OVO NeatHeat Credits Trial Terms and Conditions

1. Agreement

These terms and conditions (the Trial Terms) will apply to you if you have signed up for the OVO NeatHeat Credits trial (the Trial). They form the agreement between you and us in respect of your participation in the Trial and give you information about how the Trial works. 

In these Trial Terms:

(a) “you” are the person who has signed up to the Trial; and;

(b) “we”, “us” or “our” is OVO Energy Limited. Our address is 1 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS1 6ED.

These Terms and Conditions are specific to the Trial and are separate to the OVO Core Terms which govern the supply of energy to you.

2. What is the OVO NeatHeat Credits trial?

2.1  OVO NeatHeat Credits is a credit to your existing standard variable tariff which means that you will pay a different rate for the energy used to charge your tepeo Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®). We are offering the NeatHeat Credits as part of a wider trial funded by UK Power Networks who own and maintain electricity cables and lines across London, the South East and East of England, and in partnership with tepeo Limited (tepeo) who design, manufacture the ZEB®, to test zero emission boilers as an alternative method of heat decarbonisation (the NeatHeat Trial). You can find out more about zero emission boilers here.

2.2 With the NeatHeat Credits, your home energy rate will stay the same (in line with our standard variable pricing rates), but the energy used to charge your ZEB® will be charged at 12p/kWh. Rather than showing as a reduction to your bill, this will appear on your bill as a credit (see 3.3. below).

2.3 In order to be part of the Trial you will need to have signed up for the NeatHeat Trial with tepeo and have agreed to have your existing boiler replaced with a ZEB® by tepeo. Tepeo will do this free of charge (subject to your property passing a survey and you satisfying tepeo’s own eligibility criteria). Tepeo’s terms and conditions for the NeatHeat Trial (the Tepeo Trial Terms) can be found here. 

2.4 Please note that these Terms only cover the provision to you of the NeatHeat Credits. We do not have any involvement in the installation of your ZEB® or any surveys undertaken on your property, this will all be done by tepeo. You will enter into a contract directly with tepeo for the provision and installation of your ZEB®. Any issues with your ZEB® should also be reported to tepeo directly at [email protected]

3. How does OVO NeatHeat Credits work

3.1 With the NeatHeat Credits, all electricity you consume will initially be charged at the normal standing charge and unit rate you pay under your OVO Simpler Energy plan and these are the rates that you will see when you look at your live balance and on your bill. 

Within the first week of every month during the Trial Period, you will receive a credit to your bill. This will be your NeatHeat Credit. The amount of the credit you get depends on how much of your total electricity usage in the previous month went towards charging your ZEB® (we will calculate this for you using the data provided by your ZEB®). 

Your NeatHeat Credit will effectively mean that each month your total bill will be equal to what you would have paid if your ZEB® consumption had been charged at a rate of 12p per kWh. (The rest of your home energy consumption will be as per the rates on your existing Simpler Energy plan)

3.2 The amount of credit you will receive each month will vary depending on how much you use your ZEB® during the previous month.

3.3 An example of how your NeatHeat Credit will be calculated and applied is set out below:

Example

A customer uses 1000 kWh in January, of which 700 kWh was used by their Zero Emission Boiler and 300 kWh went into their home. Their OVO NeatHeat rates are 12p/kWh for charging the Zero Emission Boiler and the standard unit rate of 35p/kWh for household electricity use.

During the first week of February, the customer’s bill will show the following:

Electricity used: £350 (1000kWh at 35p/kWh)

OVO NeatHeat credit: £-161

Total Bill for January: £189

The electricity used charges the customer for all of their electricity (1000kWh) at the household rate. The OVO NeatHeat credit then works out that 700kWh should be charged at the cheaper OVO NeatHeat rate (12p per kWh). The discount is calculated as follows:

Credit (£) = (Household rate -ZEB rate) ×energy used by ZEB

= (0.35 -0.12) ×700

= £161

3.4 If you are a direct debit customer, your direct debit will not be affected by the NeatHeat Credits applied to your account during the Trial. If after a few months  your credit balance is higher than you would like, you can always reduce your direct debit amount. 

4. The Trial

4.1 We are currently trialling OVO NeatHeat to run alongside your new or existing Simpler Energy OVO plan. You can sign up to the Trial from 1st November 2022 and the Trial will last for 12 months from the date you have your zero emission boiler installed (Trial Period). The maximum number of participants in the Trial is 30. Once we have 30 Trial participants signed up to the Trial we will be unable to accept anyone else even if you meet all the Eligibility Criteria. If you are unsuccessful, you may be put on a waiting list and we will let you know should a space become available.  At the end of the Trial Period the NeatHeat Credits will end and you will pay your usual tariff rate to charge your boiler. Please note that this may mean that it costs more to run your ZEB® than a traditional boiler. For information about running costs for the ZEB® please see here.

5. How to Join the Trial and eligibility

5.1  You can access the tepeo website to sign up to the NeatHeat Trial via the NeatHeat Landing page on our website. This will direct you to tepeo’s website where you can complete the register interest form. Once you have successfully completed the survey and signed your agreement with tepeo to go ahead with the installation, you will be referred to us by tepeo in order to sign up to our NeatHeat Bolt On (subject to you meeting the Eligibility Criteria below).

5.2 To be eligible for the Trial you must meet the following eligibility criteria (the Eligibility Criteria):

  • your property must be situated in UK Power Networks’ region of coverage and they must be your Distribution Network Operator (DNO). You can check your DNO here; 

  • you must have had a home survey completed by tepeo and be deemed eligible for a ZEB® install and then go on to have a ZEB® installed;.

  • you must be on OVO’s Standard Variable Tariff or be happy to switch to OVO’s Standard Variable Tariff (currently our Simpler Energy)  (we’ll talk you through all this once you’ve had your survey with tepeo);

  • you must have a smart meter that we are able to obtain reads from – or be happy to have one installed for free – and be ok with it sharing half-hourly data with us;

  • you must not be on any of our other trials;

  • you must confirm that no one in your household has a requirement for constant heat and hot water; 

  • your total annual fuel consumption for space heating and hot water must not exceed 12,000 kWhs (or equivalent); 

  • you must have a reliable internet connection;

  • you must have a hot water cylinder or other hot water store;

  • you must be willing to participate in consumer research;

  • you must meet the eligibility criteria for the NeatHeat Trial as set out in tepeo’s trial terms in section 5 ‘Trial Eligibility’ and comply at all times with the tepeo Trial Terms

    5.3 As there are a limited number of places on the Trial, you may not be able to participate even if you meet all the Eligibility Criteria.  Admission to the Trial is at our discretion. 

    5.4 You need to remain on OVO’s Standard Variable Tariff for the duration of the Trial Period. If you switch tariffs or supplier you will no longer be able to participate in the Trial and will lose access to the NeatHeat Credits.

    5.5 To participate in the Trial you must keep your ZEB®  connected to the internet at all times. You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary to ensure your ZEB® is connected to the internet. If your ZEB® goes offline at any point for any reason, we will not record your ZEB® energy consumption during this time and you will not receive NeatHeat Credits for any energy your ZEB® uses whilst it is offline or otherwise not sending data to us.

    5.6 NeatHeat Credits will be added to your account based on the data that we receive from your ZEB®, the accuracy of which may vary. As a result, the accuracy of your NeatHeat Credits may also vary. 

    5.7 We are not responsible for the accuracy of the data received from your ZEB® or the accuracy of the NeatHeat Credits paid as a result of that data.  If we deem that your device is sending inaccurate data, or is unable to connect to the internet, you may no longer be eligible for NeatHeat Credits, and we reserve the right to remove you from this Trial. You may also be removed from the wider NeatHeat Trial.

    5.8 This Trial limits you to boost your ZEB® once per day. A boost is a manual charge of your ZEB® and is done by activating a specific boost button on the ZEB®’s communications box. A boost will charge your Zero Emission Boiler for a period of 30 minutes and it will consume up to 5kWh. This means that you will pay the lower unit rate of 12p per kWh for one boost per day. Any additional boosts in a day will be charged at your standard unit rate.

6. Data sharing 

6.1 By signing up for the Trial  you agree to be opted in to half-hourly data sharing from your smart meter. 

6.2 We take the protection of your data very seriously. Any data processed as part of the trial will only be used in accordance with OVO’s privacy policy.

7. Changes to and ending the Trial  

7.1 The NeatHeat Credits is a trial. As such, you acknowledge that there may be some teething issues and things may not always function correctly. As part of this Trial we will ask for your feedback and suggestions for improvement, but please be aware that we may not be able to action all feedback we receive.

7.2 We reserve the right to make changes to or withdraw this Trial at any time with 30 days' notice. This includes terminating your participation in the Trial for any reason. We may also extend the Trial Period at our discretion. 

7.3 We reserve the right to end your participation in this Trial with immediate effect in the event that you do not comply with these Trial Terms or the Tepeo Trial Terms, including where you no longer meet the Eligibility Criteria.

7.4 You may leave the Trial at any time by requesting this by email to [email protected]. 

7.5 If the Trial is ended (or your participation in the Trial ends for any reason) the NeatHeat Credits will end and you will be charged at your standard tariff rate for your ZEB® consumption. 

Moving out of your Property

7.6 If you move out of the Property where you began the Trial, your participation in the Trial will end and we'll no longer be able to award the NeatHeat Credits for your ZEB®  consumption.

8. Liability

8.1 Subject to Section 8.3, we will not be liable, whether caused by breach of contract, negligence, breach of statutory duty or otherwise, for any (a) loss or damage that we couldn’t reasonably have expected would result from breach of these Trial Terms at the time you entered into it, or (b) for any loss of savings, profit or business; or (c) for any indirect or consequential losses which you or anyone else suffers. 

8.2  We will not be liable to you for any failure to credit your account if we are unable to gather adequate information if you do not leave your internet or boiler  connected or otherwise comply with these Trial Terms.

8.3 Nothing in these Trial Terms will affect our liability to you for death or personal injury as a result of our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. 

8.4 Subject to clause 8.3, our maximum aggregate liability (including for negligence and breach of statutory duty) if you suffer any loss or damage as a direct result of something we’ve done, our maximum liability to you will be no more than £10,000 per event or series of events if they’re connected.

9. General 

9.1 Subject to section 9.2, we may make changes to the Trial or these Trial Terms at any time. We’ll update them on our website if we do. Please check this page regularly to review updated terms. The date these terms and conditions were last updated is at the top of this page.

9.2 If we make changes to these Trial Terms that are disadvantageous to you, we'll let you know about the changes at an appropriate time (leaving you reasonable time to avoid the changes by cancelling your participation in the Trial should you wish to do so).

9.3 We can transfer any of our rights or obligations under these Trial Terms without your permission. However, you must not transfer your rights or obligations under this contract to anyone without our permission. 

9.4 If we need to give you a notice for any reason in connection with these Trial Terms, we will use the email address you have given us most recently. It is your responsibility to ensure that the contact details we hold for you are up to date.

9.5 Nothing in these Trial Terms affects our legal rights or powers. Nothing in these Trial Terms affects any of your statutory rights that can’t be excluded by law. 

9.6 If any part of these Terms and Conditions is void or unenforceable, the rest of these Terms and Conditions will be unaffected. 

9.7 These Trial Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales if your property is in England or Wales, and in Scotland if your property is in Scotland. If there is any dispute between us, it will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales if your property is in England or Wales, and by the courts of Scotland if your property is in Scotland.

10. Data

10.1 As part of the Trial we may need to share data about your energy usage and the performance of your ZEB® with UK Power Networks and tepeo. The only personal data we will share will be limited to your name and address and your data will solely be used for the provision to you of this Trial. 

10.2 We may also contact you to ask you to participate in marketing activities in respect of the Trial, if you do not wish to be contacted please email [email protected].

10.3 Your legal rights in relation to your personal information and the way in which we process your personal data will be in line with our Privacy Notice here.

11. Contact Us

If you need support while you are on the Trial, you can call our Smart Home Support Line on 0330 303 5059 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or email [email protected].

Last updated: 3 November 2022