Export tariffs are HUGE - My move from deemed export (FIT) is complete - earning £££ but complicated

Saving more than I expected in the first month , making December a very cheap energy month when it's normally our most expensive 😲
This video is an update, discussion and ramble around my move to a SEG tariff and all the changes I'm having to make to optimise our use of the new tariff
I'm convinced flexibility around energy use and exporting especially will be the smartest and most economic way to consume energy in the UK
To be honest this is all new and will develop in the coming years but it's one of those obvious things, like EVs and solar making sense.
Octopus energy are sort of significant in the discussion as they are disrupting the energy market with their unique smart tariffs for both consumption and export
Links / referrals
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OCTOPUS energy referral link....
share ** £50 credit each **
🐙🔌share.octopus....
Actual referral code for telling Octopus "pink-rose-718"
⚡Instavolt App referral : £5 free charging each
⚡driver.emsp.in...
My aircon installer:
Graham Durrant
Ignite heating and cooling
Email: [e-mail]
System / Components
------------------------------------
Solar config
PV all JA solar 9.2kwp
14X280w (3.68kw Solis)
8X300w (2.0kw Solaredge)
4x450w Solis string 1
3x370w (2.5kw) Solis string 2
Myenergi Zappi 1, Eddi and Hub
Battery:
Victron Multiplus II 48/5000
5 x Pylontech Us3000C
EVs:
Mini Electric Cooper SE Level 3 in Midnight black
ESoul First Edition 64kwh in Neptune Blue

[@fraz3alpha]

Since becoming eligible for the 15p export rate when the Zappi support for Intelligent went live we've gone from fiddling with how much to charge the battery overnight, and having to think about plugging the car in during the day to catch the excess solar, to the much simpler regime of charge the house to full every night, and the car only gets intelligent slots overnight and we plug in when we need a charge. So much easier to think about, and financially better. Allows time to think about the next thing to do!

[@JustMeTalking]

We're on Octopus Energy SEG at 15p export. December electricity bill is going to be about £110 at cheap rate power (7.5p) December Saving Sessions gave us £105.10 as we can export from batteries at 5kW December SEG Export gave us £ 24.70 So we're running our home, and two electric cars for free... Summer of 2024 with Solar & excess battery Export will be a dream

[@elliottquinton2084]

How did you use £110 worth of electric on cheap rate in December ?

[@JustMeTalking]

​@elliottquinton2084 Two electric cars charging with a busy home. We use about 15 MWh per year. Download all cheap rate electric at night into battery storage, to be used during the daytime.

[@KEhydro]

Was there any difficulty from your DNO in being allowed 5kW of export?

[@JustMeTalking]

@KEhydro Not for us no... but we have 3 Phase at the house

[@stulishman]

@@KEhydro My solar PV and battery are due to be insalled in a couple of weeks, my DNO through the G99 have approved 5kW export and up to 12 kW solar, and the application wnet through very quickly (less than a week)

[@juttley72]

I need to get my arse in gear and cancel my deemed export with eon and start the SEG with Octopus as well. I have 4kw of solar with a FIT but 8KW of solar in total. I only get paid for 50% of the generated amount at something like 4p per KW. So I stand to gain significantly if I get rid of the deemed export and move to SEG where I will get paid 15p for the full 8KW arrays I have. A job for tomorrow is to find all my installation certificates and start off the process. thanks for posting, just the kick I needed to make the change. cheers John

[@alanclark2584]

This is the way forward, tends to focus the mind towards increasing exports be it adding more panels, or optimising existing systems, especially where we are seeing plyontec 5kw batteries now being sold sub £600 from China, but these savings have not arrived in the UK yet, but they will.

[@MrKlawUK]

oh I like the idea of tweaking the export buffer amount - more able to avoid transient import spikes due to slow reaction to changes. Double win

[@robertsprigge5535]

4:58 Nigel, if you look up National Grid ESO, you'll see that for their DFS, known to Octopus customers as Saving Sessions, they announce an event and offer an auction. I think they give participants two hours to bid for their best price. Thus it could be an increase in supply from Gas power stations or reduction in demand from Octopus and/or similar.

[@MrKlawUK]

from a green point of view this is probably a net good move. You’re actively able to use off peak which is over generation and low demand, and exporting more during the day which helps keep the peaks down a little (if you multiply yourself by thousands of people)

[@574rz460v3]

The green conundrum probably doesn’t exist just so long as the energy supplied is only from renewable sources. I’m still in total control of my choices when it comes to my energy usage and it often suits me to export back to cash in. The thing that’s really changed our situation is power ups and being given free electricity. Over the Christmas period 18th to 25th December with 4 power up sessions we have approximately used 115kWh of electricity completely free. That was used to cook wash clean charge batteries and heat the home. All from excess green energy. Happy days. I think you’re going to be very pleased with your new SEG !!!

[@radiotowers1159]

Your Octopus comment , my last savings session made me £4.55 for one hour. Then recently my Agile tariff went negative overnight for one hour at around -2p a unit , later that day I exported at 15p a unit so I was paid to import and paid to export, never ever thought that would happen

[@EVPuzzle]

Double bubble

[@RichardASlack]

Only half way through this video and you are already making me money!! Superb review of the benefits of Intelligent Octopus with SEG!

[@EVPuzzle]

Glad I can help 👍

[@terrymackenzie6784]

A good tip is to set the Zappi export margin to a high value I have it at 6kW then you don't have to worry as it will never charge car from solar also stops you charging car on saving sessions and yes I have done that

[@EVPuzzle]

That'll impact my eddi though

[@terrymackenzie6784]

@@EVPuzzle interesting so it's the one margin for both water and car, I don't have that problem for now certain you will find a HA work around

[@stepheneasson9787]

A tariff for your daughter to look at is Octopus tracker, it works well if you don't have solar or battery for example todays rate for gas in my area is 4p per kwh and electricity is 15p. The rates do change every day.

[@EVPuzzle]

Thanks for that , both worth a look

[@Tony-Stockport]

When I ordered my system (6.8kWh array & 20.8kWh battery) at the beginning of last year I joked with friends that I was becoming an 'Energy Trader'. Nobody understood what I meant. I mentioned my system in one of your previous videos and I think you commented that I must have big energy needs. I learned from you to max out when getting the panels and I thought I should max out on the batteries too. Last year I was getting the 15p per kWh once the battery was full and didn't bother with overnight charging. Now that I'm used to setting the inverter (I'm on agile) this year I'll be looking to start the day with a full battery and export all the solar plus part of the battery if there's a Saving Session. Thanks for the heads up on the Guy Martin programme, sounds right up my street.

[@davidfellowes1628]

These are most useful insights. I have sat on the fence up to now but the technology changes like the Octopus Mini with its realtime data will allow us to better manage the system. Your point on water heating is also pertinent. I'm doing an upgrade of the home and seriously considering putting on-demand water heaters in each of four individual bathrooms to streamline this demand and simplify the pipework (basically bringing only power and cold water to each bathroom), because there does appear to be a real need to reduce one's complexity wherever one can if export is our main driver. Thanks again.

[@JimGayes]

We've been on Flux since May. We never intended anything other than self consumption. (Tariffs like Flux didn't exist 18 months ago when we started our solar and battery journey) Just looking at our year end figures - we exported 5.25 MWh equating to just under £1200 and also been fully self sufficient from February (when we had batteries installed) to October. The small grid import bills for October and November were less than £150 (inc gas) December Savings Sessions have netted £113 which has exceeded our total £95 December bill. So even with some grid import since October, the income from Flux export has way exceeded the bills. I fully expect January to work out similar with Savings Sessions exceeding the bill. I should like to recommend Gas Tracker tariff. We've been on it since October and averaged 4.5p per kWh, but purely from a financial point of view, it doesn't incentivise me to give up on using gas with such high export values for electric. I fully appreciate the recent weather conditions have helped to keep the gas tracker price low.

[@EVPuzzle]

This is a learning curve for many Some might like the chase of the lowest possible bills or even a credit balance but I'm thinking you've got to keep using energy as you need it.

[@StephenLyons1984]

we had this last year in northern ireland. where it was better to export export export. the night rate was cheaper. so made more sense to just export and get paid for it. we get paid in october in a lump sum. so you got higher bills at the time but a large lump sum returned in the end. i miss it

[@fyrfytrdub]

Similar set up here 10kWh battery, 7.74kWp E/W solar 4hrs (2am-6am) 8.15c import, 24c. export Charge battery every night on cheap rate. During brighter months, use battery for breakfast and then let solar top it back up. Try export as much as possible. Eddi is a fancy timer now First bill since getting solar was €5 for 6 weeks. Corresponding period last year before solar was €160. Also €450 government energy credit this year between Dec and Mar will mean no bills probably

[@kevinallen4604]

OK, I have Solar, I have a Solis inverter, I have batteries. I also have an economy 7 tariff with EDF. What I can't find out is how to switch to agile and set up the inverter to charge automatically the cheap half hour blocks Octopus offers. Any thing I've found is so complicated I know it will be nothing but heartache. There must be an easy way, are there inverters with a auto sync option. Solis sends me the Agile prices but I wouldnt know how to benefit. So its just easier for me to charge at known off peak with EDF than daily program the inverter if I switched to Agile, it feels about as sophisticated as a ZX Spectrum . There must be an easy way.

[@tonywalker7064]

hi , similar situation to you but on agile , i intend to charge battery when import rate is less than 7p and let solar top up battery then export only when full (alpha don’t allow forced discharge) so the 8p swing should be good enough to make profit and offset battery degradation & 10% loss AC/DC conversion & also keep the family able to keep in tune lol .

[@Glenbow1970]

I got my Givenergy AIO and 10KW solar installed November past, I am on the same as yourself. It is strange how your mind set changes to conserve energy you begin to look at every watt that you can save. The export on the saving sessions work well as you can export at £2.10 adding an additional £40 in November for my own install. It most certainly is worth while doing.

[@user-ov8mg4nn7q]

Very thought provoking video!!

[@robertsprigge5535]

A neighbour joined FIT just before it ceased as an option. They are intending to sell their home in the next few months. Your video should prove very valuable to the incoming owner😎 Having been on Flux, I monitored the situation on a daily basis and finally moved to Flexible Octopus and Outgoing Octopus on 21st November, much later than I expected. I'll be returning to Flux in mid-March. Without Flux during the winter, I can ignore the usage limitation imposed by the Inverter.

[@EVPuzzle]

How did you use flux ? Did you dump the battery at 4pm?

[@5kram]

I have done exactly the same with my FIT just moved my deemed export to smart export with Octopus as of 1st December.. Think I lost about 3 days of export with the switch but not seeing the export in my octopus dashboard as yet.

[@Trevor_Austin]

Keep an eye on your export. My first export was registered on the day of changeover. Yet it took six months and 30 emails before any money was credited to my account. This was because a minion in the depths of Octopus decided that my paperwork has not been completed to their satisfaction.

[@5kram]

Thanks for the info I will keep an eye on things.

[@ChrisChurchill-by7ek]

In Nov+Dec there have been a total eight saver sessions, six test and two "real". So, if the original plan sticks, there will be six more test sessions through to March. National Grid pay £3/kWh and some suppliers do pass on the full £3. Octopus mostly passes on £2.25 (it was more for the real sessions) but say they are covering their costs from the saving sessions from the saving sessions and putting the rest into their fund for customers in difficulty. Both of which are fine by me.

[@andyhamilton]

Don’t forget you will also be getting 15p perkwh for export payments during the saving session, it makes the offer even sweeter.

[@EVPuzzle]

Absolutely 👍

[@AllElectricLiving]

I’m going to watching your reports on this with a lot of interest , I may even follow what you have done and if the deemed export to seg becomes less complicated I might do it

[@EVPuzzle]

If I knew in advance it was 51 days and to be more patient it'd be less hassle. It's just admin after all and octopus do get there better than most

[@simonphillips4386]

Really good video, the concern I have for summer is preventing clipping in peak sun, as my victron/pylontech will just suck up all available power to the battery, maybe an increasing grid set point is the way - but then you are cycling I'm going to have a play with the victron Node Red, to try and adjust the export to reduce power to batteries

[@AdamAugustPhoto]

I'm in the position where I have solar, but it's through one of the old rent-a-roof schemes (previous owner, not me), so I don't get any FIT or export payments. So I only have the option of either using it directly or solar diversion into an EV. Looking forward to 2035 when whoever owns the panels gets kicked off my roof and I can install my own system.

[@EVPuzzle]

Free solar though can't complain

[@AdamAugustPhoto]

@@EVPuzzle yeah can't really complain. It was a nice extra on the house & a easy entry to solar. Just need to make the most of using what we can, so Zappi + EV, load shifting to peak generation times, etc. Currently looking into the legalities of using a home battery along side the system, can't see anything that says I can't, but also nothing specifically stating that I can. I don't think they were really a thing when the system was installed.

[@robwoodphotos]

My motivation for getting solar and battery was to be self sufficient, so I’ll stay with FiT and have tactics around my consumption. I’m able to do that and still export surplus to my neighbours … it’s a gift rather than me getting money. Not judging anyone who does what you’ve decided to do, but I think it would change my goal from self sufficient green energy consumption to exporting as much as possible in exchange for money

[@EVPuzzle]

With Octopus it's easy to swap once you're setup so if I dont like the export game I can move to flux or Agile for outgoing

[@robwoodphotos]

@@EVPuzzle yes I can see that … thanks for your very helpful videos by the way, especially in the thinking about FiT or not. Your video helped me to see that, for me at the moment, my motivations result in me staying with FiT. It’s not that I have anything about getting paid for generation … it’s just my main driver is self sufficiency and green energy. I’m also with Octopus and think they are trying hard but, at least in my area, the electricity I might consume overnight or daytime isn’t as green as the energy I produce myself … not so much at the moment of course

[@ianwilliams5915]

Not sure how you can export any surplus without importing during the off peak hours - there is simply not enough sunlight during these winter months. I’ve not exported anything since October from my 7kwh south facing array - battery only charges to max 40% during the day hence no export

[@robwoodphotos]

@@ianwilliams5915 I do import using octopus intelligent GO … because, as you say not much generation at the moment. I was merely saying my motivation is to generate green energy rather than make money by exporting my solar at a profit. No problem with anyone doing that but not for me. When solar is generating then it’s guaranteed green

[@EVPuzzle]

@@ianwilliams5915 that's the whole point , export everything you generate and use only off peak imported energy . In practice it's not that easy of course

[@Group51]

I don’t have a car so this system gaming doesn’t apply to me. I only get Flux and the import export prices are balanced. The gains are in the summer with excess production in the middle of,the day. The savings are in the winter with my batteries avoiding the peak prices and the built up gains from the summer. When I get a heat pump I’ll be on Cozy with similar balanced pricing. I was on Agile last year and the export prices during the day were lower than Flux.

[@davespages]

2:18 If you use the energy, it was green energy self consumed. If you export ir for others to use,potentially you have saved some fossil fuels being burnt to produce electricity. Flipping it to the overnight usage on Go. Is that energy 100% green? The likeyhood is yes. Or at least mostly covered by wind and nuclear power 4:29 I've been watching Guy Martin's videos too. Truly fascinating. 36:58 I've made £198.16 in 8 saving sessions. I left Flux on 2nd October so stopped exporting. At that point I was approx £600 in credit. I have gas and electricity. I'm still £620 in credit and come March where I switch to Flux again (I can't get intelligent octopus go) I will be due a refund as the credit will start building again from Flux.

[@johnjackson3642]

Thanks for the video. It's given me the push to make the switch to SEG also. I'm only got a 3.5kw system with 13kw battery storage but I think exporting will make enough to make me a few hundred extra. Ultimately I'd like a set and forget system ideally/ I don't want to be tinkering all day. Hopefully I'll be ready for March and at the minute every extra £ counts so appreciate your video. My next question is whether to stay on intelligent go or flux in March......

[@andyt1048]

Hi Nigel I’ve followed your journey and find your videos really interesting. What was you total energy cost for last year and what do you think they will be in the new year? We have an old back boiler and will spend £1000 on gas next year and £1400 on electric on Go present rates which includes 8000 miles on our Nissan Leaf. Just trying to work out our best case savings may be with making all the changes you have done.

[@leonmoon5151]

Really enjoy your channel! I was wondering if there was a way to export any excess energy you have (in your batteries) to the grid? I am about to have a 20kw battery only system installed and will have, on some days, quite a bit of excess energy still in the batteries

[@EVPuzzle]

Not all battery charging inverters have the ability to export . Choose one that does. My victron is easy to control via app or automate with Home Assistant. Givenergy does too but more for their own integration for grid export .

[@tomsgrinbergs8020]

Gary Does Solar did a calculation on how much battery cycles will cost per kwh, interesting video on that, with some good data. But essentially it is total cost of battery devided by the warranty cycles(times your capacity in kwh) - keep in mind though, the batter will probably last longer than its warranty. Happy New Year Y'All!!

[@jimmaxwell2259]

Easily one of the better video's on the export connundrum. I have an existing PV system, for which i get FIT payments plus i have Solar thermal (home built that completely heats my tank in summer). However, I have looked at doing this several ways, with battery etc but keep struggling with the amortisation of the costs involved. You stated towards the end of your video that you look to be £500 better off this year, but i could easily reckon on you having spent around £20K++ on panels, inverter, battery, zappi, eddi, control automation etc etc and at savings of £500/year you are looking at 40 year payback to break even. Yes, going forward with inflation and opportunity with tariffs etc, this figure will reduce considerably, but it still might be 20 years before actually becoming 'profitable'. Add in replacement of battery pack or perhaps inverter around the 20 year mark(both quite possible), the overall system appears to stuggle somewhat to reach payback. It also seems complicated to the average layman, you are well versed in what needs doing, but god forbid anything happening to you, could your wife run the system and make changes? The other factors needing consideration, is when the Ukraine war finishes and everything returns to a 'new' semblence of normal in the energy markets worldwide, i expect the rates to drop somewhat(not back to the old rates, but somewhere in the middle), however back to a level that folks can actually afford without government assistance. At that point, the export rates will drop drastically as well, but of course by that time many folks will have already made their energy structure investments. I'll just finish with, i'm not being critical of your set up, in fact I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU for achieving what you have done, but there is more to the setting up of these systems to consider overall.

[@EVPuzzle]

Jim that's £500 extra not just £500 savings . My solar kit has cost circa £18k plus but I've gained about £8k so far in 4 years excluding things like saving petrol costs . Yes this systems works fine in wife mode just not as efficiently in Geek mode🤣

[@jimmaxwell2259]

@@EVPuzzle Thanks for making things clearer. You must have had some size of electric bill to start with to be making £2k savings/year....thats more than my complete leccie bill for the year....lol. This is where personal circumstances is critical in the calculations. I think it took me about 9.5 years to payback my solar PV investment and now 'in profit' .

[@Goldfish120X11]

You mention that you no longer want to send me excess solar to car via Zappi. I understand you can achieve this simply by changing the “export margin” in the advanced settings. This is normally set to 0w I.e. any excess is sent to the vehicle. This can be set to much higher values e.g. 6kw then only when margin hits this level would it send to vehicle. Just set it to the maximum output of your system. Check the myenergy FAQ pages or give them a call for more details - myenergi have thought about this 👍🏻

[@kevinmatthews2620]

personally i switched all of my FITs from ovo over to Octopus, ovo did drag there heels on my final payment,BUT Octopus pay me quicker after i give them a meter read,in fact i switched both gas & Electric to Octopus and the switch on analouge meters took 4 days, this is in preperation of smart meters and switching away from my deemed export of 5ish p per kwh to Octopus higher rate, no point in leaving any FITs with your old provider imho :) :)

[@greygameruk]

Firstly thank you for the informative videos alas my experience with Octopus Energy has not been great. I would love to take advantage of the money saving tariffs having solar panels, battery back storage and electric vehicles. I had a "smart" meter installed about 4 years ago and after many visits from technicians Octopus now seem to have given up trying to make it talk to the network. There are many houses like mine in the neighbourhood who will be excluded from the advantages of connectivity and I don't think the energy companies care. I am sure my experience would have been the same with different energy companies as it appears to be a technology limitation. I would love to know if progress is being made on improving the technology and network coverage for the north of England to allow old stone terrace housing to benefit from the electric revolution.

[@EVPuzzle]

My understanding is the network needed to operate the smart meters isn't controlled by the energy companies and is incredibly slow expanding . We are borderline only and I'm very lucky to have a working smart meter. There's a new network going in for water meters and amazingly its not sharing connectivity so duplicating efforts . Crazy

[@greygameruk]

​@@EVPuzzle Crazy indeed. Can't understand why there are two different Data Communications Companies (DCC) already in Britain one I believe uses 400MHz RF and the other on mobile comms. What is wrong with this country?

[@nigelkempson8746]

One thought occurred to me. Is their any way of converting the energy your wife and daughter expend in rolling their eyes into exportable kWH? If so, you could become a very rich man.

[@EVPuzzle]

They're too busy lunching and shopping with all the saved ££££ Also, decent wives support their husband's hobbies

[@goldensun2707]

This is quite a change in mindset. Do you think any of your conclusions about starting over would be different if you had made that video after this one? We have deemed export at the moment, but things don't stack up to switch (no access to EV tariffs yet), but maybe in time...

[@EVPuzzle]

Not at all, I'm certain of my principles Generate more than needed and gain from that excess. Energy markets are changing as are tariffs so I need to be flexible as per my example of what if I swap to flux

[@davidfellowes1628]

Also, with these multiple third parties all wanting to participate in the energy evolution, the question of who can and who pays for the data flow is appearing. Would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially as we move to EV/Grid flows of electricity stored in them.

[@derekpaisley620]

Its also easy, i use IOG, export at 15. So i have my inverter set to charge at 7.5p (15.5kwh) . I then use all my energy until next charge time. Any solar that comes my way gous first to house load then grid, as opposed to charging the battery.

[@EVPuzzle]

How do you change the battery to not charge but still discharge . Which battery ?

[@derekpaisley620]

@EVPuzzle I have solax system, I have self use mode, the normal - house. Battery. Grid. I also have a mode call feed in priority house . Grid. So essentially it monitors my house load and send pv to cover house load and excess to Grid. If the pv drops the battery supplements pv , but essentially the battery doesn't get charged. Nifty, I think.

[@derekpaisley620]

In victron you can det charge rate to 1 amp or very low , using HA during the day.

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

Running entire house plus car on off-peak (intelligent Octopus) by charging my battery off-peak at 7.5p/unit while (just about) all generation is exported at 15p/unit. I'm not yet brave enough to go 100% half hourly. My average daily usage is about 10kWh including the car (low mileage) With 11kWh of household battery that covers my daily household battery. When V2G comes in (software update to both car, Skoda Enyaq, and charger, Zappi) i could replace my gas boiler with a heat pump and not have to upgrade my panels and battery.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

In a way you could argue it's simpler now? Rather than some times of year load from solar, other times from the grid on cheap rate, try and work out every day in summer if tomorrow will be sunny or not so as to determine how to fill up the battery, now simply year-round load the battery on cheap rate then run the house from that, and export whenever you can which likely is significantly April to October? OK you can game the system and eke out the very last pounds with these flux rates sometimes but is it worth the additional complexity of the set it and forget it same the year round setting ?

[@edwyncorteen1527]

Well done, I simply don't worry, I just use as much as I can during the cheap overnight period, last year I earned £600 over the summer. I am currently coming to the end of my first year of having a heat pump and we have used a net 3,000kWh from the grid, this is with 9kW of solar, a Powerwall and charging 2 EVs. Before we installed any Solar we used to use 3500 kWh every year, we now use hardly any gas (just for cooking, SWMBO wont have an induction hob!) and still use less electricity than we used to, free motoring and free heating!

[@michaeledwards8079]

Octopus flux is the best tariff for export, but the cheap rate for input is only 3 hours, but long enough to charge my battery and occasional EV charge

[@Ew8057]

Might be interesting to look into Victron’s new dynamic ESS, sounds like there is still work needed to integrate the pricing API with Octopus but certainly a good topic for a future video.

[@EverydayLife621]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@larsmenken2679]

I am looking at Agile, but last January was really expensive and I am wondering if it is worth waiting another month.

[@Dominic_Bolton]

Do you have a grid export limit Nigel? I have a 4kW limit, but when I upgrade my system I’ll have >10kWp solar and inverters so I should still be able to use power and export on a sunny day

[@martinhammett8121]

Grid have been favouring Gas over batteries & other forms of supply, could their 20% stake in National gas have something to do with that ?

[@user-of5uo1bc1n]

Zappi should be on Fast not ECO++ and the car/Octopus control the on and off

[@mikep5376]

Savings sessions haven't been happening since we've had fairly mild and windy weather...?

[@73henny]

I didn't think you could be on outgoing fixed with a Go product?

[@rcourt1977]

I didn't seem to get paid more for the saving period when I tested exporting during the first one in this batch, I've yet to get a bill but export doesn't seem to show in the octoplus system. Never seem anything saying I get more for export during savings (from octopus)?

[@EVPuzzle]

Are you in an outgoing tariff with octopus?

[@rcourt1977]

@@EVPuzzle Intellegent Octopus Go and Outgoing Octopus (15p)

[@johnbow100]

Hi Nigel. I have a 4kw solar system and Solax inverter and receive FIT payments currently. I'm looking at getting a Givenergy battery and givenergy AC inverter soon. Do you keep the original inverter so you don't lose your FIT payments and does it just sit there disconnected or is it still wired into the system?

[@DTech101]

Hey mate I know what you mean I was on the fence with the electric car but glad I got one now. So happy I got batteries and solar. As for Your daughter I would at least get batteries to see her through those peak times, solar is a bonus but not needed as you can earn off of battery on its own. I want to stop my victron from charging the battery off of solar do you know if we can do this with Victron? Oh how are you going to stop it charging? PS I like to be in control of my stuff and I’m loving the saver sessions and thanks to one of the chaps on here I’ve managed to get on dynamic ESS so I can now export during the saver sessions and the solar in the summer

[@EVPuzzle]

I've been looking into it. Ideally we want a " don't charge with excess solar option" whilst keeping the other ESS features . At first glance it looks like that doesn't exist. ESS presumes 'optimised' should use excess solar Using external control is one option but I'll be experimenting adjusting charging Amps through DVCC to reduce not stop solar charging then increase it back before scheduled AC charging . Not perfect but should be effective enough

[@DTech101]

@@EVPuzzle ok yeah great idea 💡

[@EVPuzzle]

Also it looks like the gx firmware 3 brings a new feature in the scheduled charging options to continue using solar power or battery power after soc limit reached . That could be useful . I'll have to upgrade the cerbo though. Not done that previously

[@DTech101]

@@EVPuzzle Cerbo GX updates very easily, I hope mine does now as I’m just trying to put a Shelly so I can see it in the VRM for the heater I use to keep my batteries warm using a plus 1pm Shelly but not having much success at the moment and I hope this doesn’t stop the upgrade! I’m already on 3.13 not sure where that setting is as it does look like a nice solution

[@DTech101]

@@EVPuzzle well it worked but would like the what’s not to go into the ESS as it’s being tricked now as it only shows up as PV sensor so that’s a bit of a bust for me but for you with there arrays you could have all of them showing

[@Ben-gm9lo]

Gary Does Solar has an app that may well help you calculate different export rates and savings. I am sure you already know, but you asked questions in the video that his app may answer.

[@paulcolu]

I spoke with Octopus today and if you are on the Octopus Intelligent Go tariff you only get 8p/Kwhr export not 15p

[@EVPuzzle]

I think that's the GO tariff not intelligent

[@paulcolu]

Apologies to all. I have contacted Octopus Energy yet again and this time have been told that I should be getting 15p and not 8p. They have credited my account back from September and apologised for their error.

[@phil_nicholls]

Do you still get the ‘generation’ part of the FIT? Normally, when moving over to SEG, one keeps the generation component of the FIT, and it’s the ‘deemed export’ that gets moved over to SEG. Has this happened here?

[@EVPuzzle]

Yes

[@phil_nicholls]

@@EVPuzzle brilliant! Time to pull my finger out and move over. Currently with EON for my FIT on our original 4Kw system - but really need to move over to SEG so I can benefit from exporting from my system as a whole. Added 5Kw to the system a year ago, but don’t benefit from exporting at all from that bit at the moment. Have worked out that I’ll be in net profit annually if I move over to SEG (with IO) and keep the generation portion of the FIT. Two Powerwalls charged overnight, even through the summer as we do through the winter will see us exporting pretty much all solar. As you say, it doesn’t feel right - but thems the rules!

[@rocksy71]

We moved into the property, three months ago, 14 solar panels, on the roof but no batteries sensor and we’ve installed batteries but are worried that switching to octopus we will lose our fit tariff which currently pays approximately £600 a year trying to understand from a very uninformed point of view, what would be your recommendation for us to do? Regards, John

[@EVPuzzle]

As per the video you don't have to lose FIT just the export aspect

[@MrBobitsabc]

You must have a smart meter though to get SEG monitoring and payment

[@leehartshorn1479]

Nice dilema to have i guess Only just had our system installed in December and not got my export tariff set up just yet so missed out on exporting on those saving sessions but used nothing as the powerwall was in use during those times so made a few quid But i look forward to finding the right balance of export on the IOG tariff

[@mikebarry229]

I don't have batteries so cannot test the theory, but wouldn't exporting 4kWh/h for the duration of a saving session mean you had used that much less than normal and so get paid for that average difference to normal, regardless of whether you are on SEG or not? I'm sure someone must have tried.

[@EVPuzzle]

Not if octopus aren't looking at your export meter values they only look at consumption

[@mikebarry229]

@@EVPuzzle Thank you.....very good point!

[@JimGayes]

Octopus just look at your export amount and pay the same rate as someone who has just made a saving on their normal average usage. Folks with batteries can't save anything as their normal usage at this time of day is zero as usually running from battery power during peak times.

[@michaelrathbone67]

Will the Government not want a slice of your profit as it could be regarded as a source of income or as they deem it as a side hustle?

[@brettc1169]

Monthly Export bills are in your account on the 2nd of the month 👍

[@mackay250]

Can you get 15p export when you are on intelligent octopus go?

[@EVPuzzle]

Yes

[@JustMeTalking]

Yes. That's what we do.

[@mackay250]

@@JustMeTalking Thanks. I'll do that now!!!

[@paulcolu]

No I spoke with Octopus today and if you are on the Octopus Intelligent Go Tariff you only get 8p /Kwhr for export

[@JustMeTalking]

@paulcolu That's news. We're on contract at 15p ... wonder what will happen with our renewal then. That'll be a shame if its changed to 8p

[@jongreenwood3029]

Is the SEG payment taxed?

[@maverlk7]

Hi Nigel, an excellent informative video as usual 👍. I am on intelligent octopus and the 15p export tariff the same as you! Unfortunately, my Tesla Powerwall cannot be controlled to charge to full overnight and export the solar at 15p. In fact, for some inexplicable reason it charged to only 85% last night leaving a buffer for the almost nonexistent solar I will get today (less than 2kwh a day most days in December). It is an obvious flaw in the Tesla battery, which has been excellent in all other aspects. I am assuming your Pylontech batteries allow you more control than I have? Or is it your home assistant that governs this? Do you happen to know whether home assistant can control the powerwall to allow me to force it to export all solar and charge from the grid at night for maximum money efficiency?

[@JustMeTalking]

With our Powerwalls I manually set the backup reserve to 80% on the evening. This forces them to charge to 100% Then in the morning, I manually change the backup reserve to 0% At around 21:00 if there's any excess left in the Powerwalls, I then export it back to the Grid for export SEG payment.

[@maverlk7]

@@JustMeTalking thanks for that tip, I will try it! Shame such manual interference is required though. How do you force the powerwall to export at 2100? I have not found any setting to force an export?

[@mikep5376]

My powerwall happily charges to 100% every night on Intelligent Go. It is set to Time based charging with 20% for backup. I have the import costs programmed the same as my tariff, but have now set all export rates to zero for winter as my solar is currently so poor. I can export if I wish just by increasing the export rate. I can force charge ahead of a saving session by raising the backup level temporarily. I've also set the normal day rate as "mid peak", with a short "peak" rate at 18 to 19hrs to coincide with most saving sessions. If I raise the peak export rate from 0p to £1, it should export at 5kW for that hour if full enough. Now all I need is a saving session to test it!

[@JustMeTalking]

@mikep5376 Yes correct, as it bases your storage needs on incoming solar & how much you actually use. But... if we have a day of low electric use, the Powerwalls 'may' not charge fully. Its this unpredictability that I want to avoid. During Summer next year, I want to force charge the Powerwalls every day... to then export all excess solar, and excess battery storage back to Grid.

[@mikep5376]

If set as I've described, my Powerwall is always charged to 100% at 05.30.

[@randomjasmicisrandom]

You like your data? I hadn’t noticed! 😂

[@PlumberOntheJob]

Get a petal car 😂

[@gtubbs6974]

You might want to check the T &C for your export tariff. Filling from the grid to sell back is classed as Brown energy and I think is not allowed.

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

That's interesting, because the basis of V2G is just that. Charge from grid during cheap rate slots, discharge to grid during peak rate slots.

[@gtubbs6974]

Good point. I think the restriction is because they cannot determine where the electricity comes from - despite the power in your battery can only be from Octopus or PV.