How to getthe best out of Octopus Flux

HungryHippos said:
Was this working when you were on SEG etc?

My smart meter export data has been working the whole time, I knew that 4.1p/kWh was poor but I wanted the export functional so I could jump onto something else better when it came along.
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No, always ben manual. I went through the steps of connecting to smart meter etc and as soon as I got onto the fixed export at 15p my Hugo started working, but it's never shown any of my export.
 
SoliD said:
No, always ben manual. I went through the steps of connecting to smart meter etc and as soon as I got onto the fixed export at 15p my Hugo started working, but it's never shown any of my export.
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Then yes get onto the case with Octopus because mine isn't manual and they won't like it for 30 min variance with Flux.
 
Ironically had a lady come knocking today from Octopus asking about customer service, was unfortunately on a work call at the time but mentioned my issues with export and she said she'd look into it.
 
Copied my post from GE forums, cba to change it! :)

The plot thickens somewhat with some testing today.

To get my battery to operate like I mentioned, discharge only, no charge from solar in the peak window, it seems to work when I have it like this in the GUI.
  • Timed Export - Disabled (can be ignored for this state).
  • Timed Discharge - Enabled and set for 16:00 - 19:00.
  • Eco Mode - Enabled.
The important thing to note here is that Timed Discharge is enabled at the same time as Eco Mode, but the system considers itself in Eco Mode, at least as far as mine is concerned within HA.

If I force a timed Export using HA, then this immediately does three things:
  • Disables Eco Mode
  • Disables Timed Discharge
  • Enables Timed Export
If I want to restore myself back to the previous state I was operating in, where the battery won't charge in the peak time, then it's a little more tricky to manipulate.

Enabling Eco Mode disables Timed Discharge Mode. Without Timed Discharge mode being enabled it will freely charge the battery from solar.

Enabling Timed Discharge mode disables Eco Mode. Without Eco Mode it will freely charge the battery from solar.

If I enable Eco Mode, I can then go into the GUI and toggle the Timed Discharge option without adjusting the timeframe, this seems to then put me back into the desired state. I can't see a way of doing this via the Givenergy Local library (I'm using cdpuk / givenergy-local via HACS from github source).

The two service options with this, Activate Eco mode, or Activate Timed Discharge, seem to conflict and disable each other.

Any ideas on how to toggle the Timed Discharge window back on after running the Eco Mode switch?
 
d_p said:
Sorry if this isn't the right Forum for this question, but I thought people who are interested in all the figures would be able to help.

I have a growatt inverter and battery system that I charge at night for the cheaper rate on octopus flux. I have a spreadsheet that I want to track savings on but I'm having trying to work out how much money I am saving charging the battery at night.

Does anyone know what figures I would have use to work this out? I really only want to look at numbers at the end of the month and not have to note things down daily. The shinephone app only seems to give total charge daily and doesn't differenciate between ac charge and solar charge.
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Hi @d_p welcome to the forum, I've quoted your message in this thread as it's more appropriate. I'm not familiar with Growatt but I'm sure someone here will be.

A lot of people use Home Assistant, try googling "growatt home assistant"

Have you tried Octopus Watch (Android) or Octopus Aid (Apple), they won't do what you want but help with a day to day picture of you're costs.
 
Ron-ski said:
Hi @d_p welcome to the forum, I've quoted your message in this thread as it's more appropriate. I'm not familiar with Growatt but I'm sure someone here will be.

A lot of people use Home Assistant, try googling "growatt home assistant"

Have you tried Octopus Watch (Android) or Octopus Aid (Apple), they won't do what you want but help with a day to day picture of you're costs.
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Thanks.

I have looked at home assistant but I really would like to use the standard data. I'm just looking for a figure that shows how much the battery is charged at night. I don't know if that is taking the system production value and taking away the solar production value to give me the battery grid charge. The numbers don't seem to match up with what it should be when I do this. I question how accurate the numbers are in the shinephone app
 
d_p said:
Thanks.

I have looked at home assistant but I really would like to use the standard data. I'm just looking for a figure that shows how much the battery is charged at night. I don't know if that is taking the system production value and taking away the solar production value to give me the battery grid charge. The numbers don't seem to match up with what it should be when I do this. I question how accurate the numbers are in the shinephone app
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If you're with Octopus with a smart meter you can check the import kWh overnight via their website, will show you how much is being imported.
 
I'll summarise some more stuff end of May as I'd then have one full month on Flux, but for now I'll put down some initial thoughts after just a week or so.

I moved to Flux from Go on 20/04, so today is day number 10 of being on Flux, a long enough time for some sort of feedback on how it's going.

My bill from Octopus encompasses 20/04 - 26/04, so exactly 7 days.

Import costs:

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Export profit:

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April has been pretty decent weather wise, and I can see from my generation stats that those 7 days were fairly decent, with 122 kWh of generation across them.

Even so, to have my bill for electric be negative in total, I am very happy about that outcome. I hope the next 4 months is similar, for me solar has always been less about making profit and more about just cutting my bills as close to zero as I can, whilst using green energy to do it.

On Go this would have been cheap, but not negative. With decentish weather my average Go price is around £1/day.

Pros and Cons really boil down to a couple of things, but the main pro is that with Flux I don't worry about exporting being wasteful anymore, or trying to min/max the battery SOC overnight to guess at how good the solar may be.

The main con is that with Go I would just find ways to use the excess energy efficiently, but I now have an opportunity cost instead, for every kWh I export, the cost becomes the money I would have been paid for exporting it.

The biggest con so far is that I am discouraged from using much in the peak window, this sort of forces me to consider cooking food earlier in the day, before 4 is a bit earlier than I'd like in reality (ideally if peak rate was like 16:30 or 17:00 start that would be preferable.
 
I would say I'm really looking forward to our next electricity bill, but as BG have not responded to my email informing them not to pay me deemed exports yet, I can't be paid by Octopus.

Currently last 7 days are -£24.25, last 28 days are -£35.35, but 11 days of that don't have any export included.

PS That's the thing I found, you start out thinking you have all this "free" electric, then Flux comes along and it's not "free" anymore, if you use it, it has a cost, as in lost export payments.
 
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Im debating whether to go on electric tracker and fixed outgoing…….current tracker price is 18.9p all day and fixed outgoing is 15p. Thats pretty close for a unit to unit price of import v export. Its the standing charge thats the debate though at 52p a day.
 
I'm an unhappy British Gas customer fixed until 10/2023. Looking to change supplier as early as possible. SEG with Scottish Power at 15p/kWh.

Octopus appeal to me with their good reviews and forward thinking tarriffs. Flux has perked my interests with having 5.12kWp PV, 3.6kW inverter and a 7.2kWh battery installation.

April solar figures attached along with my current BG dual fuel rates. Summer export expecting 20-30kWh/day with ideal conditions.

Is it worthwhile ending my contract early with BG? And if the onboarding to Flux takes some time/a minimum term on an alternative tarriff; then which is best?

Many thanks in advance!



 
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grantgam said:
I'm an unhappy British Gas customer fixed until 10/2023. Looking to change supplier as early as possible. SEG with Scottish Power at 15p/kWh.

Octopus appeal to me with their good reviews and forward thinking tarriffs. Flux has perked my interests with having 5.12kWp PV, 3.6kW inverter and a 7.2kWh battery installation.

April solar figures attached along with my current BG dual fuel rates. Summer export expecting 20-30kWh/day with ideal conditions.

Is it worthwhile ending my contract early with BG? And if the onboarding to Flux takes some time/a minimum term on an alternative tarriff; then which is best?

Many thanks in advance!
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your solar system and battery is v similar to mine and i am really pleased with Flux since joining. IF you didnt have PV or battery those prices look decent.

but imo it is hard to consider anyone other than octopus if you have panels &/or battery. just remember to get a referal off a friend , family or forum member . that £50 octopus credit will cover your leaving cost.

it may be work keeping your gas till it runs out however.
 
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