If you haven't received any points for taking part in an equivent it is most likely because you have not managed to beat your forecast over the course of the equivent.
Why haven't earned any points for taking part in an event with my smart meter?
1) Your points will show as pending until we get paid by National Grid ESO or the grid operators for your energy saving efforts.
The first thing to remember when taking part in an equivent with your smart meter is that it can take up to 5 days for us to work out how much energy you have helped to save.
Once we have worked out how many points you have earned, your points will show as pending in your account. We can only release your pending points for an event once whoever is running the event (e.g. National Grid ESO) has settled that event with us. This can take up to 60 days from the date of the event.
Once an event has been settled, your points will be added to your account and ready for you to redeem in the gift store.
You can see the current status of your points by selecting the 'events participated' widget on the home screen of the app. Please note, that this will stay as 'Pending' until your points have been added to your account.
2) You must beat your forecast to earn points
If you have taken part in an equivent via your smart meter, you will only receive points if you have successfully beaten your energy forecast for the duration of the event.
Your forecast is the amount of electricity you are likely to use at the time of an equivent. It is calculated by taking your average electricity usage during a similar period of time in the previous days from your smart meter data.
Where can I see my forecast during an event?
To view your forecast simply go to the ‘Home’ tab of the equiwatt App during an equivent, you will be able to see your forecast as shown in the image below:
How can I beat my forecast?
To beat your forecast, you will either need to use less energy than compared to normal during a powerDOWN event or more energy compared to normal during a powerUP event.
TIP: Check your In-home Display (IHD) unit to see how much energy you are using at home to help you work out how much electricity you need to shift to beat your forecast.
If you believe that you have beaten your forecast but have still not been awarded any pending points 48 hours after the end of an equivent, please contact us at hello@equiwatt.com so we can investigate the issue for you.
Where can I see my forecast after an event?
To view your forecast after an event, simply go to the ‘Home’ tab of the equiwatt app after an equivent and select the 'Events participated' widget as highlighted in the image below:
Once selected you will be able to see the status of your participation and whether or not you have earned any points. You will also be able to see your forecast for the event and how this compares with your actual usage.
3) We need to receive your energy data to award you points
As well as taking a bit of time for us to calculate your energy savings and therefore your points earnings, sometimes it can take a bit of time for our system to receive your smart meter's energy data from the Smart Meter Network (DCC).
Although we request your smart meter's energy data from the DCC every 20 minutes, occasionally our requests don't succeed and your data is not received. This could be because the smart meter network strength is weak, the meter itself has a bug in it or another reason.
If you have taken part in an equivent and our points are not showing as pending after 48 hours, we suggest trying disconnecting your smart meter from the equiwatt app and reconnecting it again as sometimes this can help the data to be retrieved.
TIP: To disconnect your smart meter from the equiwatt app follow our guide here.
However, if your pending points do not appear after 2 weeks then unfortunately your data cannot be retrieved and we will be unable to award you any points for participating in the event as we have no way to calculate your points or verify that you have successfully beat your forecast.