New to Heatpumps

Odd_CatFish

HI,

Can anyone advise me? I'm new to Heatpumps (Just had one fitted and Solar on the roof) and currently looking to change my electricity tariff. There doesn't seem to be any comparison site for Heatpump tariffs. If I've got my numbers right it looks like EDF is the cheapest by about £30 a month. And all supplier's are paying 15p a kwh for electricity I generated  ??

Any advice great fully received 

Netexporter

Welcome to the forum.

Have you looked at Octopus Cosy? Not specifically for heat pumps, but electric heating generally, so could suit you. Remember you don't want to switch the heat pump off at night, but set the temperature back about 3 degrees, so the house isn't stone cold in the morning. That way the heat pump doesn't have to work so hard to get the house back up to temperature, which will result in a better COP. Also set the hot water to be replenished during the cheap night-time period, in winter, at least, although you could change that to daytime when you have plenty of solar in the summer months.

Which tariff is best for you will largely depend on your lifestyle, there's no one perfect answer.

Robin9

EDF are cutting my Export tariff to 5.6 from Nov 25th. 

Odd_CatFish

Netexporter said:

Welcome to the forum.

Have you looked at Octopus Cosy? Not specifically for heat pumps, but electric heating generally, so could suit you. Remember you don't want to switch the heat pump off at night, but set the temperature back about 3 degrees, so the house isn't stone cold in the morning. That way the heat pump doesn't have to work so hard to get the house back up to temperature, which will result in a better COP. Also set the hot water to be replenished during the cheap night-time period, in winter, at least, although you could change that to daytime when you have plenty of solar in the summer months.

Which tariff is best for you will largely depend on your lifestyle, there's no one perfect answer.

I did look at Octopusy cosy, but  if you factor in the 16:00 - 19:00 at 43p a KW. If my calculations are correct EDF works out cheaper 

Odd_CatFish

Robin9 said:

EDF are cutting my Export tariff to 5.6 from Nov 25th. 

I did know that 

Netexporter

Odd_CatFish said:

Netexporter said:

Welcome to the forum.

Have you looked at Octopus Cosy? Not specifically for heat pumps, but electric heating generally, so could suit you. Remember you don't want to switch the heat pump off at night, but set the temperature back about 3 degrees, so the house isn't stone cold in the morning. That way the heat pump doesn't have to work so hard to get the house back up to temperature, which will result in a better COP. Also set the hot water to be replenished during the cheap night-time period, in winter, at least, although you could change that to daytime when you have plenty of solar in the summer months.

Which tariff is best for you will largely depend on your lifestyle, there's no one perfect answer.

I did look at Octopusy cosy, but  if you factor in the 16:00 - 19:00 at 43p a KW. If my calculations are correct EDF works out cheaper 

I have the 16-1900 problem with Agile. I usually give the heating a boost in the hour before and then set it back so it doesn't fire up, unless it's very cold, in the peak period.

Probably the best long term solution is a battery, so you can either self-consume more solar or run largely on cheap overnight tariffs.

Vitor

A heat pump doesn’t need a special tariff and there’s no comparison site just for them. It’s simply another electrical load. The real question is how much of your usage falls into off-peak hours and whether your system can shift heating and hot-water production into those cheaper periods. Without actual consumption data your “£30 a month” saving is only a guess.

On export, 15p per kWh is not a universal rate. Each supplier sets its own SEG tariff and some pay much less. The important thing now is to learn how your system behaves: flow temperatures, off-peak usage, export rate and how much heating you can shift into cheaper hours. Once you have a week or two of real numbers, picking a tariff and getting the system tuned becomes far easier.

Netexporter

I've had my 5kW heat pump and 4.25kWp solar, just over a year, I've been on Agile and Outgoing throughout and it has cost me about £640 including standing charge. I've also been charging my EV in that total. The figure would almost certainly be even lower if I hadn't (probably foolishly) stuck it out through the Great Dunkelflaute of 2024.

LessImpecunious

British Gas is supposedly introducing a specific heat pump tariff in the (near?) future, offering "half-price" electricity for two periods during the day - you can sign up for updates on their web page.

There is also an excellent Facebook group called Comparing EV solar and storage U.K. Tariffs which shares experiences of users, many of whom are load-shifters, some with heat pumps.

Odd_CatFish

Vitor said:

A heat pump doesn’t need a special tariff and there’s no comparison site just for them. It’s simply another electrical load. The real question is how much of your usage falls into off-peak hours and whether your system can shift heating and hot-water production into those cheaper periods. Without actual consumption data your “£30 a month” saving is only a guess.

On export, 15p per kWh is not a universal rate. Each supplier sets its own SEG tariff and some pay much less. The important thing now is to learn how your system behaves: flow temperatures, off-peak usage, export rate and how much heating you can shift into cheaper hours. Once you have a week or two of real numbers, picking a tariff and getting the system tuned becomes far easier.

Thank Victor that is a very good  point.  Unit you have  some  real-time data it is all guess work.  I was basing my usage on what I used when I had 30 year old storage heaters 

Odd_CatFish

LessImpecunious said:

British Gas is supposedly introducing a specific heat pump tariff in the (near?) future, offering "half-price" electricity for two periods during the day - you can sign up for updates on their web page.

There is also an excellent Facebook group called Comparing EV solar and storage U.K. Tariffs which shares experiences of users, many of whom are load-shifters, some with heat pumps.

Thanks Lessimpecunious. I'll take a look at that group