How To Control When You Receive #OhmHours For Convenience & Maximum Earnings

Whether you’ve been an OhmConnect user since the very beginning, or you’re a fresh, new recruit on the platform, you may not realize this: you have the power to control when your #OhmHours happen.

‍

It’s true!

‍

Since the purpose of #OhmHours are to ensure that we can collectively reduce as much energy as possible, we want to make sure that if an #OhmHour is scheduled, you can participate — and save energy! It doesn’t help anyone if you go over your baseline and lose points, so we want to avoid that at all costs.

‍

And we get it. Sometimes #OhmHours just aren’t convenient. Maybe you host a book club every Tuesday from 8-9pm, or maybe 7-8pm is when you routinely give your baby a bath. Life happens!

‍

Related Post: Never Break Your Streak Again - How To Succeed At Even The Most Inconvenient of #OhmHours

‍

So to help make the most of OhmConnect, we’ve given you the ability to control when your power-down #OhmHours happen.

‍

How To Control When You Receive #OhmHours

‍

Step #1: Go to your OhmConnect dashboard and click on your personal icon in the top, right-hand corner of the screen.

‍

Step # 2: Click on ‘account’ (or ‘settings’, depending on whether you’ve gotten the new version of the dashboard yet)

Step #3: Scroll to the bottom of the page until you see the section called ‘Times You’d Like to Recieve #OhmHours’

‍

‍

Step #4: Edit the timeframes when you’d like to receive #OhmHours. You’re able to choose different times for both weekdays and weekends, since life’s different on different days!

‍

That’s it! You’ll now get #OhmHours only during those specific times.

‍

How To Time Your #OhmHours For Maximum Earnings

‍

While you might be inclined to choose to get #OhmHours only during times when you’re never home, it’s probably not your best bet.

‍

Maximum earnings will happen if you schedule an #OhmHour during a time when you would normally be using a lot of energy.

‍

Why’s that?

‍

Because your energy forecast is based on the amount of energy you typically use during that same time period over previous days.

‍

Related article: “How Do My #OhmHour Points Get Calculated?” Understanding Your Forecast to Maximize Earnings

‍

It’s a bit complicated, but here’s a good example so you can see how it works:

‍

Example 1: Planning an #OhmHour for when you’re not normally home

• OhmConnect User: Susan from Fresno, California
• Living situation: Shares a three-bedroom house with her husband and two kids
• Energy profile: Has an average energy usage of 0.5 kWh during the day and 1.5kWh in the evening
• Opted to get #OhmHours at 4pm: Susan and her husband work and their kids are both in school during the day so Susan thought having an #OhmHour at 4pm seemed like a great idea since nobody would be home and it would be easy to use very little power.
• #OhmHour Fail: Susan’s home’s average energy use between 4-5pm over the previous 10 days was 0.5 kWh, so forecast was 0.5kWh. Why so low, you might ask? With Susan’s entire family out of the house every day at 4pm, their energy use at that time is really low. The averages of 10 low numbers is… another low number! And so, the 4pm #OhmHour came and went and Susan wasn’t able to beat her forecast. She turned off the lights before leaving the house, but her home used 0.7 kWh during the #OhmHour anyway. By planning her #OhmHours during a time when her energy usage is already typically quite low, Susan was setting herself up for failure.

‍

Example 2: Planning an #OhmHour over dinnertime

• OhmConnect User: Susan from Fresno (hi again!)
• Opted to get an #OhmHour at 6pm: Susan and her family typically cook dinner around 6pm. This time, she chose to get an #OhmHour right at this time (when they normally use lots of energy and their forecast is high — 2.0 kWh!). But instead of cooking at 6pm, Susan prepared a meal in their crockpot that morning and the family ate outside at the picnic table, basically shutting down their home during the #OhmHour!
• #OhmHour Win: Susan and her family easily beat their energy forecast (they used only 0.3 kWh during the hour) and earned a ton of points. Plus, they had the fun of dinner al fresco!

‍

And there you have it!

‍

By opting to get an #OhmHour when her family normally uses lots of energy and by preparing ahead of time, Susan was able to earn a lot more points. So now that you know the tricks of the trade, you can schedule your #OhmHours for both convenience and maximum cash earnings.

‍