Make your Wiser™ devices rewarding with equiwatt

The equiwatt community have been pioneering peak time energy saving for more than 3 years, running 300+ events in that time.

This means we have a lot of experience on how to make getting rewarded for using less electricity as simple, easy and rewarding as possible. 

Our app includes a number of integrations with smart technologies, including electric vehicles, smart plugs, smart thermostats and more to automate participation in events really easy.

As an independent provider, you do not need to be with a specific energy supplier to benefit from our free app. This means that no matter who provides your energy, you will always be able to take part in our events.

Unlike some other schemes, we don't rely on sending you emails to let you know about events or wait until the end of the month to send you your rewards and savings.

Our app enables you to get rewarded and see your savings and impact as soon as your smart meter readings are available (usually within 48 hours).

Our gamified approach to energy saving also means that we aim to make using less electricity fun and rewarding by enabling you to compete in monthly leaderboards and win prizes.

You will receive a notification via the app in advance of each event to let you know when it is going to happen and what you need to do.

1) If you want to take part in the event you will need to confirm your participation in the app.

2) During powerDOWN events, you will need to use less electricity than normal by beating your forecast shown in the app. (If you have compatible smart devices these will participate automatically without you needing to lift a finger!)

3) You will get rewarded in points by reducing your energy use. You can earn entries to our monthly prize draw to win 2000 points (worth £20) by registering what you have switched off in the app. You can find out how to do this here.

4) Typically within 48 hours of the event ending, we will let you know how much energy you have saved and how many points you have earned.

Your forecast is the average amount of electricity you are expected to use during the period of time an event runs.

For example, if an event is run on a Monday between 19:00 - 20:00 and your forecast is 590Wh it is because on average that is how much energy you are expected to use at that time.

To earn points, you will need to use less electricity during an event than is forecasted in the app.

For example, if your forecast for an event is 0.87kWh, you will need to use less electricity than this to earn points.

To lower your energy usage try to turn off high energy consumption appliances and avoid turning on appliances when you receive a notification to say that an equivent has started.

Our system automatically calculates your forecast by analysing your smart meter readings to work out your average electricity usage from similar periods on previous days.

Weekends, bank holidays, and days with other events are excluded from our calculations to help predict your future usage as accurately as possible and in line with NESO guidelines.

When an event starts, you will receive a notification:

1) Switch off as many electric appliances as it is safe to and avoid turning high-usage appliances on.

2) Check your forecast in the equiwatt app to make sure you know how much electricity we expect you to use and what you have to beat so that you are using less. 

TIP: Check your In-Home Display (IHD) unit to make sure that you are going below your forecast.

3) Once the event has ended we will send you another notification so that you know when you can start using your appliances again.

4) As soon as we have received readings from your smart meter we will automatically award your points (this is typically with 48 hours) and let you know how much electricity you have saved in the app.

Notifications for events will be sent via the app in advance of the event happening (so make sure to have notifications switched on). We will give you as much notice as we can depending on how much notice NESO gives us.

If you forget to opt-in or out of an event then you will not be able to earn points.

We can only let you participate if you opt-in and let us know that you are going to take part. If you do nothing then we will assume that you don't wish to take part on this occasion.

You can take part in as many or as few events as you like.

If you do not wish to participate, simply opt out in the app when you receive a notification of an upcoming event.

However, if you want to earn points for reducing your electricity usage during powerDOWN events then you will need to confirm your participation in the app before each event, so we know that you want to take part.

Events could happen at any time of day.

However, the timing of the events will be based on when the grid needs help.

This is typically during the busiest or 'peak' times of day when the energy system needs to generate more power to meet everyone's needs. For example, between 4-7 pm.

If you own one of the following Wiser™ devices, you can connect it to the equiwatt app to enable them to participate in events automatically.

Supported Wiser™ devices:

• Wiser™ smart plug

• Wiser™ electrical heat switch

• Wiser™ smart room thermostat

PLEASE NOTE: When you integrate your Wiser™ devices with the equiwatt app, it will automatically retrieve your connected devices. If you have an electrical heat switch installed with a smart thermostat, only the thermostat will be displayed in the app, as it acts as the user interface.

IMPORTANT: Please note that only Wiser™ smart plugs and electrical heat switches will earn points. Any Wiser™ devices connected to a gas sourced appliance will not earn points but help to reduce carbon emissions.

Connecting your Wiser™ devices to equiwatt lets you participate in events automatically.

If you own one of the following Wiser™ devices, you can connect it to the equiwatt app by following the below steps.

Supported Wiser™ devices:

• Wiser™ smart plug

• Wiser™ smart room thermostat

Step 1: Connect your Wiser™ account

• Open the 'Manage' tab (toggle icon) of the equiwatt app and select 'Add other integrations'.

• Select 'Wiser Home Integration. 

Step 2: Log in to your Wiser™ account

• To connect your Wiser™ device to equiwatt, you must sign in to your Wiser™ account.

Step 3: Successful linking

• If your Wiser™ account has been successfully linked then your screen should now display all your devices.

Step 4: Set preferences

• You can manage which devices take part in events by selecting the devices via the 'Manage Devices' screen or from the home screen (house icon) of the equiwatt app.

• If you do not want your device(s) to be switched off during an event, switch the 'Participate in equivents' toggle to off. 

During an event, any Wiser™ devices that you have connected to the equiwatt app will automatically participate when an event begins.

Any connected Wiser™ smart plug will be switched off for the duration of the event, and be switched back on once the event is over.

If you have connected a Wiser™ smart room thermostat then your heating will automatically be reduced by 5°C and will resume its previous schedule once the event finishes.

You can manually override your device's participation in an event by physically switching it back on or manually adjusting the temperature, however, this may prevent you from earning any points.

Please note: Devices cannot be removed from the equiwatt app once an event is underway.

You can set whether you want your connected Wiser™ devices to take part in equiwatt's powerSmart events by selecting the relevant widget from the home screen of the equiwatt app.

However, you will not be able to set schedules or access the full functionality of the devices from the equiwatt app.

Wiser™ smart plugs

Although you cannot access all the features, you can switch your Wiser™ smart plug on and off via the widget in the home screen of the equiwatt app. However, you will not be able to switch your devices off during an event.

Please note: By using the power button in the equiwatt app, your smart plug will also be switched off in the Wiser™ app as well.

There is no complicated conversion rate when it comes to points. Every point earned from an event is worth 1p.

Or to put it another way, 100 points are worth £1.00.

When powerDOWN events happen, you will need to use less electricity at home compared to normal. We refer to this as beating your forecast.

Your forecast is the amount of electricity that we expect you to use during the period that the event is running and is displayed in the app during an event.

If you use less electricity than compared to normal (e.g. beat your forecast) you will earn points. The more you beat your forecast by, the more points you will earn!

You can get some help working out how much electricity your appliances use by taking a look at the Centre for sustainable energy's website.

You will need a working electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled to take part so we can verify how much energy you’ve managed to save.

If you no longer have your meter read or have to provide meter readings you probably have a smart meter.

If you have had a new meter fitted since January 2009, no longer receive estimated bills, or have been told by your energy supplier that you do not need to send meter readings anymore or have an In-Home Display (IHD) such as the one pictured below, then you most likely have a smart meter. 

One way to tell for definite is to look at your electricity meter. If the serial number on the meter starts with ‘19P’ then it is a first-generation or SMETS1 smart meter. If the serial number starts with ‘19M’ then it is a second-generation or SMETS2 smart meter.

Alternatively, you can try using Citizens Advice's handy smart meter checker tool - https://smartmetercheck.citizensadvice.org.uk/

If you do not have an electric smart meter then unfortunately, you will not be able to take part in powerSmart events.

You can find out how to request one from your energy supplier here.

powerSmart events will be running throughout the year, so once your smart meter has been installed you should be eligible to take part.

As long as you have a connected electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled you can take part.

Please note: Your in-home display (IHD) is different to your smart meter. Your IHD is the little screen that sits on a shelf in your house and displays your energy usage info.

As long as you have a connected electric smart meter and half-hourly readings enabled you can take part.

Even if you do not have an IHD or it is broken, you can check your energy usage in the equiwatt app or if applicable in your energy suppliers app.

If an external issue means that we are unable to retrieve readings from your smart meter during an event that you have opted into, we won't know how much you have saved.

If that happens we will be unable to award you any points for that event.

If we stop getting regular readings from your smart meter, that might prevent you from taking part in any further powerSmart events. 

In this instance you may need to contact your supplier to see if there is something wrong with your smart meter.

If your smart meter stops working at any point after you have joined powerSmart events, please get in touch with us and we will do all we can to help you resolve the issue.

In some circumstances, your smart meter may need to be fixed by your electricity provider as they are responsible for the maintenance and repair of your smart meter.

This is something that you will need to resolve directly with them.

If we are unable to get regular readings from your smart meter, that might prevent you from taking part in any further powerSmart events until the issue has been resolved. 

We typically get 48 readings from a smart meter every day, one reading for every 30 minutes of the day.

On some occasions, we are unable to retrieve readings for the specific time that an event has been run. This doesn't mean that your smart meter has become disconnected from our system.

This generally happens due to a brief outage caused by your meter unit losing power for a second or a drop in signal.

As your meter uses a network to send data, there can occasionally be issues where readings are not sent.

When this happens we will try our best to retrieve the readings. However, if this is not possible then it might mean that you are unable to earn points as we will not be able to work out how much electricity you saved.