Octopus Power Ups and Free Energy Sessions

DRZ said:
I'd imagine next to nobody is making any realistically worthwhile/meaningful saving with these sessions but it is excellent marketing for Octopus!
Click to expand...
Unless I'm expecting a long journey, I only charge my EV to 50% overnight. Leaves plenty of room for free electric.

Throughout the day any excess solar will go into the car, so the battery is low ready for the battery to be charged fully during the power up.

I'll also have the oven, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer on. Then as I'll have a full battery and dinner all cooked, most of what's gone into the battery will go into the other EV overnight.

I've saved loads.
 
Last edited:
By sending the excess solar into the car aren't you relieving yourself of the opportunity to export it at 15p/kWh? I don't get why you'd do that when it is 7p/kWh to charge overnight, ie diverting the solar is costing you 8p/kWh. Same with everything else - we run the dishwasher and washing machine in the 7p window because that is the cheapest possible time to run it. The batteries are full of 7p/kWh electricity for the times when the sun isn't shining and we're not in a 7p/kWh window. All other times, it is the optimal strategy to export as much as possible ie not use any power. The issue with these free hour periods is that you're losing out on the export. If I didn't have an export limitation or had a higher one like some here it would be even worse than my previous post!
 
DRZ said:
By sending the excess solar into the car aren't you relieving yourself of the opportunity to export it at 15p/kWh?
Click to expand...
I don't have an export tariff. When I built my solar / battery system is was vastly cheaper not to worry about it and focus on saving instead of generating income.

Last month my electric was ~£30, which includes powering the house and two EVs, driven daily.

I'm 2.5 years in and already half way to recovering all my investment.
 
Last edited:
DRZ said:
Why not? Seems pretty niche to go to the trouble of having solar but not benefitting from the export capability?
Click to expand...
It's not MCS certified. I did start going down the Octopus route of doing it without MCS, but the £250 fee didn't seem like it would pay off.

I've still got my main roof completely empty so in a few years when I've recovered the cost of my existing system I might invest more.

For now, it's doing everything I wanted it to. For all we know the 15p hack might not last that long.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom