The OVO Forum: sparking conversations about green energy and greener living

This is our online community. It’s a place to ask questions and share information about green energy, and the technology involved in powering everyone’s progress to low carbon, greener living. 

You don’t need to be an OVO member to benefit from the thousands of topics on the Forum. Anyone can contribute to the questions and discussions posted – all watched over by our team of OVO Moderators.

OVO members will have access to other members to ask specific questions about getting the best out of your online account, or understanding your statements. But there’s also plenty of technical knowledge that applies, even if you’re not an OVO member (yet!). Interested in learning more about smart meters, heating systems or electric vehicles? The OVO Forum has you covered. 

We’ve made a handy guide on the best way to get a quick answer from the thousands of topics posted on the OVO forum. 

Spoiler alert: the best way is to use our dynamic search bar feature. 

Post your unique topic to the community, or leave a comment on an existing thread, to ask for tailored advice. 

Top tip: Include lots of detail, and even better, a photo of what you are asking about. This will help community members and moderators give helpful advice first time around. 

Just remember not to post any personal info – like your account number, email address or date of birth. It’s a public online community, after all! If you’d like more advice or information, check out our quick tour of the OVO Community.  

The OVO Forum hosts dozens of guides, tips and tricks, created by members, for anyone that’s interested. Which makes it a brilliant community hub for sharing knowledge. Plus there’s room for some fun as well!

The tech that’s involved in green energy and greener living can be a bit complicated at times. But if you’ve got first hand experience, you’re already well placed to help others make similar important decisions.

You can encourage others to live more sustainably, simply by sharing your knowledge. Just a few simple lines about your experience could help someone in a similar situation. And you might gain a rank, or earn a badge whilst you’re at it...

Ranks and badges are earned by members who make valuable contributions to the Forum. As you continue to help others and get involved, you'll move up the ranks, so others know you're a powerhouse they can approach for help. 

You begin your time on the Forum as a New Member, and after you’ve been involved for a while, your rank will be upgraded to Carbon Cutter, followed by Carbon Catcher and finally the ultimate, super-user rank – Plan Zero Hero! Top ranking members get access to an exclusive area on the Forum. Your ranking will be shown under your forum username on the site. 

Badges are awarded by us when you’ve shown an interest or expertise in a certain area – eg. Electric Vehicles. Some badges or rankings get you access to private areas. To find out more, you’ll need to earn some badges! 

It's all part of the fun of taking part on the Forum – but you don’t need to worry about it if you don’t want to. 

Learn more about how OVO is driving progress to net zero carbon living in Plan Zero. 

Sometimes we like to get together in person – or more recently, online. This could be to discuss a specific subject, or to listen to a guest speaker or thought leader, and ask questions. 

We’ve had a couple of very well-attended online events recently – in particular, the one in May where we focused on our Smart Home Trials. The session was full of both members and non-members, all getting involved in trials testing air source heat pumps, storage batteries and even our EV vehicle-to-grid trial. 

The events sparked a lot of discussion around the installation of the equipment, and everyone was happy to share their early experiences of this low-carbon tech. Find out online when our next session is, and get involved! All planned events will show on the forum homepage, under the “upcoming events” section in the side bar. 

We’ll post details of the event a month or so in advance, so you’ve got time to plan for it.

The topics that come up on the Forum are varied and fascinating – and our Plan Zero Heroes are on hand to help other members with their queries. Here are just a few examples:

• Having a smart meter fitted soon and want to know what to expect? One of our regular OVO Community members, Transparent, has posted a useful guide about their experience of getting a SMETS2 smart meter installed. 

• Confused about your Landis and Gyr (L&G) smart meter model? You’re not alone. Check out Blastoise186’s handy tutorial on the L&G E470 smart meters. 

• Thinking about getting an Air Source Heat Pump? Check out our Community’s discussion on using an air source heat pump to reduce your carbon footprint. 

Our OVO Forum community is amazing! So much experience, so much knowledge, and so friendly, too! Everyone wants to share, support and help each other. So what are you waiting for? Check out the OVO Forum, and spark a conversation about greener living today!