Octopus Energy - Unethical price changes for solar generators

debitcardmayhem

Just had a look at my last 3 months usage and the current tariff costs came in at -£213 and the Oct one comes in at -£217 so £4 better  at Oct rates , except the generation is going to tail off dramatically, Sadly I had a meter change in March so I will need to manually extract data from last October to make a judgement for  “expected” loads.

badmemory

Exporting during peak time would not really be a problem for me as I still have gas cooking & central heating.  As the only thing that would work in a power cut would be the gas cooker I will avoid changing that.  Not really in the spirit of things but needs must as my joints etc are not getting any younger.

I don't think solar for dummies would be good enough what I actually need is idiots guide to solar.  My nearly 80 yr old brain still has moments when it is shouting OMG what have you done.  But it has been fun & even if I don't learn how to make the best of it, I am still pleased I did it. 

Thank you all for the info I am picking up along the way.

greenbee

Qyburn said:

Werbstrode said:

.I fèel this thread is getting off topic. As far as I am concerned I cannot contemplate exporting  between 16.00 and 19.00 as this period encompasses or highest usage from cooking evening meal using possibly 2 ovens and electric hob.  

I'm sure you're not the only one, that will be exactly why that's the peak time. These TOU tariffs are specifically aimed at people who can adapt their usage, not people who use most power during peak demand, and export when it's not really needed.

Agreed - Flux is ideal for me as I don't finish work until 7pm, so peak usage is minimal anyway (I never did well on the winter savings sessions paying you to use less at peak times as other than shutting down the docking station and monitors attached to my laptop there wasn't much to cut! 

I've been very successful using the summer 'free electricity' sessions, and I'm hoping to use what I learned with those to maximise the value of the three hour cheap rate. I have heatmiser for my (stupidly complicated) oil heating, which I can also use to control the electric towel rails, and a number of smart plugs as part of the set-up which i've realised I can use to control the heated airer. DW, WM, and TD already have delayed start options.

These tariffs are really designed to help us load shift and make more efficient use of the available generation - something that has been enabled by smart meter technology. When smart meters were first being developed, we were talking about smart appliances that would be programmed to make the most of TOU tariffs. It feels like it's taking a long time to get there!

Werbstrode

I cannot see how I can benefit from these free electricity sessions as when offered I always have a full battery and am exporting?

Netexporter

They inform you the day before, so you could leave an hour's worth of space in you battery and top it up. Or isolate the battery and run off mains for the period.

Qyburn

Werbstrode said:

I cannot see how I can benefit from these free electricity sessions as when offered I always have a full battery and am exporting?

Exactly. You (and I) are contributing to the problem by exporting when it's not really needed. Maybe in a future iteration they'll apply it to export as well, some sort of reward for exporting less than usual.

greenbee

If there is a 'free' hour later in the day and it's sunny, I stop the battery, and use my solar, then charge the battery during the free session. So I may export more before and after, but not during. One of the sessions was when there was no sun here, so was very welcome on a low generation day - lots done, and the battery charged. 

pete-20-11

Might even be worth exporting from the battery before the session, depending on import Vs export rate? And depending on how much you can charge the battery in an hour.