Soldato
DM them on twitter see what they're saying, that's the best way of getting an update and means you don't need to sit on the phone on hold.
How to getthe best out of Octopus Flux
- Thread starter Ron-ski
- Start date
DM them on twitter see what they're saying, that's the best way of getting an update and means you don't need to sit on the phone on hold.
Soldato
Noooo!
(But yes, inevitable)
Sample units are actual units used on my bill from April - May.
| Flux Import | |||||
| Until 30/06 | From 01/07 | Sample Units | Cost Before | Cost After | |
| Flux (02:00 - 05:00) | 20.111 | 18.177 | 274.5 | £55.20 | £49.90 |
| Normal (05:00 - 16:00, 19:00 - 02:00) | 33.518 | 30.295 | 16.6 | £5.56 | £5.03 |
| Peak (16:00 - 19:00) | 46.925 | 42.413 | 0.3 | £0.14 | £0.13 |
£60.91 | £55.05 |
£5.86 less cost vs back-dated units.
| Flux Export | |||||
| Until 30/06 | From 01/07 | Sample Units | Profit Before | Profit After | |
| Flux (02:00 - 05:00) | 9.111 | 7.177 | 0 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Normal (05:00 - 16:00, 19:00 - 02:00) | 22.518 | 19.295 | 262.9 | £59.20 | £50.73 |
| Peak (16:00 - 19:00) | 35.925 | 31.413 | 183.7 | £65.99 | £57.71 |
£125.19 | £108.43 |
£16.76 less profit vs back-dated units.
£16.76 - £5.86 = £10.90 less profit in total.
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Soldato
Yup……day rate import 30p, export 19p
Peak rate 41p, export 32
Night rate 18.1, export 7.1
all have gone down around 3p…..but standard charges have remained the same
Peak rate 41p, export 32
Night rate 18.1, export 7.1
all have gone down around 3p…..but standard charges have remained the same
Man of Honour
It's not going to make a massive difference since the import price is dropping too
Soldato
People who can get to negative billing will be less well off profit wise, people who pay something will be better off cost wise.
Soldato
im debating tracker for leccy and gas and export fixed 15……just need to see what the SC is to work out whats best.
especially as im making minimal export after 4pm due to the position of my panels
especially as im making minimal export after 4pm due to the position of my panels
Our fixed price Super Green Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed May 2021 v1 (18.78p k/Wh) comes to an end at the start of August sadly 
. It's currently paired with Outgoing octopus 12M fixed at 15p k/Wh until May 2024 for export.
Octopus are suggesting we go onto Flexible Octopus for import. We have c11 kw of batteries and a 4k/Wh set of 10 panels which work best in the morning and are producing around 1 kW/h much after 3pm so we wouldn't have much in the way of PV coverage for the prime time costs on flux and would have to rely on overnight battery to augment PV late afternoon and then through the evening. With an Eddi unit for hot water diverter and working from home export is pretty minimal to be honest. With shorter winter days on the horizon any thoughts on considering Flux and charge batteries overnight to cover day usage or consider a different plan?
**edited for clarity**
. It's currently paired with Outgoing octopus 12M fixed at 15p k/Wh until May 2024 for export.Octopus are suggesting we go onto Flexible Octopus for import. We have c11 kw of batteries and a 4k/Wh set of 10 panels which work best in the morning and are producing around 1 kW/h much after 3pm so we wouldn't have much in the way of PV coverage for the prime time costs on flux and would have to rely on overnight battery to augment PV late afternoon and then through the evening. With an Eddi unit for hot water diverter and working from home export is pretty minimal to be honest. With shorter winter days on the horizon any thoughts on considering Flux and charge batteries overnight to cover day usage or consider a different plan?
**edited for clarity**
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Soldato
Our fixed price Super Green Helpful Octopus 24M Fixed May 2021 v1 (18.78p k/Wh) comes to an end at the start of August sadly
Octopus are suggesting we go onto Flexible Octopus for import. We have c11 kw of batteries and a 4k/Wh set of 10 panels which primarily charge in the morning and are below 1 kW/h much after 2-3pm so we wouldn't have much in the way of PV coverage for the prime time costs on flux and would have to rely on overnight battery. With an Eddi unit for hot water diverter and working from home export is pretty minimal to be honest. With shorter winter days on the horizon any thoughts on considering Flux and charge batteries overnight to cover day usage or consider a different plan?
If you're not exporting much then Flux won't profit you greatly. You would also wind up switching to Flux export instead.
You could look at Agile instead perhaps, which is compatible with your 15p export.
Nothing wrong with Flux at all but I am probably going to have to move away from it by September ish.
Thanks - it's a bit of a dark art trying to work out which is the best option so leaning on your experience is a huge help.
I'm not expecting to make a profit as we use leccy during the day with WFH so just aiming to be as close to 0p costs for the day as possible combining any cheap rate battery charge plus PV plus what little export is left over
I'm not expecting to make a profit as we use leccy during the day with WFH so just aiming to be as close to 0p costs for the day as possible combining any cheap rate battery charge plus PV plus what little export is left over
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Soldato
Check my post a few up with the current and new rates from July for Flux. These vary by region but yours won't be millions of miles off mine.
With your battery setup you can just spam charge the battery for about £2 a day, and then run in the day for whatever the battery can provide + solar on top.
Exported solar is relatively neutral vs imported cheaper units at night, so 1 kWh imported from 02:00 - 05:00 is around 20p/kWh currently, and I get paid 22.5p/kWh for exported units, but due to efficiency losses you don't really gain or lose anything on that trade. I do it anyway as it means if there is no sun I am covered pretty well.
If you can pay £2~ to fill that battery, and export enough to get paid £2 whilst not using much (if anything) from the grid all day, you'll hit your neutral target.
Flux will just not be as good if you don't export really anything at all, or even worse if you wind up drawing grid units at the peak (16:00 - 19:00) because that costs you a lot more than SVR.
You can see on my table of sample units, that is based on an actual bill, and I barely used any peak rate units, minimal unavoidable day rate units, and most of my usage came from off-peak via battery charge overnight.
Likewise I exported nothing at the cheapest rate (02:00 - 05:00) and aimed to maximise my peak rate unit exports as much as I could.
Flux will probably work OK for you but you will definitely need to re-evaluate tariff around September.
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Thanks - our current fixed rate ends 5th August so I suspect I may as well make a judgement for a "winter" rate then to go through till spring. So far options seem to be Agile fo import and stick with our fixed 15p export or flux... Flux seems a no brainer for summer but not so sure given how much leccy we actually use during the day for the winter as i expect by Sept any export will be minimal at best.
Great info folks, thank you!
Soldato
Fwiw for Winter I am going to see if I can get back onto Go again, that full battery charge and 4 hours of cheap rate knocks a lot off my bills even if the solar isn't good, I only need a handful of normal units then.
If not possible I will enquire about Eco 7 standard tariff, as that has a cheap (not quite as cheap as Go) but longer overnight off-peak window, so whilst it's not as good as Go if I get some sun in, it's probably better if there isn't any sun that day. With Eco 7 it should be possible to go onto the 15p/kWh export payment rate as well.
Go you are stuck on the really poor 4p/kWh SEG pricing, so whilst it can be cheap to run, it's not worth exporting anything on it really.
Just been credited £210 for my last 10 weeks of export on the fixed 15p unit, annoying it should have been significantly more but will be getting big profit from flux once my meter is exchanged and future. Will really speed up the payback for the solar.
Man of Honour
Fair comment. For me profit is a nice secondary benefit rather than the main factor.
I also don't WFH full time (thank god!) and my wife doesn't WFH at all. So flux for us would still be reasonable even in the winter.
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Soldato
Yep but for me the financial side is the most important aspect, with things like being greener being nice secondary benefits.
You've already flagged you didn't mind losing some income to heat your hot water for example, so it probably matters less to you.
Soldato
I work from home fulltime, my partner is retired due to ill health from the NHs......we still export circa 77% of what we produce
Man of Honour
Oh I totally agree - don't get me wrong if I can make money or spend less I'm not going to say no!
I think the effort of changing tariffs (whilst not a lot) is not my idea of fun, but I also fear they may clamp down on it? Perhaps not.
Ultimately I just want to lower my spend as much as possible - so possibly should be more proactive like you.
Soldato
Oh I totally agree - don't get me wrong if I can make money or spend less I'm not going to say no!
I think the effort of changing tariffs (whilst not a lot) is not my idea of fun, but I also fear they may clamp down on it? Perhaps not.
Ultimately I just want to lower my spend as much as possible - so possibly should be more proactive like you.
They may crack down on changing tariffs but whilst they allow it, changing once or twice a year isn't a big deal to me.
Often they can be switched online, and if not then a quick DM to their twitter team and they seem to be able to sort it without me spending a long time waiting around.
I have setup my automations I think pretty well in regards to auto-exporting some excess power where I have any to spare, so all this stuff is great once it's rolling as it just works without much intervention!
Soldato
- Joined
- 23 May 2006
- Posts
- 7,693
this is our 2nd full month on flux and likely the best energy bill we will ever get as prices coming down in July. this is good news and I am glad it is happening but will slightly lower flux profits.
over £81 net payment after gas and electricity paid.
photos.app.goo.gl
over £81 net payment after gas and electricity paid.
New item by Mike K
photos.app.goo.gl