Can I also back up what someone else suggested and refund us our tokens on the streak shield? I worked my ass off to get one and am pissed that I wasted them on something that doesn't even matter now.
On the results screen, you can see how many people participated in that OhmHour. My Thursday OhmHour had half the normal number of participants, as did the previous Prize OhmHour. If the average number of participants drops by 50% across all areas, I wonder how that will affect OhmConnect. And if the 50% who are still participating decide it's not worth it to be super savers anymore and stop flipping their breakers, will that impact be felt at OC? They don't hear us, so I hope they feel us.
@NuShrike Ignore it. The resolve buttons are a side-effect of the addition of the Diamond status. As usual, they rolled something out before looking at what else would be affected. On the Buddy page, our Status is showing as Gold, but we are both Diamond. But as someone else pointed out, that drop to 100% happened with pinpoint precision!
Instead of adding confetti and pixie dust around the site, it would be nice if they'd work on something important, like the Buddy points that haven't been paid out since September (even though the Buddy tokens are working just fine).
I smelled rat from the beginning with all the administration issues, delayed responses, point issues, etc. Can’t blame the staff since the handful of them probably wear 10 different hats in the organization. Complete waste of time and energy glad I didn’t refer a bunch of close family and friends only to look like a moron now. And to think I was saving up my tokens to use for a baseline boost. Well that just got flushed down the 🚽. Gonna cash out, block the txt alerts, and leave OhmConnect on auto pilot since entire home is automated. Maybe I’ll check back in a few years and see if I have enough after inflation to buy a six pack of beer. My wife will be happy about not having to flip the breakers off anymore so win win! New Diamond member out.....🎤 drop.
@JRocket By "leaving OhmConnect on auto pilot", do you mean you'll still participate in the OhmHours and let OC turn off your smart devices? If you block the notification texts you've been getting, the OH will be a surprise. Hope you don't have your computer on a smart plug!
AGAIN,
Im about to request a compromise from OC...the last one was about the 30 day cashout change that was sprung out of the blue...request to option to pay fee for extra cashout option... request DENIED!!
I am nothing if not persistant.. so
Here goes...
I had a thought. An idea...my 2 cents on how eleviate some of the OUCH of the latest huge change, again with no advance notice .. STREAK CAP..
The participants reaching DIAMOND status of 80% average reduction of use should be awarded with a 3 X points bonus instead of 2.5 X.
REASONING:
From 40 % to 80% is twice the reduction. So moving 1.5 X at 15%
to 2X at 40 % then it only makes sense that 80% should be 3X the points. This specifically based on the huge savings in payout from the STREAK bonus capped at 100 %. This is a small compromise for OC, considering the huge hit we savers, SUPER savers, and low usage savers are about to experience. WE are the backbone that make OC the success that it has become, [without whom in my opinion,] survival would be near impossible.
An INFINITESIMALLY MINISCULE cost, to OC, = HUGE vote for customer appreciation, and proving that OC does acknowledge OUR participation is worthy of the mass efforts we ALL have given each #OhmHour. Thus creating OCs pioneering in energy reduction the business model to admire, respect and be a party to.
Do not let success becomes your achiles heal.
One MASSIVE problem I have observed over and over is...
OC keeps making HugeHUGEHuge impact decisions with little input , feedback, or advanced notice. This BAD business practice, as I've stated before, may bring a mass exodus that could/would be devistating to OCs bottom line.
We have supported you, and you have compensated us generously. Please continue to show your Support and committment in return by making resonable, responsible, and informed changes, that won't cause us to abandon you, as we are feeling abandoned now. If you can give us that, I for 1 will honker down and stay comitted to OC for the long haul. As I said, I am persistant...give us that small incentive, and I'm IN.
DIAMOND STATUS 80% REDUCTION AVG. 3X POINTS. Its fair.
Thats my 2 cents...any thoughts?..... support team ?? and more impotantly.. other dissappointed super savers? Whats your take ...agree? Yea or nay?
Thanks for any feedback...much appreciated.
And let me add..
I love this program, I rave about it, I have bragged incessently for 10 months, and now I'm embarrassed.
How would I continue to show off my earnings, as incentive to others, when I will no longer have the proof to back it up.
Throw us a bone OC, please.
Thank you,
Mary_Sean_Korkos
@No Pain No Gain said:
Instead of adding confetti and pixie dust around the site, it would be nice if they'd work on something important, like the Buddy points that haven't been paid out since September (even though the Buddy tokens are working just fine).
@No Pain No Gain took the words right outa' my mouth! (Or right outa my email )
I dont get why they leave broken features unfixed like the buddy points, they raved about it when it was new "You want more points. We listened. That’s why we made Buddy!" Well something broke in the buddy points calculations and fixing it would just mean more point$ out of their pocket so instead they leave a good feature broken and ignored. But they took the time to add in pretty confetti... cuz that's important. ...
@Nlindsay I am TOTALLY guilty of using your funnyashell words, but to be fair, I added in the pixie dust! @No Pain No Gain took the words right outa' my mouth! (Or right outa my email )
I'm sure many of us are having these same original/unoriginal thoughts about what is going on when it comes to priorities and keeping the users happy.
I'm tired of hearing (mostly the Mods) "we knew it wasn't sustainable", "it's the best program around", "we're not paying - it's free money", and basically trying to put the point across that we should support this because we need OhmConnect.
No. We might like the program for any number of reasons, but it looks like the main one is earning points.
The fact is, OhmConnect needs us, the ones out here flipping breakers and sitting in the cold and dark for an hour during the winter months or sweating it out with no a/c during the summer months. Without us they have nothing to work with. Nothing.
The participation in my area the last 2 OhmHours, as pointed out to me by my Buddy, (remembering to give credit where credit is due, thank you @Nlindsay) dropped 50%. The members are speaking through their participation. Let's see if OhmConnect will listen through their wallet. They're certainly not listening to results of surveys, forum posts, emails, or AMAs on FB. (Ask Me Anything on Facebook - with OhmConnect President Cadir Lee)
@No Pain No Gain Thanks for watching my back :-) When I mean "auto pilot", I have everything in the home, and I mean everything for the most part, on a smart switch except my Plex Mac Server which is a Mac Mini :-) It is always on 24/7 but sleeps when not in use. The cool thing is when I leave my house or I am even inside it, if you are not in that particular room or part of the house all the power in that room is off. The smart switches barely draw a current when they are not turned on and the power is switched on by motion sensors in the house. When an Ohm Event occurs and I am home I manually switch the breakers off to get to 0.00 but I have tested the system while away during an OhmConnect and even with my server on in sleep mode I only draw about .09 Kwh so thats what I mean by "auto pilot". The only thing Ohm Connect helped me do really, which isn't a bad thing, was make my home smart and be more conscious of the energy I was wasting. I have never been happier with my electric bill but the incentive is gone to promote and rally behind Ohm Connect when I will make less than $5 an Ohm Event and have to turn off the power and explain to my son "the power is out again". The incentive doesn't equal the inconvenience any longer. He is 4 and says, "Daddy is the power going off again." Make people flip breakers, miss their TV shows, adjust our already hectic lives with our children for meal times, bath times, shower times, family time, etc. to make $2-3 bucks an event even with the best multiplier???? Really....
I guess a good analogy would be like going to Costco to get gas....some people will continue to do OhmConnect and wait in a long line for 10 minutes to get gas to save a few bucks while others value their time and don't want to wait but pay a little more. Again, benefit vs. reward.
I suspect if all the power Ohm Connect users voice their opinions, which everyone should, things will change. This move doesn't seem sustainable. The bad marketing, publicity, reviews, member drop off, feedback, etc. that is going to be generated from this change will deter new people from signing up and existing users to drop off. Anyone else's thoughts?
Ohm Connect have made what at the time were unpopular changes to the structure of the payouts in the past and this last year many of us saw payouts like never before with the MEGA #OhmHours.
There were various conversations between moderators and Ohm Connect staff regarding streak bonuses, their sustainability and the wisdom of getting ahead of the issue before arriving at a situation where people would perceive they had something taken away.
You don't have to be a genius to know that bonuses of upwards of 500% and constantly increasing were in no way sustainable and had to come to an end at some point. Without looking into the exact figures I would say that I have paid probably a quarter of my annual electricity bill with this program this year and that is something that I never dreamed possible.
I am not a fan of Prize #OhmHours in the slightest, I totally understand the negative perception of taking "my points" to award to others. In reality I think they over valued peoples excitement about "big prizes" from MEGA and neglected to include the big payouts people were also receiving at the same time in their estimation of the prize aspect.
Utility companies do not value "streaks" or regular savers in the least, they only care about being able to cut enough power on the days of the year when the grid requires it the most so as to not require additional power and they pay accordingly. This means the challenge to Ohm Connect and others is to engage a user base sufficiently that they will save big when the need arises. Obviously you need a user base at the time to be able to do this and cannot just count on people to arrive out of nowhere to generate these savings.
This program is evolving and changing all the times, and the rules change. Nobody fully understands their place in puzzle yet and changes are made to address issues and challenges as they arise.
Is Ohm Connect perfect, most certainly not and they definitely have issues that need addressing.
I'm sure they could continue giving us all the bonuses until they eventually run out of funding and disappear altogether. For me personally that is not something I would like to see and am prepared to stick around to see what the next chapter brings.
Am I currently motivated to save deep during #OhmHours? No, not really. Was I pissed when changes happened in the past? Yes I definitely was. Did I find it frustrating as all hell when our (the mods) constant questioning of the streak bonuses was seemingly ignored and we arrived right in the place we predicted? I can guarantee you a few choice words were given and "I told you so" was mentioned more than once...
I've been a user for over two years now (I think) and I'll continue to be one at least a while longer until I see how things play out.
Regardless of what happens, my electricity bills are constantly lower as I understand the impact of my electricity usage more. I have automation for remote access to my power hungry devices so I can always turn them off should I desire. And I also think I have played at least a small part in trying to help combat climate change with my power conservation.
I have a question for the OhmConnect team. If streaks are capped, then massive payout winners will be reduced. If I recall correctly, payouts are based on the amount of energy reduction by the entire pool and then calculated based on payout amounts.
On my last actual points Oh, on 10/25, the base payout amount (for me) was 82.2 points (BP =base points) per kwh reduction before level and steak bonuses. I had a 61 streak for a 305% bonus and platinum level for an additional 100% bonus for a payout of BP+3.05*BP+BP =5.05BP.
If the new change to the payouts was in effect, my payout would have been BP+BP+BP = 3BP since my current platinum status is 75% reduction I'll remain at Platinum until this summer when greater reductions are easier. roughly a 40% cut if BP is unchanged.
BP should be change though correct? I would expect it to be slightly higher for all. Maybe even pushing the average back above 100 points per kilowatt reduction. So my question, back on my Thursday 10/25 8-9PM OH, what would the new BP payout have been?
I can start to tell tonight once I complete the OH I have scheduled, can we expect to see increased base payouts before multipliers. Trying to be positive, but a push of the Base Payout back above 100% will soften this blow making the payout reduction closer to 25%, with diamond, more like 15%.
For announcements affecting major issues, it would be nice if you included the positive spin on the points if their is one. Since you didn't, I'm a bit jaded in suspecting that the base point payout will remain close to 82 points on average.
I agree with all my fellow energy savers. I started this program early 2018 & I had arguments with my wife to participate in Ohmhour ( she was against it because we sat without a/c, tv & lights) & I was only able to convince based on the 5% winning streak that how much it would pay out in future. My current streak is 47% & was hoping to make it really big next year.
From, Ohmconnect standpoint, there needs to be a sustainable model but slashing it down to just 100% doesn't cut for existing/consistent savers & wouldn't promote new customer to join. Also, change of no points ohmhours is also discouraging because I need to hit a target to qualify & then lucky draw. By the way, you know that out of 17K participating you are pleasing only lucky 50 people those who are hand-picked (based on what?)
You will lose a lot of existing customers & probably difficult to get new ones...
Thanks all for these comments, we are reading them all. Logistically, Diamond status should now be reflected for all users that qualify — it sometimes takes a day or two for everything to sync correctly.
More from us soon. Thanks for the feedback, we really appreciate it!
I squeezed in a baseline boost for last Thursday.... the day before changes went into effect. But of course they capped my payout @ $20. Messaged help and they said they would correct it. Now I have this streak shield active, but not worth the # of tokens I paid for it....
@SD Chip said:
But of course they capped my payout @ $20.
The payouts are capped at $20 now? I didn't read that anywhere...
They aren't and never were. There were some accounts that hit a soft cap of $20 that was lifted when they contacted support. I think it was to prevent mass payouts for erroneous data or some other such thing. I personally never encountered it and have had #OhmHours that paid upwards of $50 with no issues.
Not surprised with the changes, however I think its going too far. I also don't like these prize ohm hours and would've stuck with exclusive points rewards given the choice. I will for sure make way less effort to reduce now on these.
@JRocket Nice set-up and a wonderful example for your kids to grow up with and continue into the future. I wish I had the patience (or technical ability) to set up my house like yours!
I agree with your analogy and thoughts on what the coming months will bring for this company. Some unpopular changes we have learned to live with, but this latest one ... nope. There will need to be some sort of compromise for members to get past this and continue to participate. Earning under $5/OhmHour won't hold my interest, either.
@No Pain No Gain for you, what dollar figure makes sense to pay attention to Ohm Hours? With all the changes (Prize hours), it seems like I'm going to be hopping through hoops for $300/year. Not really worth the hassle unless the conservation is trivial.
I originally posted this about a year ago when I was a low energy efficient user. Essentially the system was pointless since pre-bonus award was around 42 cents. Even with a massive streak and platinum, we be at $3 which when low consumption is hard to maintain. Now with an EV, reducing simply means skipping charging that night. If I feel like juicing my results, I'll turn off the AC during summer, but not needed.
With the changes, the 50% difference for Diamond status may not be worth it. My efficient AC system uses about 1 kwH unless it's been insanely hot all day (100+), so half kwh at 80 points/kwh is 40 points, plus Diamond bonus 60 points plus streak bonus 100% =40 points. for 140 points additional or $1.40.
is a $1.40 worth turning off the AC? If I have to be neurotic about it to maintain Diamond, the answer is no. If I casually do it for bonus, yes. But If the difference between Diamond and non-diamond requires be watching on my AC switch like a hawk during summer and the difference is probably not.
With the EV though, I back that with an additional 4kwh reduction, maybe more. Diamond would be another 160 points. Thin, IMHO unless trivial. Annoying if it's going to be something I easily drop in and out of for Status.
So base platinum level payout at a 4kwh reduction (@ 80 pts/kwh) is 960 points. Just under $10.
At Diamond, it's $10. At Diamond with an one extra kwh reduction for 5 kwh, it's 1400 pts, $14.
Now I'm disappointed. Ten dollars is nice, and if I get three a week, great, but I get about two and 9 months out of the year, I get about 1. So $80-$100 during the summer a month is nice.
If I lose the streak, whoopie. It's a 15% hit to total payout as I won't drop below Platinum anyway and quickly rebuilds.
Definitely seems like no reason to maximize savings or honestly worry too much about streak. I may have to check out what the payouts are from my vehicle charger for hooking it to grid management instead.
@CraigW For me to put effort into this program, earning an average of 1000 points/OH would be okay for me. Sometimes it might drop to 600 and other times go up to 1200, but to earn a consistent 200-300 points, knowing it won't get much better than that, is discouraging. I know I will probably never see the big summer payouts again, but those were really exciting. I don't see anything coming up that will be exciting, unless they get rid of the Prize OhmHours and drawings. That would be exciting. #FallingConfetti
I think we really have too little information to judge what's going to happen. OhmConnect's claim was that they pay 80% of whatever money comes in for an event out to the users. They also claim that even though they do subsidize some payouts, they're "pretty close" to this goal. My conclusion based on these statements (presuming they're not just marketing statements), is that the base points will increase if the streak bonuses are reduced. The effect of this will be to decrease the portion of the payout that gets transferred from newer to older members due to the streak bonuses. This might help retention of newer members, which ultimately is necessary for OhmConnect to survive.
I'd be interested to hear numbers from anyone who has an OhmHour just before and just after the change. Presumably conditions haven't changed so much that the payment from the utility would be very different.
I received my rewards for the first Ohmhour under the new program and it was 133 points. I agree with many previous posters that I am not sure if it is worth it to sit in the dark for an entire hour for a buck and some change. I will continue to participate until the end of the year - at which time I will determine if it is "worth it" to continue. But I am not upset that it is over, after all, all good things must come to an end. And I made some serious bank over the past two years!
@Todd Soliva said:
I received my rewards for the first Ohmhour under the new program and it was 133 points. I agree with many previous posters that I am not sure if it is worth it to sit in the dark for an entire hour for a buck and some change. I will continue to participate until the end of the year - at which time I will determine if it is "worth it" to continue. But I am not upset that it is over, after all, all good things must come to an end. And I made some serious bank over the past two years!
I just got 245 points for mine (max bonuses with diamond status and 100% streak). I didn't turn off all the things I normally turn off during an #OhmHour and we sat watching TV with the lights off. At this rate I will lose Diamond status but I have a buffer built up from regularly saving 92% or so of my forecast. This time I saved 60%. I will continue to participate but not as aggressively by a long way
So I've had my first regular points OH since the changes. My streak is currently 65, with it being 64 at the start of the OH in question. My payout, being platinum status is 300% Awarded points was 106.5 per kwh saved. That's a pretty good increase if it stays compared to the recent trend I've been seeing of usually 82+/- pts. I had a 84% reduction this OH.
Comparing new to old. Our forecast was 4.123, use was 0.63 = reduction of 3.493 kwh. New payout = 372 base + 372 platinum + 372 streak = 1116 points. Old payout (@ 82 pts/kwh0 = 82*3.493 (1 base + 1 platinum + 3.2 streak) = 286*5.2 = 1487 points.
Overall reduction ~ 25%
At least I made $11 Monday night, right above my minimum threshold to continue.
@CraigW 82 points per kWh....that's very low and close to the all time low in the last 2 years of 80 (my experience) so I don't think it accurately reflects the true base points per kWh.
For my last 10, I have base points per kWh:
min = 82.19
max = 118.06
Avg= 103.56
It won't change much for you given your $10 target but your old points would have been 1881 for a 41% reduction.
It gets progressively worse the higher your streak was.
@J.R. T said:
End of an era. This capping of streaks and the recent movement to prizes and prize-only ohmhours makes me way less interested in participating. It was fun while it lasted (88 in a row with 89% savings). I understand the economics might not be sustainable for OC, but It just won't be worth the effort for me going forward from here.
@SD Chip said:
But of course they capped my payout @ $20.
The payouts are capped at $20 now? I didn't read that anywhere...
They aren't and never were. There were some accounts that hit a soft cap of $20 that was lifted when they contacted support. I think it was to prevent mass payouts for erroneous data or some other such thing. I personally never encountered it and have had #OhmHours that paid upwards of $50 with no issues.
This is the response from Scott when I asked about the $20 cap on my payout:
"Thanks for writing in! Yes, indeed, we have a cap of 2000 points per #OhmHour. We are not enforcing that as of now, so I have removed the points cap from your account permanently, and I have updated your points accordingly. You can see this on your dashboard. Be aware this may take up to 24 hours for this correction to show up on your dashboard."
I have had previous payouts over $20, so not sure why this cap all of a sudden showed up on my account.
But yes they did have a cap on payouts.
@SD Chip said:
But of course they capped my payout @ $20.
The payouts are capped at $20 now? I didn't read that anywhere...
They aren't and never were. There were some accounts that hit a soft cap of $20 that was lifted when they contacted support. I think it was to prevent mass payouts for erroneous data or some other such thing. I personally never encountered it and have had #OhmHours that paid upwards of $50 with no issues.
This is the response from Scott when I asked about the $20 cap on my payout:
"Thanks for writing in! Yes, indeed, we have a cap of 2000 points per #OhmHour. We are not enforcing that as of now, so I have removed the points cap from your account permanently, and I have updated your points accordingly. You can see this on your dashboard. Be aware this may take up to 24 hours for this correction to show up on your dashboard."
I have had previous payouts over $20, so not sure why this cap all of a sudden showed up on my account.
But yes they did have a cap on payouts.
I'll ask about that when we next have a moderators call... thanks for the update
Comments
Can I also back up what someone else suggested and refund us our tokens on the streak shield? I worked my ass off to get one and am pissed that I wasted them on something that doesn't even matter now.
Well, it updated me to Diamond level early today, but I'm not sure how to resolve these couple new issues (gold and platinum), lol:
On the results screen, you can see how many people participated in that OhmHour. My Thursday OhmHour had half the normal number of participants, as did the previous Prize OhmHour. If the average number of participants drops by 50% across all areas, I wonder how that will affect OhmConnect. And if the 50% who are still participating decide it's not worth it to be super savers anymore and stop flipping their breakers, will that impact be felt at OC? They don't hear us, so I hope they feel us.
@NuShrike Ignore it. The resolve buttons are a side-effect of the addition of the Diamond status. As usual, they rolled something out before looking at what else would be affected. On the Buddy page, our Status is showing as Gold, but we are both Diamond. But as someone else pointed out, that drop to 100% happened with pinpoint precision!
Instead of adding confetti and pixie dust around the site, it would be nice if they'd work on something important, like the Buddy points that haven't been paid out since September (even though the Buddy tokens are working just fine).
@JRocket By "leaving OhmConnect on auto pilot", do you mean you'll still participate in the OhmHours and let OC turn off your smart devices? If you block the notification texts you've been getting, the OH will be a surprise.
Hope you don't have your computer on a smart plug!
AGAIN,
Im about to request a compromise from OC...the last one was about the 30 day cashout change that was sprung out of the blue...request to option to pay fee for extra cashout option... request DENIED!!
I am nothing if not persistant.. so
Here goes...
I had a thought. An idea...my 2 cents on how eleviate some of the OUCH of the latest huge change, again with no advance notice .. STREAK CAP..
The participants reaching DIAMOND status of 80% average reduction of use should be awarded with a 3 X points bonus instead of 2.5 X.
REASONING:
From 40 % to 80% is twice the reduction. So moving 1.5 X at 15%
to 2X at 40 % then it only makes sense that 80% should be 3X the points. This specifically based on the huge savings in payout from the STREAK bonus capped at 100 %. This is a small compromise for OC, considering the huge hit we savers, SUPER savers, and low usage savers are about to experience. WE are the backbone that make OC the success that it has become, [without whom in my opinion,] survival would be near impossible.
An INFINITESIMALLY MINISCULE cost, to OC, = HUGE vote for customer appreciation, and proving that OC does acknowledge OUR participation is worthy of the mass efforts we ALL have given each #OhmHour. Thus creating OCs pioneering in energy reduction the business model to admire, respect and be a party to.
Do not let success becomes your achiles heal.
One MASSIVE problem I have observed over and over is...
OC keeps making HugeHUGEHuge impact decisions with little input , feedback, or advanced notice. This BAD business practice, as I've stated before, may bring a mass exodus that could/would be devistating to OCs bottom line.
We have supported you, and you have compensated us generously. Please continue to show your Support and committment in return by making resonable, responsible, and informed changes, that won't cause us to abandon you, as we are feeling abandoned now. If you can give us that, I for 1 will honker down and stay comitted to OC for the long haul. As I said, I am persistant...give us that small incentive, and I'm IN.
DIAMOND STATUS 80% REDUCTION AVG. 3X POINTS. Its fair.
Thats my 2 cents...any thoughts?..... support team ?? and more impotantly.. other dissappointed super savers? Whats your take ...agree? Yea or nay?
Thanks for any feedback...much appreciated.
And let me add..
I love this program, I rave about it, I have bragged incessently for 10 months, and now I'm embarrassed.
How would I continue to show off my earnings, as incentive to others, when I will no longer have the proof to back it up.
Throw us a bone OC, please.
Thank you,
Mary_Sean_Korkos
@No Pain No Gain took the words right outa' my mouth! (Or right outa my email
)
I dont get why they leave broken features unfixed like the buddy points, they raved about it when it was new "You want more points. We listened. That’s why we made Buddy!" Well something broke in the buddy points calculations and fixing it would just mean more point$ out of their pocket so instead they leave a good feature broken and ignored. But they took the time to add in pretty confetti... cuz that's important. ...
@Nlindsay I am TOTALLY guilty of using your funnyashell words, but to be fair, I added in the pixie dust!
)
@No Pain No Gain took the words right outa' my mouth! (Or right outa my email
I'm sure many of us are having these same original/unoriginal thoughts about what is going on when it comes to priorities and keeping the users happy.
I'm tired of hearing (mostly the Mods) "we knew it wasn't sustainable", "it's the best program around", "we're not paying - it's free money", and basically trying to put the point across that we should support this because we need OhmConnect.
No. We might like the program for any number of reasons, but it looks like the main one is earning points.
The fact is, OhmConnect needs us, the ones out here flipping breakers and sitting in the cold and dark for an hour during the winter months or sweating it out with no a/c during the summer months. Without us they have nothing to work with. Nothing.
The participation in my area the last 2 OhmHours, as pointed out to me by my Buddy, (remembering to give credit where credit is due, thank you @Nlindsay) dropped 50%. The members are speaking through their participation. Let's see if OhmConnect will listen through their wallet. They're certainly not listening to results of surveys, forum posts, emails, or AMAs on FB. (Ask Me Anything on Facebook - with OhmConnect President Cadir Lee)
@No Pain No Gain Thanks for watching my back :-) When I mean "auto pilot", I have everything in the home, and I mean everything for the most part, on a smart switch except my Plex Mac Server which is a Mac Mini :-) It is always on 24/7 but sleeps when not in use. The cool thing is when I leave my house or I am even inside it, if you are not in that particular room or part of the house all the power in that room is off. The smart switches barely draw a current when they are not turned on and the power is switched on by motion sensors in the house. When an Ohm Event occurs and I am home I manually switch the breakers off to get to 0.00 but I have tested the system while away during an OhmConnect and even with my server on in sleep mode I only draw about .09 Kwh so thats what I mean by "auto pilot". The only thing Ohm Connect helped me do really, which isn't a bad thing, was make my home smart and be more conscious of the energy I was wasting. I have never been happier with my electric bill but the incentive is gone to promote and rally behind Ohm Connect when I will make less than $5 an Ohm Event and have to turn off the power and explain to my son "the power is out again". The incentive doesn't equal the inconvenience any longer. He is 4 and says, "Daddy is the power going off again." Make people flip breakers, miss their TV shows, adjust our already hectic lives with our children for meal times, bath times, shower times, family time, etc. to make $2-3 bucks an event even with the best multiplier???? Really....
I guess a good analogy would be like going to Costco to get gas....some people will continue to do OhmConnect and wait in a long line for 10 minutes to get gas to save a few bucks while others value their time and don't want to wait but pay a little more. Again, benefit vs. reward.
I suspect if all the power Ohm Connect users voice their opinions, which everyone should, things will change. This move doesn't seem sustainable. The bad marketing, publicity, reviews, member drop off, feedback, etc. that is going to be generated from this change will deter new people from signing up and existing users to drop off. Anyone else's thoughts?
After working so hard to have a long streak - this is very disappointing. A slap in the face to those that have made OhmConnect what it is today.
These are just my own personal opinions.
Ohm Connect have made what at the time were unpopular changes to the structure of the payouts in the past and this last year many of us saw payouts like never before with the MEGA #OhmHours.
There were various conversations between moderators and Ohm Connect staff regarding streak bonuses, their sustainability and the wisdom of getting ahead of the issue before arriving at a situation where people would perceive they had something taken away.
You don't have to be a genius to know that bonuses of upwards of 500% and constantly increasing were in no way sustainable and had to come to an end at some point. Without looking into the exact figures I would say that I have paid probably a quarter of my annual electricity bill with this program this year and that is something that I never dreamed possible.
I am not a fan of Prize #OhmHours in the slightest, I totally understand the negative perception of taking "my points" to award to others. In reality I think they over valued peoples excitement about "big prizes" from MEGA and neglected to include the big payouts people were also receiving at the same time in their estimation of the prize aspect.
Utility companies do not value "streaks" or regular savers in the least, they only care about being able to cut enough power on the days of the year when the grid requires it the most so as to not require additional power and they pay accordingly. This means the challenge to Ohm Connect and others is to engage a user base sufficiently that they will save big when the need arises. Obviously you need a user base at the time to be able to do this and cannot just count on people to arrive out of nowhere to generate these savings.
This program is evolving and changing all the times, and the rules change. Nobody fully understands their place in puzzle yet and changes are made to address issues and challenges as they arise.
Is Ohm Connect perfect, most certainly not and they definitely have issues that need addressing.
I'm sure they could continue giving us all the bonuses until they eventually run out of funding and disappear altogether. For me personally that is not something I would like to see and am prepared to stick around to see what the next chapter brings.
Am I currently motivated to save deep during #OhmHours? No, not really. Was I pissed when changes happened in the past? Yes I definitely was. Did I find it frustrating as all hell when our (the mods) constant questioning of the streak bonuses was seemingly ignored and we arrived right in the place we predicted? I can guarantee you a few choice words were given and "I told you so" was mentioned more than once...
I've been a user for over two years now (I think) and I'll continue to be one at least a while longer until I see how things play out.
Regardless of what happens, my electricity bills are constantly lower as I understand the impact of my electricity usage more. I have automation for remote access to my power hungry devices so I can always turn them off should I desire. And I also think I have played at least a small part in trying to help combat climate change with my power conservation.
I have a question for the OhmConnect team. If streaks are capped, then massive payout winners will be reduced. If I recall correctly, payouts are based on the amount of energy reduction by the entire pool and then calculated based on payout amounts.
On my last actual points Oh, on 10/25, the base payout amount (for me) was 82.2 points (BP =base points) per kwh reduction before level and steak bonuses. I had a 61 streak for a 305% bonus and platinum level for an additional 100% bonus for a payout of BP+3.05*BP+BP =5.05BP.
If the new change to the payouts was in effect, my payout would have been BP+BP+BP = 3BP since my current platinum status is 75% reduction I'll remain at Platinum until this summer when greater reductions are easier. roughly a 40% cut if BP is unchanged.
BP should be change though correct? I would expect it to be slightly higher for all. Maybe even pushing the average back above 100 points per kilowatt reduction. So my question, back on my Thursday 10/25 8-9PM OH, what would the new BP payout have been?
I can start to tell tonight once I complete the OH I have scheduled, can we expect to see increased base payouts before multipliers. Trying to be positive, but a push of the Base Payout back above 100% will soften this blow making the payout reduction closer to 25%, with diamond, more like 15%.
For announcements affecting major issues, it would be nice if you included the positive spin on the points if their is one. Since you didn't, I'm a bit jaded in suspecting that the base point payout will remain close to 82 points on average.
I agree with all my fellow energy savers. I started this program early 2018 & I had arguments with my wife to participate in Ohmhour ( she was against it because we sat without a/c, tv & lights) & I was only able to convince based on the 5% winning streak that how much it would pay out in future. My current streak is 47% & was hoping to make it really big next year.
From, Ohmconnect standpoint, there needs to be a sustainable model but slashing it down to just 100% doesn't cut for existing/consistent savers & wouldn't promote new customer to join. Also, change of no points ohmhours is also discouraging because I need to hit a target to qualify & then lucky draw. By the way, you know that out of 17K participating you are pleasing only lucky 50 people those who are hand-picked (based on what?)
You will lose a lot of existing customers & probably difficult to get new ones...
Thanks all for these comments, we are reading them all. Logistically, Diamond status should now be reflected for all users that qualify — it sometimes takes a day or two for everything to sync correctly.
More from us soon. Thanks for the feedback, we really appreciate it!
I squeezed in a baseline boost for last Thursday.... the day before changes went into effect. But of course they capped my payout @ $20. Messaged help and they said they would correct it. Now I have this streak shield active, but not worth the # of tokens I paid for it....
The payouts are capped at $20 now? I didn't read that anywhere...
They aren't and never were. There were some accounts that hit a soft cap of $20 that was lifted when they contacted support. I think it was to prevent mass payouts for erroneous data or some other such thing. I personally never encountered it and have had #OhmHours that paid upwards of $50 with no issues.
Not surprised with the changes, however I think its going too far. I also don't like these prize ohm hours and would've stuck with exclusive points rewards given the choice. I will for sure make way less effort to reduce now on these.
@JRocket Nice set-up and a wonderful example for your kids to grow up with and continue into the future. I wish I had the patience (or technical ability) to set up my house like yours!
I agree with your analogy and thoughts on what the coming months will bring for this company. Some unpopular changes we have learned to live with, but this latest one ... nope. There will need to be some sort of compromise for members to get past this and continue to participate. Earning under $5/OhmHour won't hold my interest, either.
I originally posted this about a year ago when I was a low energy efficient user. Essentially the system was pointless since pre-bonus award was around 42 cents. Even with a massive streak and platinum, we be at $3 which when low consumption is hard to maintain. Now with an EV, reducing simply means skipping charging that night. If I feel like juicing my results, I'll turn off the AC during summer, but not needed.
With the changes, the 50% difference for Diamond status may not be worth it. My efficient AC system uses about 1 kwH unless it's been insanely hot all day (100+), so half kwh at 80 points/kwh is 40 points, plus Diamond bonus 60 points plus streak bonus 100% =40 points. for 140 points additional or $1.40.
is a $1.40 worth turning off the AC? If I have to be neurotic about it to maintain Diamond, the answer is no. If I casually do it for bonus, yes. But If the difference between Diamond and non-diamond requires be watching on my AC switch like a hawk during summer and the difference is probably not.
With the EV though, I back that with an additional 4kwh reduction, maybe more. Diamond would be another 160 points. Thin, IMHO unless trivial. Annoying if it's going to be something I easily drop in and out of for Status.
So base platinum level payout at a 4kwh reduction (@ 80 pts/kwh) is 960 points. Just under $10.
At Diamond, it's $10. At Diamond with an one extra kwh reduction for 5 kwh, it's 1400 pts, $14.
Now I'm disappointed. Ten dollars is nice, and if I get three a week, great, but I get about two and 9 months out of the year, I get about 1. So $80-$100 during the summer a month is nice.
If I lose the streak, whoopie. It's a 15% hit to total payout as I won't drop below Platinum anyway and quickly rebuilds.
Definitely seems like no reason to maximize savings or honestly worry too much about streak. I may have to check out what the payouts are from my vehicle charger for hooking it to grid management instead.
@CraigW For me to put effort into this program, earning an average of 1000 points/OH would be okay for me. Sometimes it might drop to 600 and other times go up to 1200, but to earn a consistent 200-300 points, knowing it won't get much better than that, is discouraging. I know I will probably never see the big summer payouts again, but those were really exciting. I don't see anything coming up that will be exciting, unless they get rid of the Prize OhmHours and drawings. That would be exciting. #FallingConfetti
I think we really have too little information to judge what's going to happen. OhmConnect's claim was that they pay 80% of whatever money comes in for an event out to the users. They also claim that even though they do subsidize some payouts, they're "pretty close" to this goal. My conclusion based on these statements (presuming they're not just marketing statements), is that the base points will increase if the streak bonuses are reduced. The effect of this will be to decrease the portion of the payout that gets transferred from newer to older members due to the streak bonuses. This might help retention of newer members, which ultimately is necessary for OhmConnect to survive.
I'd be interested to hear numbers from anyone who has an OhmHour just before and just after the change. Presumably conditions haven't changed so much that the payment from the utility would be very different.
I received my rewards for the first Ohmhour under the new program and it was 133 points. I agree with many previous posters that I am not sure if it is worth it to sit in the dark for an entire hour for a buck and some change. I will continue to participate until the end of the year - at which time I will determine if it is "worth it" to continue. But I am not upset that it is over, after all, all good things must come to an end. And I made some serious bank over the past two years!
I just got 245 points for mine (max bonuses with diamond status and 100% streak). I didn't turn off all the things I normally turn off during an #OhmHour and we sat watching TV with the lights off. At this rate I will lose Diamond status but I have a buffer built up from regularly saving 92% or so of my forecast. This time I saved 60%. I will continue to participate but not as aggressively by a long way
Comparing new to old. Our forecast was 4.123, use was 0.63 = reduction of 3.493 kwh.
New payout = 372 base + 372 platinum + 372 streak = 1116 points.
Old payout (@ 82 pts/kwh0 = 82*3.493 (1 base + 1 platinum + 3.2 streak) = 286*5.2 = 1487 points.
Overall reduction ~ 25%
At least I made $11 Monday night, right above my minimum threshold to continue.
@CraigW 82 points per kWh....that's very low and close to the all time low in the last 2 years of 80 (my experience) so I don't think it accurately reflects the true base points per kWh.
For my last 10, I have base points per kWh:
min = 82.19
max = 118.06
Avg= 103.56
It won't change much for you given your $10 target but your old points would have been 1881 for a 41% reduction.
It gets progressively worse the higher your streak was.
same here
This is the response from Scott when I asked about the $20 cap on my payout:
"Thanks for writing in! Yes, indeed, we have a cap of 2000 points per #OhmHour. We are not enforcing that as of now, so I have removed the points cap from your account permanently, and I have updated your points accordingly. You can see this on your dashboard. Be aware this may take up to 24 hours for this correction to show up on your dashboard."
I have had previous payouts over $20, so not sure why this cap all of a sudden showed up on my account.
But yes they did have a cap on payouts.
I'll ask about that when we next have a moderators call... thanks for the update