Outgoing export on Octopus going down

matt_drummer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889941#Comment_81889941

Transmission costs are per kWh, not daily.

My import rate is 7p per kWh between 23.30 and 05.30, the rest of the time is 29.20p per kWh, there is no peak rate of 70p at 17.00 or any other time!

When it is really sunny Octopus may well be buying our electricity for 12p and paying some people on other tariffs to use it.

I don't think you really understand how it works, they are not buying for 12p and selling for 30p, it is far more complex than that.

NibblyPig

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890005#Comment_81890005

Anyone on the same tariff as me, including me.

30.5p / 7.5p octopus EV tariff

NibblyPig

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890077#Comment_81890077

Transmissions costs come primarily from the standing charge. Which makes sense, because the cost of them maintaining a substation or cable infrastructure doesn't change depending on how much you buy.

Because you're on a flat rate tariff, so it's smoothed out over the day. Look at the agile tariff, you will see peaks.

Octopus used to cap it at £1, a couple of years ago wholesale prices did indeed hit that. It looks like those extreme days are gone for now though, but like peak wholesale price today looks to be 15p/kwh that means on agile you'll be paying 35p/kwh peak. Last month prices went as high as 67p on agile for certain times reflecting high wholesale.

They are and they aren't, obviously it's impossible to pin a price down on a specific unit of electricity, but if I generate 1kwh I will sell it for 12p, and then if the sun goes in 5 seconds later and I buy 1 unit of electricity, it will cost me 30.5p. So it's hard not to see it that way.

matt_drummer

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890239#Comment_81890239

Maintaining a substation is a fixed network cost.

Every kWh of electricity has to be moved from its point of generation to the point of consumption, this has a cost, around 10p per kWh I believe, nothing to do with standing charges.

The rate you pay includes VAT, the amount you receive does not.

I am not on a flat rate tariff, I am on IOG.

Peak wholesale price today on Agile is 15p you say, and you expect to receive that all day every day?

It is hard for you not to see it any other way as you are only thinking of your own position, not that of the network as a whole which is what matters in regards to what you can reasonably expect to be paid.

tfhnota

It is all demand versus supply, solar and battery on farm scale are going to make the domestic stuff less viable over the future years even with the prices of batteries and solar panels continuously falling (mostly thanks to the Chinese mega factories) but quite possible that either "free" installs via government grants or ever cheaper paid-for installs will make going off-grid and avoiding the standing charges and large margins of energy companies viable (but possibly keeping gas for heating). It's all good fun until it isn't.

Qyburn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890206#Comment_81890206

Still no idea what you're on about. If wholesale costs are 9p/kWh and Octopus are paying you 15p, then they're making a loss on every kWh you're exporting.

QrizB

Wholesale electricity chart here:

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/electricity-price

Chart is in £ per MWh, so divide by ten for pence per kWh.

The price has been under £100/MWh (10p/kWh) most of the time for a couple of years now, and is currently ~£70 (7p).

It makes no financial sense for Octopus to buy from you (or me) at 15p when the exact same stuff is available wholesale for less than half that. Even at 12p they're still paying over the odds for artisanal electricity rather than buying the mass-produced version.

debitcardmayhem

It's

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890239#Comment_81890239

Then go on IOF buy at X and sell at X, and then sell at X+peak during the peak hours, guaranteed profit, but of course you could always carry on grousing ad infitum if that makes you happier. Oh and there is no service charge on export so there no way for the suppliers to recover their costs, nor can they charge VAT. Go off grid but of course then you can't export. Yes it's a sad decision to drop(if not expected), but hey there is no free lunch , unless you are on FIT and then you could complain your uplift is going on a lower infation measure, ignoring that it is still going up not down.

I am not pleased that it's going down but we have had a good run, and the good news is there's no good news , fact of life, move on nothing to see here.

pensionpawn

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81889215#Comment_81889215

I don't have a battery. In 2025 I imported 3818 kWhrs for £1147 and exported 4186 kWhrs for £550. My net electricity cost is ~ £600. A 3p / 20% fall in export rate, without a corresponding fall in import rate, pushes my net electric cost up by £110 pa.

Now you may suggest I install a battery to minimise import and generate some time shifted export. Well I've been doing the maths for the 10+ years that I've had my panels, and for my energy profile I'll be lucky if I can ROI within the warranty period of the battery. Hence I haven't bothered. However I am looking to acquire a bi directional 84 kWhrs battery with four wheels, which was a much more sound fiscal incentive. However the 3p drop in export rate does significantly dent the fiscal justification for that too. With export being potentially pared down to the old deemed export rate you can only really bank on minimising import cost, which compared to the cost of a battery, just doesn't work for me.

debitcardmayhem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81890690#Comment_81890690

But you still get an uplift every year via FIT , nobody else does. Do what everyone else does play the stock market or stick your money in an ISA. Or there are better import rates.