How to getthe best out of Octopus Flux

For the people that track their solar savings in a spreadsheet, what price per kWh do you use to calculate the value of the savings?

Last month I just used the average of the 3 flux prices, 30.86p and this gave me the amount of money I'd saved directly from the panels. Using this number though doesn't figure in the savings from the peak rate, so I think the number I'm using is underestimating my savings. I have a battery too and charge at night on the cheap rate, so I don't think my calculations are factoring those savings in at all.
 
d_p said:
For the people that track their solar savings in a spreadsheet, what price per kWh do you use to calculate the value of the savings?

Last month I just used the average of the 3 flux prices, 30.86p and this gave me the amount of money I'd saved directly from the panels. Using this number though doesn't figure in the savings from the peak rate, so I think the number I'm using is underestimating my savings. I have a battery too and charge at night on the cheap rate, so I don't think my calculations are factoring those savings in at all.
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at the mo i compare to normal price, then vs what I used at that price compared to what I paid

Once I have a couple of years real data I may drop to estimates based a simper calc.
I love a good bit of excel though so tracking the production to generating savings is only a small jump
 
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Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
at the mo i compare to normal price, then vs what I used at that price compared to what I paid

Once I have a couple of years real data I may drop to estimates based a simper calc.
I love a good bit of excel though so tracking the production to generating savings is only a small jump
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My father in law thinks getting solar is the worst decision I've made and I need some good figures for ammunition! The installers said my payback would be 6-7 years but my calculations are saying it is more like 9-10. I've also got no old bills to compare against as british gas were useless.

I've struggled to find an appropriate way of calculating it. I've seen other things on YouTube but in my opinion they are being way too optimistic and using the highest numbers possible.
 
I had an install done in December 2015, its on the FITS payment system, but it paid for itself last year, that was much easier to track, no battery, no time of use tariffs, and just the FITS payments four times a year. Whilst I don't get the FITS payments on the additional system I installed, I now get paid much more for all exports. I know given time it will pay for itself, just a matter of how long, but that money is spent so I'm not fussed, but then I don't have anyone that thinks I need to justify the cost. Surely you're much lower, or hopefully negative bills will go some way to justifying it.

I wonder if its something that Home Assistant could track and calculate?
 
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Welshman said:
I have a new app to use for octopus flux….its called octo aid, it shows import, exprt and gas. Also shows import and export times for key flux times and how much you spent or earned at each hour and you can higlight key times too…..
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I’ve just downloaded this app and so far it seems really well made. Problem I’m having is I can’t get any export data. When I input my account number and api key then on the export page it tells me “no data found” so I can’t view how much I’m exporting. Any help would be appreciated
 
morgin187 said:
I’ve just downloaded this app and so far it seems really well made. Problem I’m having is I can’t get any export data. When I input my account number and api key then on the export page it tells me “no data found” so I can’t view how much I’m exporting. Any help would be appreciated
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It took a few days for my export to update……
 
Did anyone have to send a photo of the meter reading for export? If so, was it from the smart meter or the generation meter? I can’t find an option for an export reading on the smart meter, although it has a symbol to show its exporting. Although on the Octopus account, it’s currently showing this:

Enabling Export Functionality​

We are now connecting to your smart meter in order to receive half-hourly export data. Once this is complete we can start crediting you.

Not sure if it’s fully setup yet.
 
I'm after a bit of help, I'm on Octopus Flux, 5.2Kw solar and 10Kw storage, all sunsync. It was installed in March and its all working well.
What isn't working well is my smart meters. The gas one stopped mid April and the leccy one on the 12th of July.
The gas one doesn't matter as much as that's all billed on a constant rate.
I cant see how I can get accurate bills for electric though, especially as I never use any from the grid from 4pm to 7pm as its always running from storage at those times.
Is there any way for the consumer to reset the link from the smart meters? and how do they even work? They don't connect to my wifi, what do they connect to? Some kind of 2g/3g/4g/5g?
many thanks
 
@Jon20 If you're on FITS and moving to being paid for exports, then you may need to send a picture of the generation meter once they have your exports set up.

@gc4170 They work via either long range radio or 2g/3g dependant on where you are, so signals can be patchy. Basically the gas meter talks to the electric meter, and the electric meter talks to the network, there is no way for the user to reset it.

Mine lost communication last year, and it took me months to get them replaced.
 
d_p said:
For the people that track their solar savings in a spreadsheet, what price per kWh do you use to calculate the value of the savings?

Last month I just used the average of the 3 flux prices, 30.86p and this gave me the amount of money I'd saved directly from the panels. Using this number though doesn't figure in the savings from the peak rate, so I think the number I'm using is underestimating my savings. I have a battery too and charge at night on the cheap rate, so I don't think my calculations are factoring those savings in at all.
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You need to be looking for the tariff you'd put yourself on. Ie flat rate per kwh I expect. I've been using my 19.5p/kwh which was fixed until October even though I switched to flux in April.
 
d_p said:
For the people that track their solar savings in a spreadsheet, what price per kWh do you use to calculate the value of the savings?

Last month I just used the average of the 3 flux prices, 30.86p and this gave me the amount of money I'd saved directly from the panels. Using this number though doesn't figure in the savings from the peak rate, so I think the number I'm using is underestimating my savings. I have a battery too and charge at night on the cheap rate, so I don't think my calculations are factoring those savings in at all.
Click to expand...
I basically calculate the cost of what I use at the flux rate from my half hourly usage and then compare that against my total home consumption multiplied by the standard flat rate tariff that I would have been on if I didn't have solar, to give me my savings based on the tariff\solar. Then I just add on my export earnings. It's a bit of a hassle doing the half hourly stuff manually, and I do plan to automate that (I wrote an app before I switched to flux that would do that, as well as automating the overnight charge based on the solar forecast and other stuff, but need to get round to updating it since I switched to flux).

My system went in just over 11 months ago for just under £10k (5.4 panels, 8.2 battery) and payback time is looking like it's going to be around 6 years, though that could change depending on energy prices etc.
 
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Tavis75 said:
I basically calculate the cost of what I use at the flux rate from my half hourly usage and then compare that against my total home consumption multiplied by the standard flat rate tariff that I would have been on if I didn't have solar, to give me my savings based on the tariff\solar. Then I just add on my export earnings. It's a bit of a hassle doing the half hourly stuff manually, and I do plan to automate that (I wrote an app before I switched to flux that would do that, as well as automating the overnight charge based on the solar forecast and other stuff, but need to get round to updating it since I switched to flux).

My system went in just over 11 months ago for just under £10k (5.4 panels, 8.2 battery) and payback time is looking like it's going to be around 6 years, though that could change depending on energy prices etc.
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That's a bit too involved for what I want to do. I just want to get the numbers together at the end of the month and then compare. It's a growatt system so I do have to take some of the numbers with a pinch of salt as they don't make sense a lot of the time.

My system is quite small, 3kW with a 3kW battery but cost £7650. Just want to make sure the payback is what they said. My calculations are saying I saved £127 in June, which I assume will be my best month this year. It was only installed in February and export was set up in April so I don't have anywhere near a years figures yet.
 
Take what you're using (consumption) per day, charge it at the SVR rate.

That is your monthly usage cost without solar = A

Then take the bill for the same timeframe.

That is your post-solar cost = B

A - B = your savings.

3kw system with 3kWh battery at that price does sound a little expensive. I got 4.8kW panels with 8.2kWh battery for not much more, was £8.5K.
 
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HungryHippos said:
Take what you're using (consumption) per day, charge it at the SVR rate.

That is your monthly usage cost without solar = A

Then take the bill for the same timeframe.

That is your post-solar cost = B

A - B = your savings.

3kw system with 3kWh battery at that price does sound a little expensive. I got 4.8kW panels with 8.2kWh battery for not much more, was £8.5K.
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The other 2 quotes I got were for well over £10k and one was for a 1.2kW system. I think February this year wasn't a good time to have an install.
 
Ron-ski said:
@Jon20 If you're on FITS and moving to being paid for exports, then you may need to send a picture of the generation meter once they have your exports set up.
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Thanks. This is a first time setup with export, so no FITS payments :) I can see Octopus Flux Export now in the account and there’s the export rate graph showing. It’s still showing “Enabling export functionality” under the import part though. On step 3 of 5 by the looks of it. Guess it just takes time to setup?
 
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