Octopus saving sessions

The_Green_Hornet

KxMx said:

My 5th December result is 40 points, so mine haven't been bumped up as promised with the opt-in points. 

Looking at my WhatsApp messages there wasn't any opt-in points for the 5/12 saving session.

There was a minimum 100 points for the 1/12 saving session though.

SuzeQStan

Slinky said:

1.92kwh exported. I've just remembered to go and change the settings on the inverter so I don't import/export in the same slots tomorrow!

Thanks for the reminder!! 😊👍🏻

chrisw

Dulce-ridentem said:

This is very hard work for the pint of a pint and a half!  

Yes, I've got bored with it now. I made some decent savings last year but this year I'm getting between 25p and £1.30, it hardly seems worth the bother.

i think the key issues this year are lack of notice, too short a period, no way of manipulating the figures (rightly or wrongly) as my tea time usage is low anyway and becoming too frequent. 

It felt a bit like a special adventure last time, this time just a mither.

EssexHebridean

As someone who was previously used to the nature of load shifting anyway, and having now got my head around how things work with the savings sessions, I'm now shifting some use to the 4 - 7pm timeslot where I can in the hope that should increase my baseline for that time period for future sessions. As for it being hard work - I'm not particularly finding it to be so - it's a case of wander round, turn things off - MrEH even remembered to turn the fridge off last night, bless him! - then sit quietly with a book or the iPad for some time when I'd usually be running around doing things after getting in from work - it's forced down-time, which actually I'm finding quite nice! 

Netexporter

My fridge and freezer are now permanently on a timer, so go off for both the morning and evening peaks. Doesn't help my Octopoint score, but I'm making an ongoing saving that should more than make up for it.

I rather enjoy switching nearly everything off and sitting in the firelight for an hour or so.

Andreg

Based on last year's pattern of Saving Sessions, I think yesterday's is quite likely the last one this year.  Last year there were three in November and three in December with the last one on 12 December.  This year we have had five sessions.  I'm guessing that industrial electricity use is lower over the Christmas period, and also the people who run the test sessions might have a Christmas break. 

There might be one or two more this year, but most likely the next session will be in January.

TheElectricCow

I’d say the figures are easily enough manipulated for anyone who’s in reasonable control of their consumption and with an understanding of the way the baseline is calculated, which is publicly available information for those who do wish to read up on it.

It may not be as simple as just turning things on a little while before the session now, but with a bit of care and preparation it is still perfectly possible for someone to artificially inflate usage at the right times for a profit too, if they were so inclined. Of course lacking an IDA means the “adjusted” rewards aren’t nearly as attractive but they certainly do still exist.

mjm3346

EssexHebridean said:

As someone who was previously used to the nature of load shifting anyway, and having now got my head around how things work with the savings sessions, I'm now shifting some use to the 4 - 7pm timeslot where I can in the hope that should increase my baseline for that time period for future sessions. As for it being hard work - I'm not particularly finding it to be so - it's a case of wander round, turn things off - MrEH even remembered to turn the fridge off last night, bless him! - then sit quietly with a book or the iPad for some time when I'd usually be running around doing things after getting in from work - it's forced down-time, which actually I'm finding quite nice! 

Doesn't matter to me when I have the washer/dryer on and within reason when I cook so I move as much normal usage as possible to help bring up my average for the saving sessions (usage for Nov averaged less than 5 units a day so there isn't much to play with). Last night I cooked before the session but hadn't allowed enough time to eat it before the power went off (I switch it off/on at the meter), finished eating by wind-up lantern and as usual for saving sessions the radio on.

Slinky

We've got solar and batteries, and with being on Tracker and fixed export tariff I was able to import at just over 18p a kwH yesterday, pushed nearly 2kwH back to them at £2.25 each in points, plus get paid 15p per kwH to export the import back. OK so there's a bit of a loss with import/export, but I reckon I've only lost about 10p for that.  All helps to pay for the batteries.

mmmmikey

I made about £4ish yesterday and all I did to acheive that was to heat the water at 17:00 each day (which is the best time anyway for efficiency as it's just before I use most of it) and do the laundry at much the same time. So very little effort - all I had to do yesterday was reset the immersion heater timer and not do any laundry. And I've only been doing that for 5 days, so I expect the return to double when I have a full 10 days worth of water heating to baseline. I reckon on making £100 or so over the period of the DFS which for me is a good return for minimal effort and has made it worth switching to a single rate tariff from a TOU tariff in my case.

But at the same time, I personally wouldn't bother making wholesale lifestyle changes just to squeeze an extra 10% out of the scheme so I can see why many folks wouldn't bother this year.

It will be interesting to see how participation this year compares with last and whether the DFS runs again next year.