Batteries and saving sessions

Petriix

Mikeyboy01443 said:

The octopus FAQ page actually says people should use more in the period before:

What should you do to avoid this?

Try to shift more of your peak energy to before the Session – e.g. try to run the washing and cook earlier rather than later – and avoid switching everything off hours ahead of time.

They also have this ...

Couldn’t I just game the system by using much more power before the Session?

We can’t blame you for wondering! But the cost of using much more energy every day over Winter just so you can earn more during a few hours of Saving Sessions just wouldn’t add up favourably in the end.

I dont understand how they work out my savings though, for example my average usage in the 2 weeks before the 23rd 5-6pm was 1.059kwh... in the 3 hour IDA period on the 23rd i used 16.7kwh... my saving equated to 5.44kwh (i think), as i was running on battery during the saving session time so usage should have been zero.

Can anyone work it out??

Basically your usage in the 3 hour IDA window is averaged for each 30 minute settlement period. These are compared to the average of the same 30 minute usage on previous days. The average difference is then added to your average usage in the actual Saving Session settlement periods.

Your 16.7 kWh effectively has whatever you normally use in that time deducted and is divided by 6 leaving something like 2.5kW as your IDA. This is added to your average usage in the two 30-minute slots between 5-6pm (~500 Wh in each) giving you ~ 3 kWh adjusted average in each.

It looks like you used about 280 Wh in each of the 30 minute slots in the Saving Session itself so 'saved' 2.7 kW compared to the adjusted average in each. 

Mikeyboy01443

Petriix said:

Mikeyboy01443 said:

The octopus FAQ page actually says people should use more in the period before:

What should you do to avoid this?

Try to shift more of your peak energy to before the Session – e.g. try to run the washing and cook earlier rather than later – and avoid switching everything off hours ahead of time.

They also have this ...

Couldn’t I just game the system by using much more power before the Session?

We can’t blame you for wondering! But the cost of using much more energy every day over Winter just so you can earn more during a few hours of Saving Sessions just wouldn’t add up favourably in the end.

I dont understand how they work out my savings though, for example my average usage in the 2 weeks before the 23rd 5-6pm was 1.059kwh... in the 3 hour IDA period on the 23rd i used 16.7kwh... my saving equated to 5.44kwh (i think), as i was running on battery during the saving session time so usage should have been zero.

Can anyone work it out??

Basically your usage in the 3 hour IDA window is averaged for each 30 minute settlement period. These are compared to the average of the same 30 minute usage on previous days. The average difference is then added to your average usage in the actual Saving Session settlement periods.

Your 16.7 kWh effectively has whatever you normally use in that time deducted and is divided by 6 leaving something like 2.5kW as your IDA. This is added to your average usage in the two 30-minute slots between 5-6pm (~500 Wh in each) giving you ~ 3 kWh adjusted average in each.

It looks like you used about 280 Wh in each of the 30 minute slots in the Saving Session itself so 'saved' 2.7 kW compared to the adjusted average in each. 

Thats great, that makes sense to me I think! so for the 24th where the SS was 1.5 hours, would i need to look at the average of 1630-1800 on the previous two weeks to get the average, do you think?

Petriix

Mikeyboy01443 said:

Petriix said:

Mikeyboy01443 said:

The octopus FAQ page actually says people should use more in the period before:

What should you do to avoid this?

Try to shift more of your peak energy to before the Session – e.g. try to run the washing and cook earlier rather than later – and avoid switching everything off hours ahead of time.

They also have this ...

Couldn’t I just game the system by using much more power before the Session?

We can’t blame you for wondering! But the cost of using much more energy every day over Winter just so you can earn more during a few hours of Saving Sessions just wouldn’t add up favourably in the end.

I dont understand how they work out my savings though, for example my average usage in the 2 weeks before the 23rd 5-6pm was 1.059kwh... in the 3 hour IDA period on the 23rd i used 16.7kwh... my saving equated to 5.44kwh (i think), as i was running on battery during the saving session time so usage should have been zero.

Can anyone work it out??

Basically your usage in the 3 hour IDA window is averaged for each 30 minute settlement period. These are compared to the average of the same 30 minute usage on previous days. The average difference is then added to your average usage in the actual Saving Session settlement periods.

Your 16.7 kWh effectively has whatever you normally use in that time deducted and is divided by 6 leaving something like 2.5kW as your IDA. This is added to your average usage in the two 30-minute slots between 5-6pm (~500 Wh in each) giving you ~ 3 kWh adjusted average in each.

It looks like you used about 280 Wh in each of the 30 minute slots in the Saving Session itself so 'saved' 2.7 kW compared to the adjusted average in each. 

Thats great, that makes sense to me I think! so for the 24th where the SS was 1.5 hours, would i need to look at the average of 1630-1800 on the previous two weeks to get the average, do you think?

Sort of... It's the previous 10 (maximum) eligible, non saving session, days within the last 60 days. It's basically done in 30 minute chunks but working out the total average will give the same result (unless one is vastly higher or lower than the others). 

Mikeyboy01443

Thanks, I've looked at my figures and based on that i may get about 45 quid back. just had the email from Octopus for the 23rd:

• You saved 5.446kWh, which earned you 14704 OctoPoints – worth £18.38.

as stated above, my average for the 2 weeks previous to this during the same window, was 1.05kwh... during the IDA period i used 16.7kwh... for the one on the 24th, i used more in the IDA and it was for 1.5 hrs so should be more..

michaels

£71 for the 24th, I was expecting over £100, Hugo do not show the calcs.

Mikeyboy01443

michaels said:

£71 for the 24th, I was expecting over £100, Hugo do not show the calcs.

good going! can you look at what you used in your house (do you have solar) and what you used from your energy supplier in the IDA period?

michaels

IDA period 39.6kwh, normal is 0.3kwh, saving period 0.2kwh which is probably about normal.  Payment I thought was £5.46 per kwh.

Data from n3gry

Petriix

michaels said:

IDA period 39.6kwh, normal is 0.3kwh, saving period 0.2kwh which is probably about normal.  Payment I thought was £5.46 per kwh.

Data from n3gry

You also need to deduct your normal usage in the IDA window - I assume that you don't usually use zero at that time? 

michaels

Petriix said:

michaels said:

IDA period 39.6kwh, normal is 0.3kwh, saving period 0.2kwh which is probably about normal.  Payment I thought was £5.46 per kwh.

Data from n3gry

You also need to deduct your normal usage in the IDA window - I assume that you don't usually use zero at that time? 

Normal usage 0.1kwh per hour or less as per above.  It did seem unclear whether the exclusion of saving event days would also apply to the IDA calculation though.

michaels

Another session 9AM tomorrow so time to get that load on between 5 and 8