# Understanding Watts and Forecast to Maximize Your Earnings > What are Watts and how do I earn them Watts are the total amount you can earn during an OhmHour or AutoOhm event Think of Watts as the OhmConnect currency Source: https://ohmconnect.kustomer.help/help/understanding-your-watts-to-maximize-earnings-Hyabq8NO Last updated: 2024-06-21T19:53:17.134Z ## What are Watts and how do I earn them? Watts are the total amount you can earn during an OhmHour or AutoOhm event. Think of Watts as the OhmConnect currency! **Here are a few key terms to keep in mind:**  * **Watts:** Your Watts are the average of your historical electricity use in the same time period as the event. If you were to use absolutely no power during an OhmHour, you would earn the maximum amount of Energy Watts. If the event is on a weekday, we average the past 10 weekdays without energy events. If the event is on a weekend, we average the past four weekend days without energy events. * **Device Watts:** Watts you earn automatically for each device that is connected to OhmConnect and turns off when the OhmHour begins.To earn Device Watts, be sure your device is on before the event and able to participate. When the event starts, we will automatically turn the plug off. You don’t have to do a thing! * **S****urge Bonus Watts:** When there is extreme demand on the grid and energy reductions are needed more than ever, you may see what's called a Surge Bonus and a 2X, 3X or even 10X multiplier will be applied to that OhmHour's Watts. ### How are Watts calculated? Watts are calculated using the historical data provided via your smart meter. In its simplest terms, it’s your average energy use for the similar time periods as the OhmHour. Let’s look at a specific example to explain how it works in more detail. Let’s say you receive an OhmHour on Thursday from 2 – 3PM. OhmConnect averages your usage from 2 – 3PM from the previous ten weekdays. If this OhmHour happened on a weekend, your usage during the most recent four weekend days are used. After all, your usage during a weekday while you’re at work is likely quite different from a Saturday evening when you're home. Say your average usage on the previous 10 weekdays was 1.3 kWh, then your Forecast would be 1300. If you had an OhmHour on any of those 10 previous days, that date is skipped because we expect you to have used less energy than normal if you had an event before this one.  Based on this, your goal for this particular OhmHour would be to reduce your energy use to less than 1.3 kWh from 2 – 3PM. The more you reduce, the more Watts you will earn. If you use more electricity — let’s say you use 2 kWh instead — and do not beat your forecast for the OhmHour event, there would be a small penalty.  ### What is a Forecast? Past OhmHour and AutoOhm event participation is taken into account to determine your forecast. As mentioned above, if you participated in an OhmHour during any of the days used to calculate your forecast, that day will not be factored into the average. This is done to prevent you from having an unfairly low forecast calculation, as you would have saved more energy than usual during the event! Similarly, holiday are also excluded from the calculation, and in the event a holiday falls within the 10 day forecast time frame, OhmConnect pulls the following and most recent day's data for the calculation. Keep in mind that if your utility has not yet updated your smart meter data from the preceding days, OhmConnect won’t be able to calculate your forecast or Watts and appropriate earnings. When this happens, you may see your OhmHours results as 'Calculating' until we receive the correct data from your utility.  ### OhmHour Results Calculation Here is the formula for how your Watts are calculated for an OhmHour event: (Number of Watts saved during the OhmHour) + (Number of Watts earned for your linked smart devices) + (Watts earned for a Surge Bonus) Your actual usage, or the Watts you were able to save, is calculated from the meter data your utility sends us. We generally receive it within 48 hours, however there are instances when it is delayed and will be updated as soon as the utility sends the data. To see a detailed calculation of your OhmHour results, click on the (i) icon next to Event Impact in the ‘Events’ tab on your dashboard. Additionally, for more information about each OhmHour or AutoOhm, you can download your Watts history as a CSV file from the “Activity History” tab on your Settings page. **To note:** You earn 10 Device Watts per smart plug and 80 Device Watts per thermostat, for every 15 minutes they’re off during the event.  ### Why do the Watts in my OhmHour notification email not match my final Watts? It's important to know that when we send you your forecasted Watts prior an OhmHour, it is an estimate. Utilities often delay sending your smart meter data anywhere between 24 - 48 hours. So, if you see that your Watts have fluctuated, this likely means that in the intervening time, when we were able to calculate your Watts with the updated data and your usage during that time was higher/lower than your forecast.  ### Can I lose Watts? OhmConnect works directly with the grid and the Independent System Operator (the financial entity that oversees the grid) to reduce a certain amount of energy and create a positive impact. Think of this as an agreement we have to deliver the results we promised — accomplished through our member's collective energy savings. If our members are unable to beat their forecast, and reduce the required amount of energy during an OhmHour, we incur a financial penalty for that event. So, this is why you will see negative Watts applied to event in which you do not beat your forecast, and did not opt-out prior to the event.  Now that you know how your Watts are calculated, and how your forecast is factored in, you can take steps towards saving even more energy. Want to do a deeper dive into your personal energy usage data? It is always available to you within your utility provider’s online portal. For more tips and tricks, [here](https://www.ohmconnect.com/help/help/what-should-i-do-during-my-ohmhour-to-reduce-power-Hki5WhDVd) is a useful article that outlines ways to further reduce! Happy earning!