have their results processed! I hope this brings you some reassurance. If there is anything else we can assist you with, please do not hesitate to let us know.

All well and good but 3 sessions outstanding now.

I thought the whole point was to promote better usage, but unless you can see the results it starts to lose it's credibility.

Ian82s

So just been told of another session this afternoon. But for the first time the price per kWh is displayed - this time 15p / kwh.

I will join but I won't be trying to save anything, for what was 10p per hour when I turn off (almost) everything 

lohr500

I've joined the latest Uswitch session for this evening as well.

But I agree, with our hourly usage of around 0.65kWh, I too won't be sitting in the dark with no TV, internet, etc for two hours to save 20p. 

Perhaps if we used a lot of electricity for cooking, ironing, clothes washing, etc between 5pm and 7pm, it would make more sense.

lohr500

Received another notification about a saving session for later today, so I went to the App and accepted the invite.

All the previous sessions still showed as calculating.

I then remembered the earlier comments about an App update so I went to the Play Store and found that an update was available.

After installing the update, all the other tabs in the uSwitch App work, but the "Earn" tab now shows a blank page with a spinning indicator showing it is trying toad something. But it justs sits there and gets no further.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Ian82s

This is what it should look like after the update.

Unfortunately today's rates are the worst yet!! 12p for kWh... it is like they don't actually need to save electricity currently, otherwise the price / kwh would actually make you want to try to save electricity.