Solar Panels & Electricity Tariffs and an EV

RonaldR16

Two years ago I decided to take the plunge and order an EV (Peugeot E2008), I completely got behind the idea and benefits of driving an EV, 1% BIK Tax Rate, 1p per mile in costs, 4p per mile rebate which were not subject to Income Tax or National Insurance contributions. I also took advantage of the government scheme to claim £350 to go towards the cost of installing a charge point in my home. Then June 2021 I pondered the thought of having a solar panel system installed in my home. 
There are a lot of installers/providers out there, but I decided to speak with EoN and I must admit that they were very helpful. They looked into my usage for the year, which at the time with the EV came to 14500 kWh and completed a site survey of my property, with solar projections etc. Due to my projected consumption with the car as well as being a family of 6 they advised that I have a 6.6kWH system, but not to have batteries as this would probably double the costs and I would not get the full benefit of the use of the batteries.
I signed up to Octopus Go Faster tariff on a 5 hour night rate @ 5.5p per kWh and 15.96p per kWh at other times. I ordered my solar panel system as a result of having 20 panels in my system I needed a form of planning permission, but EoN handled all that. One thing I almost forgot to mention was the structure of the purchase, I was able to buy the system interest free over 3 years. 
So based on 14450 kWh if I did not have the panels my costs would be approx £144.50 per month. My panels were installed in November, so because the daylight hours are less, in the month of December my panels only generated 63kWh of for which I used about 80% and exported the rest.
At the end of February I had a change of role at work where my driving for business dropped down to 0 and I stopped driving to the office and started to ride a bike to work. I did notice some dramatic changes in our consumption, where as a result of this, our annual household reliance on the Grid is expected to be approx 3600 kWh per year. My solar panel system is forecast to export about the same amount. and we will over the course of the year use approximately 1/3 of what we are generating. 
Now here is the dilemma, my current deal with Octopus is coming to an end at the end of September, would it be best to revert to the capped price tariff, currently at 28p per kWh, until that increases in October, or is it worth securing another deal for an EV with Octopus where the peak rate is 35p per kWh and 7.5p at off peak
If I go with the capped price, then my costs could be £1135.75 per year for electricity, coupled with a rebate for exported energy will knock this down to £937.75 per year. When the Governments rebate of £400 kicks in, that will reduce the costs further to approx £537.75 per year or £44.81 per month. Without the panels my average monthly costs could be £93.94 per month. 
If anyone else has any experiences like this I would like to know as I am finding it very hard to decide with a fix deal or to revert to the fixed cap price. My only hope that as a result of the high energy costs that the price for SEG rates increases as well.
Many thanks and kind regards 
Ron

Reed_Richards

If that is the best deal you can get from Octopus then take it.  The price of electricity will rise in October making 35p per unit seem perfectly reasonable.  If you wait, that deal may no longer be available.

[Deleted User]

RonaldR16 said:

My only hope that as a result of the high energy costs that the price for SEG rates increases as well.
Many thanks and kind regards 
Ron

I am tempted to suggest you were poorly advised by your installer re a home battery but I guess that he was working on the energy prices at the time.

By going to one of Octopus’ non time-of-use tariffs, you can move your export to Agile Outgoing.

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile-outgoing-export/