Octopus saving sessions

QrizB

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116792#Comment_82116792

I'm in! For me it's a few seconds of adjusting things to force export, relatively little effort and worth it despite the limited rewards.

Slinky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116927#Comment_82116927

I've only got 75% in mine. Seeing that we barely use anything during 6-7pm normally at the moment, for the past couple of sessions I've only exported from 18:15 to 18:45. Will only be about a kWh of export in that time, but I think should be enough to trigger the 'use less' across the two half hour segments. Can't tell if this has worked yet as the results aren't in, but I might give it another go tonight depending on how much more sun we get between now and 18:15. Got a mixed sun/cloud forecast tomorrow, and Friday night's dinner is oven based so will need a good charge in the battery for that.

Slinky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82116898#Comment_82116898

Unfortunately, it's the whole point. They want less usage from those of us willing to play the game, so there's more electric in the system for those who don't.

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117011#Comment_82117011

Same here - it's no issue to adjust our export from 4-5:30pm to 5:30-7pm so we are exporting more than normal in the 6-7pm window.

An extra 8.5p for the export and a free hour of electricity on Sunday makes it worthwhile for us.

debitcardmayhem

Just my luck, 3 mins to session start and total clouds and no solar gen.😡

prowla

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117160#Comment_82117160

Why are you getting more for the export?
On the point of qalifying for the sessions I hadn't realised that exporting more means you've used less!

Yorkie1

Oops, just remembered!

QrizB

Why are you getting more for the export?

The Octopoints for taking part in the power-down. An exported kWh (above you usual) earns 12p plus Octopoints.

On the point of qalifying for the sessions I hadn't realised that exporting more means you've used less!

Yep, that's how it works 😎

NedS

@prowla yes, my baseline for 6-7pm is around 1-2kWh of export, so if I export more than that (more negative), then I earn Octopoints and qualify for the free hour on Sunday. My export on Flux is 29.35p in the peak, plus 8.5p from the power down hour if I can shift my usual export between 4-5pm to 6-7pm.

It took me a while to twig on to that too as initially I assumed as I use/import no power (as I'm either on battery or exporting), I couldn't participate in power down sessions, but you can just power down more by exporting more than you usually do.

Lorian

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82117232#Comment_82117232

This may be relevant - first paragraph and what it omits to say in the last paragraph:

For your Power Down session to count as successful and help you to unlock a Weekend Happy Hour, you need to use less electricity than you usually would in at least half an hour of the session.

What do we mean by ‘less than normal’?  In simple terms, we look at your historical energy usage to see the average amount of energy you tend to use at the time of the session. If the Session is on a weekday, we’ll look at your half-hourly usage over the last 10 weekdays (excluding Saving Session days and bank holidays). If the Session is on a weekend or bank holiday, we’ll look at your half hourly usage over the last 4 weekend days. 

If you use less energy in the first half of the Power Down session, but use the same or more in the second half, this will result in an unsuccessful session, and won’t count towards your Weekend Happy Hours.

(From octopus faqs)