Octopus Solar and battery usage discrepancy with Givenergy app

BarelySentientAI

HandsHairy said:

My query concerns a discrepancy in usage between Octopus energy and the Giv Energy app.

It doesn't - and that's why you've had some confused replies.

You don't have a discrepancy in usage between Octopus and GivEnergy.

What you are actually suggesting is that something that's been done during the smart meter install has meant that the controls for your system are now doing the wrong thing.

HandsHairy

BarelySentientAI said:

HandsHairy said:

My query concerns a discrepancy in usage between Octopus energy and the Giv Energy app.

It doesn't - and that's why you've had some confused replies.

You don't have a discrepancy in usage between Octopus and GivEnergy.

What you are actually suggesting is that something that's been done during the smart meter install has meant that the controls for your system are now doing the wrong thing.

Thanks, but I politely disagree. Octopus and Giv are giving me wildly different usage figures.  Octopus are telling me I’m drawing 200x the energy from the grid, compared with Giv. I believe this is possibly as a result of the smart meter install, but I have no knowledge of this topic, hence my request for help from this forum. 

Reed_Richards

My inverter control app has a CT clamp test facility.  I think this works by importing a bit of electricity to charge the battery and checking that the increase in import to the house (as measured by the CT clamp) is the same as the import measured by the generation meter (which in my case measures charging as well as generation).  The test just takes a minute or so but you mustn't decide to boil a kettle (or similar) whilst the test is running.  

Qyburn

tim_p said:

If the CT clamp was moved during meter install then it should be a simple task to flip it the other way and you should see the effect fairly quickly. 

If the CT was round the wrong way the system would be in a much worse state. The way it's behaving is as if the Givenergy metering was insensitive so it's not accurately measuring import. I suggest a physical check of the CT, is it properly clipped together, do the signal cables look secure and undamaged.

Reed_Richards

Electricity has to go somewhere.  It could be charging your battery overnight but that should be obvious because you would wake up with a battery that is more charged in the morning than it was when you went to bed.  Or it could be that your inverter thinks it is exporting all the electricity that it can and so throttles the output from your solar panels and battery when actually your house needs more and so is forced to import some.  If so you should be able to see your smart meter registering import (flashing light/IHD).

HandsHairy

Qyburn said:

tim_p said:

If the CT clamp was moved during meter install then it should be a simple task to flip it the other way and you should see the effect fairly quickly. 

If the CT was round the wrong way the system would be in a much worse state. The way it's behaving is as if the Givenergy metering was insensitive so it's not accurately measuring import. I suggest a physical check of the CT, is it properly clipped together, do the signal cables look secure and undamaged.

I think you may be right. When I looked at the clamp on Thursday I noticed it wasn’t clipped together properly so I gave it a squeeze and it clicked. I thought no more about it. I can now see that Octopus has registered 0.1kw import since then 👏.

You're also right on changing the direction of the clip. As soon as I tried this I started importing 7kwh! 

Hopefully this is all now resolved- thanks again for your input 

Stebags75

I have the same issue as HandsHairy.
My billing from Octopus is significantly more than what the GivEnergy portal says it was.

I've just checked my CT & it's loose round the brown cable, tried squeezing mine but nothing seems to move, not really sure how it works but eager to sort it if anyone can advise please.

Stebags75

I thought it used to agree but I've just gone back to Aug 2022 and GivE says my 'Grid In' figure is 11.01 kWh but I was billed 24.8 kWh by my previous supplier (E.on next)

QrizB

Stebags75 said:

I have the same issue as HandsHairy.
My billing from Octopus is significantly more than what the GivEnergy portal says it was

Your supply meter (the Octopus one) is likely to be right and the GivEnergy readings are likely to be wrong.

Stebags75 said:

I've just checked my CT & it's loose round the brown cable, tried squeezing mine but nothing seems to move, not really sure how it works but eager to sort it if anyone can advise please.

A loose CT is not unusual; GivEnergy only supply a single size but meter tails vary in overall diameter. Clip-on CTs are inherently less accurate than the metering inside your smart meter.
If you have a working IHD for your smart meter, you can compare the live power readings on that to them live readings together from the GivEnergy app (assuming GivEnergy have a live view) and see how similar they are. My Sofar inverter has an adjustment menu that lets you tweak the zero offset and sensitivity of the CTs; your GivEnergy might have something similar?

Stebags75

Thanks QrizB, I'm moving house soon so will be getting a brand new solar & battery set up but I wanted to try & sort the reporting issues for the couple buying my house. It's a little bit over my head so I'll just leave it but appreciate your response