Octopus rates for EV and solar but no batteries

wizzler

We have 8 solar panels that on a good day in summer produce up-to 20kwh, and have just got an EV. However I’m scratching my head about about deciding which of the Octopus rates will suit us best. Most of the specific low overnight EV rates will slash our solar export rate from 15p per KWH to 4.2p and it seems that the rates that follow the market are more targeted at or suitable for households that have batteries as well.

[Deleted User]

Octopus refuses to pay more for exported electricity than the consumer pays for Grid imports. You could look at Agile Incoming and Outgoing whilst your panels are exporting to the Grid, and then switch to Go or IO when solar output falls in late Autumn. Alternatively, you could look for an alternative SEG payer with a higher rate whilst staying on an Octopus EV tariff.

lohr500

Slightly off-topic but can I ask what size panels you have to generate 20kWh on a good summer's day? That sounds like a very high output.

Moneysavingchap

lohr500 said:

Slightly off-topic but can I ask what size panels you have to generate 20kWh on a good summer's day? That sounds like a very high output.

If OP has around a 3.5-4kWp system then on a sunny summers day with lots of light then a generation of 20kWh doesn't sound unrealistic?

mmmmikey

I don't think there's an easy or obvious answer to this and it's going to come down to doing the sums to see whether it's better to take the hit on your export income or pay more for your EV charging.

Just a couple of comments on what you describe as "rates that follow the market". There are 2 of these for import - Agile & Tracker. 

Agile is a Time of Use tariff and also follows market rates, which means that you pay a different amount each half hour and also the rate you pay at any given time varies from one day to the next. There are normally cheap periods (overnight and mid afternoon) which you can use to keep the cost down. I'm on this tariff and making a big saving over the SVR but having to work quite hard to beat Tracker rates, and that includes using a battery system. So this would only be a good option if you can control your usage to a high degree and others in the household are onboard and supportive.

Tracker gives you the same rate all day but the rate varies from one day to the next. At the moment this is way cheaper than SVR but there's no guarantee that will last. Because you get the same rate all day, the benefit of a typical solar battery system is limited so might be an option for you as you don't need a solar battery to use it to good advanatage. There's lots of discussion about Tracker on other threads if you want to consider that further.

mmmmikey

lohr500 said:

Slightly off-topic but can I ask what size panels you have to generate 20kWh on a good summer's day? That sounds like a very high output.

Are you confusing kWh with kW, maybe? My 4kW array (16 old-ish panels) generates about 20kWh on a good day in summer.

[Deleted User]

Just a couple of comments on what you describe as "rates that follow the market". There are 2 of these for import - Agile & Tracker. 

As IO; Flux; Cosy and Go are now deemed to be variable tariffs then it could be argued that they also follow the market but less dynamically than Agile or Tracker.

lohr500

Thanks for the clarification @mmmmikey.
So if I understand correctly the panels would produce +/-20kwH in total across the full day.

wizzler

[Deleted User] said:

Octopus refuses to pay more for exported electricity than the consumer pays for Grid imports. You could look at Agile Incoming and Outgoing whilst your panels are exporting to the Grid, and then switch to Go or IO when solar output falls in late Autumn. Alternatively, you could look for an alternative SEG payer with a higher rate whilst staying on an Octopus EV tariff.

Thanks yes that’s what I was thinking in terms of… Though as we’re off on holiday for a few weeks imminently might well just leave it as it is with the current decent export rate until we’re back. 

wizzler

mmmmikey said:

I don't think there's an easy or obvious answer to this and it's going to come down to doing the sums to see whether it's better to take the hit on your export income or pay more for your EV charging.

Just a couple of comments on what you describe as "rates that follow the market". There are 2 of these for import - Agile & Tracker. 

Agile is a Time of Use tariff and also follows market rates, which means that you pay a different amount each half hour and also the rate you pay at any given time varies from one day to the next. There are normally cheap periods (overnight and mid afternoon) which you can use to keep the cost down. I'm on this tariff and making a big saving over the SVR but having to work quite hard to beat Tracker rates, and that includes using a battery system. So this would only be a good option if you can control your usage to a high degree and others in the household are onboard and supportive.

Tracker gives you the same rate all day but the rate varies from one day to the next. At the moment this is way cheaper than SVR but there's no guarantee that will last. Because you get the same rate all day, the benefit of a typical solar battery system is limited so might be an option for you as you don't need a solar battery to use it to good advanatage. There's lots of discussion about Tracker on other threads if you want to consider that further.

Thanks. Was considering the agile but don’t think I’ll be able to keep my family well enough trained to reduce their early evening usage!  I’ll look a bit more closely at the tracker… 

wizzler

lohr500 said:

Thanks for the clarification @mmmmikey.
So if I understand correctly the panels would produce +/-20kwH in total across the full day.

So to clarify, 20kwh was across the whole of a very good summer day! A more typical summer day is about 15, whereas today - overcast and raining - we have generated the grand total of 5kwh… Our panels are 375 so it’s a 3kw system.