Ohm Hours

Ohm Hours or OhmConnect, is a website where you link your electric company to. The electric company pays Ohm hours to help them keep energy levels down during estimated spike times because it's cheaper for the electric company to pay someone to do this than it is to pay for the increase in energy usage. Then in return, Ohm hours pays a part of their earnings to the members based off of the amount of energy that they saved during these times.

Sometimes because of how the information is shared there is a bit of a delay before you know how you did during the hours. Also, sometimes because of the nature of spike there could be little delay before you are told about upcoming hours. My experience so far has been very fair warning with slightly slow result time, but I really love the service so far.

If you're interested in this free program I've detailed the money that I've earned, saved, and what I did to make sure that my usage was under during the hours. There's a ton more that can be done, but this is what works for us at home.

Tuesday, Aug 1, 8:00-9:00 PM (2017)

Results:

Forecast: .223 kWh

Actual: .051 kWh

Earnings: .31 cents

*Bonus Percent: 0%

Streak: 1

*Bonuses are given when you have a streak of meeting your forecast. My streak is 0 here because I just started.

We received our warning about the Ohm Hours 24 hours in advance. We usual have settled down to the couch by this time and watch some TV. Instead we made our lap around the apartment, unplugged everything except the fridge and internet box, and read books to our daughter. We unplugged everything. Lamps, microwave, chargers, etc… Basically anything that was plugged in we unplugged. It was still light out so we kept all of the lights off.

Wednesday, Aug 2, 6:00-8:00 (2017)

Results:

Forecast: 1.376kWh

Actual: .215kWh

Earnings: $1.73

Bonus Percent: 5%

Streak: 2

We received our warning about the Ohm Hours 24 hours in advance. Again, we made a lap around the house and unplugged every single thing possible that we could. We had planned on going grocery shopping at this time so we weren't in the house for the first hour. To avoid any temptation of using electricity we made a plan to clean out the car, which desperately needed it. After that was done we had about 30 minutes to spare. We went inside and used the remaining daylight we had to read books for our daughter before bed time.

Thursday, Aug 10, 7:00-8:00 PM (2017)

Results:

Forecast: .25 kWh

Actual: 1.105 kWh

Earnings: -$1.37

Bonus Percent: 0%

Streak: 0

Even though we had the fair warning of 24 hours, real life caught up to us and we weren't very prepared for this one. We had gone to the store to get a few things that we needed for a little project and by the time we made it home we had ten minutes before our hour started. This was fine and all, but because of the timing of the day we hadn't made supper yet. We did manage to get everything unplugged and ready, but we cooked for a straight hour on an electric stove… Not the best way to spend an hour where you're supposed to be saving energy. Needless to say we failed this time.

Saturday, Aug 19, 3:00-4:00 PM

Results:

Forecast: .168 kWh

Actual: .111 kWh

Earnings: .07 cents

Bonus Percent: 0%

Streak: 1

I wasn't home for this, but my spouse says she simply unplugged everything and didn't use any electricity. We cut this one close, but I have to believe it's because our forecast was lower than usual.

Monday, Aug 21, 10:00-11:00 AM

Results:

Forecast: .242 kWh

Actual: .021 kWh

Earnings: .37 cents

Bonus Percent: 5%

Streak: 2

This one was during a total eclipse and we had about a week notice. Basically all of the electricity that would be generated because of solar power takes a bit hit here. We definitely crushed the forecast here. I was at work, while my family was outside experiencing the eclipse so there was no usage. We unplugged everything like usual.

Thursday, Aug 24, 5:00-6:00 PM

Results:

Forecast: .697 kWh

Actual: .096 kWh

Earnings: .72 cents

Bonus Percent: 10%

Streak: 3

We had ten minutes notice on this one and I didn't notice the text message until about 10 minutes after the hour had already started. It was a little frustrating because we planned on cooking dinner at this time, but we found out that dinner prep and a little cleaning of the kitchen actually took up the rest of the hour. I tried to run around and unplug everything real quick, but forgot to unplug the microwave and the toaster, both of which we should probably get in the practice of not even having plugged in unless we are using them. We made it another day though and we are starting to build up a good streak.

Monday, Aug 28, 6:00-8:00 PM

Results:

Forecast: .689 kWh

Actual: .052 kWh

Earnings: $1.08

Bonus Percent: 15%

Streak: 4

We had 24 hour notice and knew we were going to be over at our families house for dinner at the time. We simply unplugged everything in the house other than the fridge and stove and shut off all of the lights before we went home. We also noticed a pretty big savings on our electric bill this month. Our bill dropped by $12 dollars. If we can keep up that average savings every month there's an automatic $144 in our pockets.

Friday, Sep 1, 5:00-7:00

Forecast: .1.218 kWh

Actual: .226 kWh

Earnings: $3.83

Bonus Percent: 20%

Streak: 5

This was during a heat wave, a terrible heat wave that was in the high 100's. Luckily we weren't at home at the time and were enjoying ourselves in the ocean water. That night was miserable though even with the fans on and windows open. (We don't own any air conditioners.)

Monday, Sep 11, 6:00-8:00 PM

Forecast: .517 kWh

Actual: .826 kWh

Earnings: $0.00

Bonus Percent: 30%

Streak: 6

OOPS! Actually, oops on them and not us. They forgot to send the message out to everyone so we were in the middle of cooking dinner and watching TV. They made it right and didn't take any money away. That being said, I would have made money if I knew the hour was coming so I did lose a little in a way. I think they also added an additional percentage to my next streak and added this to my streak count as well. Mistakes happen and the big thing is keeping my streak up so I can earn bigger payouts.

(Updating frequently!)

Wednesday, Sep 13, 5:00-6:00 PM

Forecast: .706 kWh

Actual: .015 kWh

Earnings: $1.18

Bonus Percent: 40%

Streak: 7

Same old same old. My spouse went grocery shopping and visited with her family and I worked on some leisure writing while relaxing for a moment. We regrouped and went about our day as normal.

Thursday, Sep 21, 6:00-7:00 PM

Forecast: .6 kWh

Actual: .111 kWh

Earnings: $1.31

Bonus Percent: 35%

Streak: 8

We already had dinner made and our normal activities completed so we went for a nice walk through the woods as a family. By the time we got home it was time to turn the power back on.

Wednesday, Sep 27, 5:00-6:00

Forecast: TBD

Actual: TBD

Earnings: TBD

Bonus Percent: TBD

Streak: TBD

Sign up here. (Or link at top of page!)