Free electricity with Octopus for the last year - well, almost

[Midlifecrisis]

We have been with Octopus Intelligent for a year now. We have paid Octopus £384.65 and have a balance of £179.09. After paying the year's standing charges (£199.64) we have paid £5.92 for the electricity. All 11,500kWh of it.

How on earth has that worked out? Last May we had 19 solar panels fitted and a 16.4kWh battery system. In September the tariff for returning power to the grid went up to 15p/kWh. We have generated around 5800kWh over the year. In the winter we charge the house battery over night, the result being that >98% of our power use from the grid is at the night time rate of 7.5p. We haven't actively sent power back to the grid that we have downloaded at night except during the saving sessions (for which we were paid ~£100). We have referred 4 people and got a referral bonus when we joined (£250 total) and a goodwill payment of £20 (I think due to my wife's RR no longer being able to work with OI).

So all in all, we have had cheap power for the year. And of course saved approx £3000 by not using petrol in the cars. Obviously we had to buy the solar panels, battery and cars, but it all seems to be working quite well for now.

If anyone wants to join Octopus, here is my referral code - we both get £50!
https://share.octopus.energy/loved-bloom-593

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[lcarron]

Awesome. Do you know that co2 wise if you charge your car with solar then an ICE is equivalent to 27 EVs 100% solar charged cars!
I’m not comparing a fiesta with a Taycan but a ICE that makes 20miles per gallon.

 

[Dave Birch]

We have been with Octopus Intelligent for a year now. We have paid Octopus £384.65 and have a balance of £179.09. After paying the year's standing charges (£199.64) we have paid £5.92 for the electricity. All 11,500kWh of it.

How on earth has that worked out? Last May we had 19 solar panels fitted and a 16.4kWh battery system. In September the tariff for returning power to the grid went up to 15p/kWh. We have generated around 5800kWh over the year. In the winter we charge the house battery over night, the result being that >98% of our power use from the grid is at the night time rate of 7.5p. We haven't actively sent power back to the grid that we have downloaded at night except during the saving sessions (for which we were paid ~£100). We have referred 4 people and got a referral bonus when we joined (£250 total) and a goodwill payment of £20 (I think due to my wife's RR no longer being able to work with OI).

So all in all, we have had cheap power for the year. And of course saved approx £3000 by not using petrol in the cars. Obviously we had to buy the solar panels, battery and cars, but it all seems to be working quite well for now.

If anyone wants to join Octopus, here is my referral code - we both get £50!
https://share.octopus.energy/loved-bloom-593

I too love Octopus even though I don’t have batteries. I sell most of my solar at 15p and buy for the car at 7.5p. A result!

 

[lcarron]

I too love Octopus even though I don’t have batteries. I sell most of my solar at 15p and buy for the car at 7.5p. A result!

In other words you get two kilowatts at night when you sell one during the day.
wow! Two for one!!

Right?

 

[Midlifecrisis]

In other words you get two kilowatts at night when you sell one during the day.
wow! Two for one!!

Right?

That is correct. At the moment. You could fill your battery and discharge it during the day but that is probably not worth the bother once charging losses are taken into account

 

[Dave Birch]

In other words you get two kilowatts at night when you sell one during the day.
wow! Two for one!!

Right?

Yep. That’s another way of looking at it. The good thing is the charging scheduling by octopus for the car often starts before the overnight tariff but still gives me that cheap rate:

 

[Nickj]

Love this. In essence it’s in kine my thought process, as currently having solar installed, 18 panels, and a 13.5kw Tesla Powerwall. My thinking is charge PW at 7.5p and run house if it during the day( should cover most days), charge taycan and wife’s hybrid overnight at 7.5p and basically sell anything I generate at 15p.

Tesla Powerwall installed so far, and nit used any peak electric since so immediate saving. Looking forward to hopefully selling some kw this summer!

During the saving session how do you send power back to the grid?

 

[Nickj]

That is correct. At the moment. You could fill your battery and discharge it during the day but that is probably not worth the bother once charging losses are taken into account

can you elaborate on this? Surely charging losses can’t be double?

 

[Midlifecrisis]

can you elaborate on this? Surely charging losses can’t be double?

It isn’t that bad, but by the time this is factored in (AC from grid to DC battery then back to AC to send back to the grid) I imagine you must lose at least 10% or more if the Taycan is anything to judge by. So you would probably make 6p/kWh. You then have to manually send it back each day. I am not sure to what degree that is detrimental to the battery and whether it justifies the money saved. I think a power wall can be set to do this automatically. Giv energy isn’t quite there yet

 

[bn8959]

Love this. In essence it’s in kine my thought process, as currently having solar installed, 18 panels, and a 13.5kw Tesla Powerwall. My thinking is charge PW at 7.5p and run house if it during the day( should cover most days), charge taycan and wife’s hybrid overnight at 7.5p and basically sell anything I generate at 15p.

Tesla Powerwall installed so far, and nit used any peak electric since so immediate saving. Looking forward to hopefully selling some kw this summer!

During the saving session how do you send power back to the grid?

Exactly what I do:

I got extended low rate hours too due to plug in charging. You can see it peak at 12kW when both car and Powerwall are charging at the same time

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Love this. In essence it’s in kine my thought process, as currently having solar installed, 18 panels, and a 13.5kw Tesla Powerwall. My thinking is charge PW at 7.5p and run house if it during the day( should cover most days), charge taycan and wife’s hybrid overnight at 7.5p and basically sell anything I generate at 15p.

Tesla Powerwall installed so far, and nit used any peak electric since so immediate saving. Looking forward to hopefully selling some kw this summer!

During the saving session how do you send power back to the grid?

To send power back to the grid I open the app for the inverter and tell it to export. The battery goes up to its highest discharge setting and whatever the house isn’t using goes back to the grid. I expect most systems will work in a similar way

 

[Nickj]

It isn’t that bad, but by the time this is factored in (AC from grid to DC battery then back to AC to send back to the grid) I imagine you must lose at least 10% or more if the Taycan is anything to judge by. So you would probably make 6p/kWh. You then have to manually send it back each day. I am not sure to what degree that is detrimental to the battery and whether it justifies the money saved. I think a power wall can be set to do this automatically. Giv energy isn’t quite there yet

Ta, thanks for clarifying. Little concerned my plan to store 7.5p electric into my Tesla Powerwall and sell anything I generate back at 15p was massively flawed!! Guess even at 10`% loss it’s still a good earner at 7.5p vs 13.5p!

 

[Nickj]

To send power back to the grid I open the app for the inverter and tell it to export. The battery goes up to its highest discharge setting and whatever the house isn’t using goes back to the grid. I expect most systems will work in a similar way

Tops thank you. My solar panels should be going in Monday and hopefully active by Tuesday so will get into the inverter app/ knowledge. Rain has caused havoc with my solar install !

 

[Nickj]

Exactly what I do:

I got extended low rate hours too due to plug in charging. You can see it peak at 12kW when both car and Powerwall are charging at the same time

Love this, and this extended low rates on OI is new news to me, so I’ve learnt something new!

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Tops thank you. My solar panels should be going in Monday and hopefully active by Tuesday so will get into the inverter app/ knowledge. Rain has caused havoc with my solar install !

I think the power wall can be set up separately to discharge back to the grid. Someone on here said it had its own inverter and reliably predicted charge based on the weather and how much they used. I don’t have one so don’t really know

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