New solar and battery install - best Octopus tariff

greenbee

dazjw said:

greenbee said:

pete-20-11 said:

If you want to get paid to export electricity, you need an MPAN for export on your meter. 

If you ask octopus to join SEG (smart export guarantee) they will contact the DNO (electric operator) to sort out the MPAN - might take 4 weeks, maybe 8, 12. Depends on the region.

You can't get paid for export until the MPAN is sorted. 

My installer sorted this out for me - installation was completed on Wednesday, MPAN arrived Thursday. I applied for an export tariff (Octopus Flux) which is due to complete set up today.

Did you not need a DNO letter?  When I try to apply it keeps asking if the DNO has been informed and to upload a DNO letter.

Yes - that arrived on Wednesday evening.

Qyburn

dazjw said:

Did you not need a DNO letter?  When I try to apply it keeps asking if the DNO has been informed and to upload a DNO letter.

Don't you have one? The fact you say "try to apply" and "keeps asking" reads as if it's an obstacle you've not got past.

For your system there would have been a G.99 application, the DNO's offer, and your acceptance of said offer, all prior to installation. Then details sent after installation, finally DNO's acknowledgement confirming it complies. That last one is what Octopus needs.

dazjw

Qyburn said:

dazjw said:

Did you not need a DNO letter?  When I try to apply it keeps asking if the DNO has been informed and to upload a DNO letter.

Don't you have one? The fact you say "try to apply" and "keeps asking" reads as if it's an obstacle you've not got past.

For your system there would have been a G.99 application, the DNO's offer, and your acceptance of said offer, all prior to installation. Then details sent after installation, finally DNO's acknowledgement confirming it complies. That last one is what Octopus needs.

Nope, haven't received yet.

In fact, only heard today that there is a delay at the DNO in issuing the letters and we may not get it until end of next week.

Qyburn

It might be worth trying Octopus with the G.99 offer/acceptance. That shows that the installation was permitted to go ahead. I did something kind of similar, sent Octopus the notification from installer to DNO rather than waiting for DNO confirmation. That got my application on Octopus' system but I don't actually know if it helped because I got the DNO reponse only two days later.

On the other hand if it doesn't work it might confuse Octopus, which doesn't take much nowadays, and possibly mean they don't act on the proper document when that comes along. 

ed110220

pete-20-11 said:

For now, unless you've got an EV, probably not much point being on anything other than standard tariff?

No point charging the battery if it can fill from solar and still have some free to export! 

Once you've got your export meter setup and paying you SEG payments, then maybe move to Octopus Intelligent Flux - given your high export from solar and their higher rates for export. Intelligent Flux will probably better than normal flux given your high export. 

Tim and Kat's Green walk is a good YouTube channel to look at. Or Gary does Solar. 

Generally if you're exporting more than your importing it will make you money. 

If you can generate 1.4x what you consume, or more, IOF is probably the best. 

Although for the winter there may be other tariffs to look at, but without an EV or heat pump a lot of the tariffs are unavailable. Leaving you with SVR, tracker or agile. Agile may be good if you can avoid importing 4-7pm and can shift your usage. 

Octopus never asked for evidence of having a heat pump, or even whether I did, when I asked to switch to their Cosy Octopus tariff (designed for heatpumps) over the winter. Not sure it was the most optimal tariff for us, but I thought with a relatively small battery (6 kWh, usually consume about 10 kWh/day, often more in winter) the two lower price periods per day might make sense. I can't guarantee that they'll not ask, but if a tariff seems suitable for you it's worth asking to switch to it even if you don't have the thing it's designed for (heatpump, EV).

One thing to bear in mind if you want to switch to a different tariff over the winter is that the solar export tariffs seem to take a while to set up, maybe 6 weeks from memory, so you need to factor that in for your timing of when to switch in the spring to avoid missing out on the better weather. Having been on the same export tariff the previous year doesn't seem to speed it up, they went through the whole process from scratch, needing my export MPAN, installer certificate etc.

Qyburn

ed110220 said:

One thing to bear in mind if you want to switch to a different tariff over the winter is that the solar export tariffs seem to take a while to set up, maybe 6 weeks from memory, 

Do you mean that changing import tariff also cancels off export and you need to re-apply? If so then that's quite a concern.

Six weeks is a long time as well. Getting our export set up for the first time only took 9 days (including three or four days wasted when Octopus kept saying that "something" on the MCS certificate didn't match).

Solarchaser

I've been nearly 6 months waiting to switch to seg for export on octopus instead of fit deemed export with edf.
Apparently will all happen on Friday though.

Problem for me was edf rejected the switch as was already on fit, and octopus did nothing unfortunately. 
Emails for months, but finally called them and problem was identified, but it was a long phone call.

Other than this, octopus have been great.

Anyway my moan aside, my understanding is the switch to octopus metered export is supposed to be 6 weeks, and once you are there any internal tarrif changes should be within a couple of days

ed110220

Qyburn said:

ed110220 said:

One thing to bear in mind if you want to switch to a different tariff over the winter is that the solar export tariffs seem to take a while to set up, maybe 6 weeks from memory, 

Do you mean that changing import tariff also cancels off export and you need to re-apply? If so then that's quite a concern.

Six weeks is a long time as well. Getting our export set up for the first time only took 9 days (including three or four days wasted when Octopus kept saying that "something" on the MCS certificate didn't match).

It doesn't cancel the export, but some combinations of import and export tariffs are not compatible, so you may have to switch both at the same time. Basically they won't let you switch to an incompatible combination of tariffs, or just cancel the export, you have to chose one of each that are compatible. There's a table here: https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/which-export-tariff-can-i-combine-with-my-import-tariff/

In the summer half of the year I was on Flux import and Flux export. In the winter I switched to Cosy Octopus (import), but you can't be on that at the same time as Flux export, so I switched to Outgoing Fixed for my export. Then in the spring I switched back to Flux import and export again. I thought as I'd been on one of their export tariffs all along they'd just switch me over, but they went through the whole process of MSC certificate, DNO letter etc again.

Maybe I was just unlucky or they have improved since. 

dazjw

Finally got our DNO letter just as the best time for generation and export is coming to an end 

I'm wondering, has anyone left themselves on Flux or Intelligent Flux over the winter?  Debating now whether to go one of the Flux tariffs or just go on the fixed tariff with the standard export.

Cheers.

Screwdriva

I've left it on Flux through the winter. No regrets!