Battery Boost Terms and Conditions

1. About these Terms

These Battery Boost terms and conditions (the Terms) form the agreement between you and us:

(a) "you" are the person who has signed up to the Battery Boost add-on (Battery Boost);

(b) "OVO", "we", "us" or "our" is OVO Energy Limited. Our address is 1 Rivergate, Temple Quay, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS1 6ED and we are registered under company number 06890795 with VAT number 100119879;

These Terms are specific to the Battery Boost add-on. They are separate to the OVO Core Terms and Conditions (Core Terms) (ovoenergy.com/terms) which govern the supply of energy to you, our Solar Purchase and Installation Terms (ovoenergy.com/terms/solar-panels-terms) and any terms which apply to your Battery.

Who is Kaluza?

"Kaluza" is a member of the OVO group of companies. It is registered in England and Wales with company number 12218299, whose registered office is at 69 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JS and whose VAT number is 100119879. Kaluza owns and operates the Kaluza Flex platform which, under certain circumstances, controls the electricity imported/exported from/to the grid. More about Kaluza (kaluza.com)

2. What is Battery Boost and how does it work?

2.1 Battery Boost is an add-on for OVO customers that have solar panels and a home storage battery (Battery) and whose electricity is supplied by OVO. Battery Boost provides a discounted electricity rate via a monthly electricity credit (Battery Boost Credit) to charge your battery from the grid, whilst your home energy rates stay the same.

2.2 Battery Boost has limited availability to eligible customers which we’ll review regularly. If we can’t provide you with Battery Boost when you request it, we’ll add you to a waiting list and communicate with you as soon as it’s available to you.

2.3 The electricity we add to your Battery will have an effective rate of 10p/kWh. You’ll continue to be charged at your normal unit rate for electricity used in your home that comes from the grid. If you override the controls and charge the Battery from the grid, you'll be charged your standard electricity unit rate and won’t receive any Battery Boost Credit.

2.4 You’ll continue to receive your current smart export guarantee (SEG) rate for all exported electricity.

2.5 Battery Boost is part of OVO’s innovative set of products aiming to improve the flexibility of electricity for customers and the electricity grid. So we may ask you for feedback to help broaden our understanding of our performance and how it could be improved.

How long will Battery Boost last?

2.6 Unless we tell you otherwise we’ll continue to provide you with Battery Boost. We’ll give you reasonable notice (no less than 14 days) if we have to end Battery Boost or make changes to it.

The ability to offer Battery Boost is influenced by industry costs and may be changed or removed at any time.

How will you optimise my Battery?

2.7 Optimisation means controlling when your Battery is charged and discharged. We’ll optimise your battery to prioritise using electricity generated by your solar panels before importing from the grid. We’ll then charge and discharge your battery based on the data we collect about your home electricity usage and state of charge within your battery.

At other times, we’ll set your battery to offset the electricity load in your home or export to the grid, at our discretion. 

2.8 Manually overriding the optimisation programme that we implement will result in unintended charging or discharging of your Battery and the optimisation not working correctly. You won’t receive Credits if you manually override our optimisation.

Will optimisation affect the life of my Battery?

2.9 Optimisation means your Battery might be charged and discharged more often than a Battery only matching solar production. Increased charging and discharging could have an impact on the life of your Battery. OVO is not liable for any damage due to increased charging and discharging.

3. How do Battery Boost Credits work?

3.1 Your Battery Boost welcome pack will confirm the rate you’ll pay for electricity used to charge up your Battery from the grid.

3.2 Your home energy rate will stay the same, meaning all the electricity supplied by us to you will initially be charged at the unit rate you pay on your tariff. You’ll receive your Battery Boost Credits based on the number of units (kWhs) of electricity that we imported to your Battery during the month (as calculated by the OVO team). At the end of the month, we’ll apply Battery Boost Credits within 7 working days.

3.3 Adding Battery Boost to your account won’t affect the frequency of your Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments.

3.4 Adding Battery Boost to your account won’t affect your energy Direct Debit.

3.5 Battery Boost Credits are inclusive of applicable VAT.

Battery Boost Credit example

• Your total electricity charges will be calculated as normal.
• Electricity used in your home directly from the grid is charged at the normal p/kWh rate of your tariff.
• Electricity imported to your Battery by us is charged at an effective rate of 10p/kWh including VAT.
• For clarity, the electricity you draw from your Battery has no further charge as the electricity was paid for when it was charged.
• Electricity exported to the grid will receive your current SEG rate.

4.1 To be eligible for Battery Boost, you’ll need to:

• Have solar panels and a home storage Battery.
• Make sure your Battery is connected to the grid.
• Get your electricity from OVO as an electricity only or dual fuel customer.
• Have a smart meter that can communicate half hourly data to OVO. You agree to provide this data to OVO and allow OVO to settle your electricity supply using your half hourly data. If you aren’t currently opted in to sharing half-hourly data, you agree that we can automatically update your preferences.
• Receive your Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) from OVO.
• Have a compatible battery which Kaluza can connect to in order to optimise. We will expand this list of compatible battery brands over time.
• Allow your battery to be controlled by us and not override our operating schedule.
• Enable your Battery to connect with us by ensuring it is connected to the internet at all times. If we’re unable to communicate with your Battery, we’ll be unable to optimise it for you and you won’t receive Battery Boost Credits.

4.2 You won’t be able to receive energy credits from other OVO initiatives, including:

• Charge Anytime
• Heat Pump Plus

You cannot receive credits from flexibility services provided by a third party.

4.3 You must meet and continue to meet the requirements set out in these Terms, our Core Terms and the terms of any other products or services you hold with us.

5. Data sharing

5.1 In order to provide Battery Boost, OVO and Kaluza need to access and share the data from your Battery including your solar generation data, electricity used from the grid and real-time Battery data. We’ll review the electricity imported by us to your battery to be able to apply your Battery Boost Credits. We’ll also receive performance data from your Battery to help us develop our propositions in the future.

5.2 By signing up for Battery Boost you agree to us accessing and processing the following data for the purpose of optimising your Battery, including:

(a) your name, installation address, email address, Battery and inverter make and model, real-time battery state information (such as battery state of charge, charging/discharging status, electricity usage as measured by all available meters provided by your Battery and inverter). This data will be shared with us by GivEnergy (consent for this having being given by you during the GivEnergy installation journey); and

(b) your username, account number or equivalent credentials for your battery and OVO account number; and

(c) your solar generation, energy usage and energy exported to the grid; and

(d) your solar installation details including longitude, latitude, installation Capacity/Device capacity: kW, tilt angle, azimuth angle and installation date; and

(e) your half-hourly electricity data from your smart meter.

5.3 By signing up to Battery Boost you also agree to:

• allow OVO to share the data listed at clause 5.2 above (“Data”) with Kaluza to notify them that you are a customer with Battery Boost and to allow them to optimise your Battery;
• allow Kaluza to share details relating to your Battery including make and model, efficiency and battery capacity, as well as Battery charging consumption data with OVO, via the Kaluza Flex Platform and;
• allow Kaluza and OVO to share your Data with GivEnergy for the purposes of charging your battery and confirming it is charged;

5.4 You can change your data sharing preferences at any time. But if you do, you will no longer be able to benefit from Battery Boost, as we will no longer have the data we need to be able to provide the service to you.

5.5 We take looking after your data very seriously and will only ever use your data as set out in these Terms and in accordance with our privacy policy. More information can be found in OVO Energy’s privacy policy (ovoenergy.com/privacy-policy).

6. Data Accuracy and exclusions 

6.1 Battery Boost Credits will be added to your account based on the data we receive from your Battery. OVO takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the data received from your Battery and the accuracy of the Battery Boost Credits paid using that data. However, if we think that your device is sending inaccurate data, OVO reserves the right to remove you from the Battery Boost add-on. We’ll let you know if we remove you by your preferred communication route. Please talk to your Battery manufacturer if you’re concerned about the accuracy of data recorded by your Battery.

6.2 You’re responsible for making all arrangements necessary to ensure your Battery is connected to the internet and to your OVO energy account. If your Battery is offline at any point for any reason or disconnected from the internet for any reason, we won’t record your energy consumption during this time or be able to credit you for this time. 

7. Changes to Battery Boost

7.1 We reserve the right to make changes to Battery Boost including, without limitation, changing the value of the Battery Boost Credit or withdrawing Battery Boost at any time. We will give you reasonable notice of any changes. If we make a change and you don’t wish to continue with Battery Boost following notice of this change, you can withdraw from Battery Boost (see section 8).

7.2 If we decide to stop offering Battery Boost, your Battery Boost Credits will stop and your Battery consumption will be billed at your standard electricity rate.

8. Withdrawing from Battery Boost

8.1 You’re free to withdraw from Battery Boost at any time. Please contact [email protected] or call 0330 102 7416 to do this.

8.2 If you withdraw from Battery Boost, we’ll stop adding Battery Boost credits from the date you request to be removed. Any credits due to this date will be credited to your account within 30 days.

8.3 We’ll stop optimising your Battery from the day you request to be removed from Battery Boost and your Battery will be set to a load matching state. You can set your Battery to operate in your preferred way from this point onwards.

9. Liability

9.1 If we fail to comply with these Terms, we’re responsible for any foreseeable loss or damage you suffer as a result of our breaching these Terms and Conditions or our failure to use reasonable care and skill. We’re not responsible for any unforeseeable loss or damage.

9.2 We won’t be liable for any failure to credit your account for reasons outside our reasonable control, including if we aren’t able to gather adequate information from your Battery, you don’t leave your Battery connected to the internet or you otherwise fail to comply with these Terms and Conditions.

9.3 Nothing in these Terms and Conditions will limit or exclude our liability to you for death or personal injury as a result of our negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other matter in respect of which it would be unlawful for us to exclude or limit liability. 

9.4 Where clause 9.3 doesn’t apply, our maximum liability to you under these Terms and Conditions if you suffer any loss or damage as a direct result of something we’ve done, will be no more than £10,000 per event or series of events if they’re connected.

10. Suspension and Termination

10.1 You agree to comply at all times in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. If we determine (acting reasonably) that you are in breach of these Terms or that you are acting in a fraudulent manner (e.g. setting up your Battery so that Battery Boost Credits apply to electricity that’s unrelated to charging your Battery), we may immediately:

• provide you with a warning;
• suspend or remove you from the Battery Boost add-on;
• issue legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs resulting from your breach and/or fraudulent use (including, but not limited to, reasonable legal and administrative costs);
• take further legal action against you; and/or
• disclose such information to law enforcement authorities as we feel is reasonably necessary.

11. Contact Us

If you need support, you can call our support team on 0330 102 7416 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or email [email protected]. You can also find out more about Battery Boost by visiting www.ovoenergy.com/battery-boost.

12. General 

12.1 We reserve the right to change these Terms. Unless the reason for the change is due to a change in law or for security reasons – in which case we may need to change these Terms on shorter notice – we’ll provide you with at least 10 days’ advance notice of any changes.

12.2 You must not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms to anyone without our permission. We can transfer any of our rights or obligations under these Terms without your permission. If we transfer our rights pursuant to this clause 12.2 and your rights are materially affected, we’ll notify you and you may withdraw from Battery Boost (see section 8).

12.3 Each section of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining section will remain in effect.

12.4 If we delay in enforcing these Terms against you, we can still enforce them later.

12.5 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales if your property is in England or Wales, and the laws of Scotland if your property is in Scotland. If there is any dispute between us, it’ll 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.

Last Updated: 16 October 2024