Advice on electricity use and smart meter

theoretica

You can get energy meters which would let you see how much the old freezer is actually using. Or just switch it off sometime you are going out for a couple of hours, and turn everything else off too.  Have you checked the seal recently?  Does it need defrosting?  Those increase energy use.

mickyduck55

I replaced my "old" chest freezer because it used a little too much power.. replaced with modern A+ upright... very bad decision on my part.. Old one probably used 150% what the new one does BUT it held a LOT more and in this very hot summer I think the chest would have been more economical as it was not loosing all the cool air every time I opened the door.  The minimal saving in electricity has been far outweighed by not being able to purchase "special offers or reduced price items"... because I don't have the space.  Its not all about how much electricity we use.....

Exiled_Tyke

Screwdriva said:

Hi! At risk of cementing my reputation for going against the herd on batteries (and a few other things), I would suggest spending some time with this calculator. You may find that the Octopus Outgoing Agile tariff offers a compelling alternative to the upfront spend and relatively shorter life of a battery. 

What panels do you have? I'm assuming you don't have the benefit of a FIT tariff so they shouldn't be <350Watts? Our household usage averages ~3 kWh (0.70p-£1) on most days this month if that helps? We export between 2-3X this amount and are paid well over 0.25p per kWh via Outgoing Agile, and so, are effectively paid a small amount everyday. 

Given that we are pretty close to the time of year where export becomes minimal I would be looking to get an Octopus Go import tariff and if Agile export rates are still high look at changing over in the Spring. 

Screwdriva

Exiled_Tyke said:

Given that we are pretty close to the time of year where export becomes minimal I would be looking to get an Octopus Go import tariff and if Agile export rates are still high look at changing over in the Spring. 

Octopus Go without a battery?

Exiled_Tyke

Screwdriva said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

Given that we are pretty close to the time of year where export becomes minimal I would be looking to get an Octopus Go import tariff and if Agile export rates are still high look at changing over in the Spring. 

Octopus Go without a battery?

Yes. Because the Op has a BEV to charge so does have a battery albeit not a household one. 

dizzybee001

thanks again everyone. I’m sure I ready somewhere that you can’t get the Octopus tariff for electric vehicles and the Seg import at the same time? 

I’m definitely going to look into Octopus go today!  

Also going to empty out the freezer in the garage asap and then turn it off to see how much the bill reduces!! 

ABrass

dizzybee001 said:

thanks again everyone. I’m sure I ready somewhere that you can’t get the Octopus tariff for electric vehicles and the Seg import at the same time? 

I’m definitely going to look into Octopus go today!  

Also going to empty out the freezer in the garage asap and then turn it off to see how much the bill reduces!! 

You're probably thinking of Octopus Go tarrif and the Octopus Agile tarrif.

Obviously enough you can't be on both tarrifs at once. So you either get guaranteed cheap rate power at night (Octopus Go) or you get much better but fluctuating export rates for your solar power and might, or might not, get cheap power at any time (Octopus Agile)

EricMears

dizzybee001 said: I’m sure I ready somewhere that you can’t get the Octopus tariff for electric vehicles and the Seg import at the same time? 

Although you can't have Go or GoFaster AND the variable export tariff,  I believe you can get a fixed rate SEG from Octopus (set at a bit below the offpeak gp retas).

dizzybee001

Hi everyone I took the plunge and called Octopus today and I am switched and waiting to apply for Octopus go and the SEG scheme which does pay more than Eon so fingers crossed I can make some savings.

The day time rate on Octopus go is higher than the standard rate on Eon 39.35 kw vs 27.63 so I will have to be savvy during the day and only use appliances when I am generating, my cups of tea during the day are going to cost me more but hopefully I will reap the benefits charging the car at night?

Alnat1

You might find a low powered kettle helps when your panels aren't making the 3kw that most kettles seem to use.