Friday was a dredful day, with just 9.2kWh generated, and 5.2 kWh exported, and 14kWh imported, Friday's electric cost was £1.80.
How to getthe best out of Octopus Flux
- Thread starter Ron-ski
- Start date
I imagine I'll stay on Flux all year round, don't have an EV so GO and IO are not options, only real option is Economy 7, which has a slightly better overnight rate than Flux though only by about 3p and of course, has a much longer cheap window, though I can fully charge my battery in the 3 hour flux window, so only issue will be whether starting to draw from the battery at 5am rather than 7:30am will mean I struggle to make it through the day, though reckon I should make it past the expensive period before the battery goes flat, even on a bad day.
It also seems to be a hassle switching from Economy7 to a normal tariff due to the way the meter is setup (took a few months last time I switched!)
It also seems to be a hassle switching from Economy7 to a normal tariff due to the way the meter is setup (took a few months last time I switched!)
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
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IF I stay on Flux i will likely change my battery usage, to keep it simple will make the switch when we go from BST to GMT. my battery only has a usable 6kwh so in winter i will not switch over to battery until 4pm, which will then undoubtedly run flat by 2am.
Soldato
This is the only really sensible basic strategy unless you have masses of solar.
Move off FLUX to something else around Sept/Oct.
I cant imagine many Flux switchers staying on Flux through the winter.
So really it will come down to what will Octopus do. They cannot force you to remain on it since they specifically say you can leave it.
Will they be happy to have solar people switching every six months, or will they review Flux once everyone starts leaving in regards if they need to change the terms for 2024.
IMO they would be better having some seasonality built in. So its maybe slightly different every quarter reflecting how solar operates in the UK.
Give a longer cheaper overnight window, but something closer to SEG payments for export in winter. Keep the peak window but lower the export pricing to match the cheap overnight import pricing.
So its better than SEG on export but its not beneficial to import and export as much.
They could then expect solar people to basically stay on the scheme since it would be harder to get a notably better position elsewhere.
I guess most will depend on if Octopus want their CS reps having to deal with more switches on/off Flux each year, or its better for them to evolve the scheme.
Another interesting consideration in regards Flux would be if the Savings sessions operate in the same way this winter!
Soldato
why wouldnt people stay on flux??? - a good cheap window to charge batteries, which could be used to offset the expensive peak window and then export during the day
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Soldato
Well there may be a few who would, but the modelling doesn't support flux being better than say Go for winter months
But as ever its ratio of generation to usage
Soldato
but what if you cant get on GO any longer as they have tightened the rule around electric cars??
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I'm intending on staying on Flux for simplicity, but I do have circa 29kWh of battery storage, and can charge at 8kW during the off peak period, along with 8.74kW of PV I'm hoping it will work well, I expect December and January to be the worst months.
Yes, that's my situation. So only alternative to Flux is Eco7, which is slightly cheaper overnight and has the longer cheap period, but export at best would probably be the 15p fixed rate. So not much better overnight and any export you do manage would soon recover that. I guess Agile Import\Export is another option, but difficult to tell with that how it will do, overnight rate is currently beating Flux, but export most of today is only 7-8p, but could be completely different by next winter.
Soldato
You can Agile import with fixed 15p export, you don't need to use Agile export along with it.
True, I was previously on fixed import with Agile export. So then it comes down to how the overnight Agile import price compares to Flux, at the moment, it's about 3-6p cheaper than flux overnight, I suspect in the winter it's likely to be higher.
Soldato
The big headache with Agile importing is the charged time on battery, you'll always want to take advantage of the cheapest time of the day, but that can vary.
For me, with the EV and big batteries and generally hindered generation due to winter shading, moving to Go would save a chunk of money, especially as I can only charge at 2.6kWh, so if i'm charging 20-25kWh per day for 4 or so months a year is a big difference if the go rate is 6/7p compared to 20p.
And if you come off GO and give up you 12-month locked-in rate it's anyone's guess what the prevailing cheap GO rate will be when you want to swtich back.
Soldato
and no guarantee there will even be a go rate come winter
Soldato
Well the problem I had with this was that even though I had a good rate, it ran out 01/09 anyway, and I prefer Flux over the summer.
Therefore from September I would have been on whatever the prevailing rate was for Go regardless!
I'll probably try and get back onto Go or Eco 7 later in the year.
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Soldato
but will you lose out with the lower export rate??
true, but i'd more than likely be better off missing the locked in rate as i'll be coming on to a new deal by the next winter. I moved to Flux from my sainsburys tarriff which was a flat rate 19.5p until this October due to the benefits of the export rate through the summer.
Soldato
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- 23 May 2006
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my generation november - februrary is naff all anyway personally... i rely far more on the battery and cheap offpeak for those 4 months. Any solar is a bonus to eek out the battery
october and March i generate a noticable amount....... but not enough to export anything of note... if i am lucky, just enough to get me from one cheap rate to the next before my battery runs flat.
everyone is different but i imagine a similar story for many other solar / battery folk in the uk.... hence flux is ace for 6 months of the year but Go/IO would be better for the other 6 months.
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Soldato
Well of course since whenever you come off a tariff you are making assumptions on what may be available later on.
Flux pricing could dramatically change next year.
The relative pricing of the one to another is what we are all looking at / comparing
Flux vs go, or Flux vs Ec07 for example. Makes some assumption that pricing will be better on one vs another later, but all could be significantly worse for example. But,
Its still a balance between personal equations. If your storage + likely generation gets you close to 100% of your usage then flux could still be ok.
For me it doesn't.
In Dec I use around 20kwh a day. Say 10kwh usage at 7.5p and 10 kwh at 40p = £4.75
10kwh at 20p and 10kwh at 34p =£5.40 but also means i need to manage the battery state to ensure I have enough power to only use battery in the 4pm-7pm window.
On go I dont care about that and there were plenty of days in Dec for example when I was battery dead by 7pm.
Every I unit I generate on Go at that time saves import at 40p where as on Flux it would save at probably 34p (assuming I managed the 4-7pm window) so it increases the gap between go and flux.
When I look at last Dec there was not a single day when I generated half my usage so I am always taking from grid at standard pricing.
If Flux is similar next year I may well consider upping my battery storage. If I had closer to 100% storage then the equation shifts somewhat.
Until Flux the battery ROI was pushed out by the factor of your battery exceeding your usage + generation. Flux changed that, now it makes more sense to have higher battery capacity in summer when you can dump your excess out to grid 4-7pm.
Which is why I think a lot of people will leave flux in winter as it will cost more for many, and again why I think Octopus need to think about if they want people on flux permanently then having it in better balance for the whole year for people with average sized systems and generation.
Outliers will always exist, like you with low usage, and Ronski with high storage.