NOW CLOSED Mumsnetters wanted to be Ovo Energy Research Group members for 12 months - your gas and electricity bills could be paid for a year in exchange!

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

Ovo Energy have asked us to find 12 MNers to form a research group who they will work with over the course of a year, helping to develop new initiatives and providing feedback on existing activity.

Here is what Ovo Energy say about their plans: "Ovo Energy is about being cheaper, greener and simpler. We're doing things differently to other energy companies and part of that includes being open and honest. We're OK at this, but know we're not perfect, which is where you come in. We know that Mumsnetters aren't backwards in coming forwards with sharing their views (!) and would like to get your input on how we're doing, and how we can get better. We'd also like your help shaping our communications in the future - so this can be anything from what a bill looks like through to an advertising campaign."

We are looking for 12 UK MNers who are able to commit to:
~ Taking part in at least 2 online research activities per month - these will last 30mins-1 hour each and will need to be completed within 7 days of receiving the invitation
~ Attending up to 4 face-to-face research sessions during the year (one per quarter) - 2 of these will be daytime focus groups but the other 2 are more flexible and will be arranged around you. All expenses will be paid and they will be in locations convenient for panellists.

In exchange for your participation in all of the research activities you're invited to complete, your household energy bills will be paid by Ovo for 12 months. This will be done via monthly credits which will be in line with your existing household energy consumption. You will need to switch to Ovo in order to take part, but are free to switch again once the 12 months is up.
If you're interested in taking part, please sign up here. If you're selected, your details will be passed on to Ovo who will contact you. All data will be kept confidential by Ovo and will be used for research purposes only - you won't receive any marketing as a result.

Please note that all research activities will be organised and run by Ovo, we're just doing this initial recruitment stage on behalf of Ovo.

NB this applies to gas and electricity energy bills only.

If you have any queries about what's involved, please post them here and we'll get back to you.

Thanks
MNHQ

free bills...what's not to like about this one!

Applied, sounds intriguing. And knowing we could go mad with the heating for a year would be ACE

Indeed!

We live in a rented property can we still take part?

Looks good, their website is good, even if I am not chosen I will look at swapping to them for my energy supply.

Will they accept people who have one prepayment and one credit meter? Their website won't even quote me .....the prepayment meter was here when I moved in and I have just continued with it.

Sounds good, but I'm tied in with Scottish Power, and I'd get less out of this than most as we have solar PV, and our bills are negative when FiTs are taken into account! If I got paid an "average" bill's worth I'd be right on it!
Where are the face to face things?

I don't have gas, just electric. Can I apply?

InMySpareTime - the locations will be decided once panellists have been selected and Ovo have looked at their locations - they'll be in several locations that aren't too difficult for panellists to get to and all travel expenses will be paid.

Onetwothreeoops - yes, please do apply!

DukeSilver - yes, that's fine

JakeBullet - just checking with Ovo - will get back to you!

::crosses fingers::

The daytime ones- are they going to be weekends or week days? Sounds interesting but I won't be able to book specific days off work, I have specific holiday weeks.

Cheeky question- when they say pay our energy bills does that include paying the coal man as well as my electric? We don't have gas, all our hot water and central heating runs off solid fuel.

Done.

The company looks very interesting, I'm sick of struggling to pay my bills whilst the big energy companies fill their pockets

Signed up, bills paid for 12 months?? Well yes please!!!

Thanks Helen I'll sign up now

Done, thank you!

Done! Sounds great!

JakeBullet - Ovo aren't able to do pre-payment meters as the switching process is very complicated. Very sorry!

Done - pick me, pick me!

Indith - sorry, I'm afraid it doesn't cover coal man payments!

The face-to-face daytime events could be weekend or weekday - we're not sure at the moment but it's flexible depending on panellists' commitments.

worth a try

I like their website and their really simple tariffs :)

Can I go wild and actually put the heating on at night when baby's in bed?

This sounds amazing!

I'll be watching with interest. It's about time a supplier actively embraced and promoted renewable power sources.

Go on, how long do we need to wait until the crushing disappointment of not being picked?