Energy Suppliers with Solar Panels & Battery and an EV
Discussion
Think this is the right area for this thread and if not I know there will be others here wondering the same.
This is more for input from those who've been there and done it and can give advice.
Basically my energy supply tarrif (which has a 12 month lock in) is due to end mid-May so I'm now looking round. Thing is for the last couple of months I've had solar panels and a decent sized battery. My charger can control the rate of charge IF it picks up the setting from the remote server so I'm assuming not and my battery will only put out ~3kW/h so I'll still probably be looking to do any car charging during my off peak period.
As I already can go 3-4 days at a time without having to pull any power in from the grid (car is not being used much at the moment so little/no need to charge it) and that should become the norm for the next 4-6 months, would I be correct in assuming that they key figure I should now be looking at is no longer peak/off peak rates but instead the standing charge?
How has it worked out for those of you who've already gone through this? I suspect after just one year I'll know what suits my needs, but at present I'm looking at too many unknowns.
This is more for input from those who've been there and done it and can give advice.
Basically my energy supply tarrif (which has a 12 month lock in) is due to end mid-May so I'm now looking round. Thing is for the last couple of months I've had solar panels and a decent sized battery. My charger can control the rate of charge IF it picks up the setting from the remote server so I'm assuming not and my battery will only put out ~3kW/h so I'll still probably be looking to do any car charging during my off peak period.
As I already can go 3-4 days at a time without having to pull any power in from the grid (car is not being used much at the moment so little/no need to charge it) and that should become the norm for the next 4-6 months, would I be correct in assuming that they key figure I should now be looking at is no longer peak/off peak rates but instead the standing charge?
How has it worked out for those of you who've already gone through this? I suspect after just one year I'll know what suits my needs, but at present I'm looking at too many unknowns.
Switched to Octopus Go late last year so early days yet, but the standing charge isn’t high compared to what I was on. Even the ‘peak rate’ isn’t bad.
I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
4Q said:
Octopus Go. It gives you 4 hours per night at 5p so you can charge your car cheaply and also charge your batteries for the months of the year that the solar isn't.
If I were using the car a lot more then that might make a difference, but they are higher on the standing charge - I should have added I did look at the 4 main EV targeted plans through a comparison site, if it weren't for my solar power and battery then Octopus would be a prime choice (before any referral codes as well), however it's the solar that knocks those out of whack as all of them had comparatively high daily standing charges, including Octopus.Chris-S said:
Switched to Octopus Go late last year so early days yet, but the standing charge isn’t high compared to what I was on. Even the ‘peak rate’ isn’t bad.
I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
Do you find the big difference is with the lower standing charge? With working from home and shopping at a local Tesco I normally have more juice in the car at the end of the week than the start.I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
Do you get your FIT through Octopus ? If so how much are they paying?
dapprman said:
How has it worked out for those of you who've already gone through this? I suspect after just one year I'll know what suits my needs, but at present I'm looking at too many unknowns.
Electricity is so cheap anyways it doesn't really matter, last year I nearest managed a month without taking any thing from the grid that included charging the EV - but 3 rainy days ruined it 
.Just pick a deal with half a decent rate and forget about it, life is too short to worry about trying to save pennies (literally) on the electricity bill, especially when you have spent so much already on the hardware needed for solar/EV/battery.
Gas is by far the biggest cost once you have solar + battery to manage the electric side. Even with no sun, just by load shifting to off peak rates the electric bill is nothing compared to gas.
The numbers needed to make a heatpump work to replace the gas boiler though is very difficult/impossible to make sense.
dapprman said:
Chris-S said:
Switched to Octopus Go late last year so early days yet, but the standing charge isn’t high compared to what I was on. Even the ‘peak rate’ isn’t bad.
I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
Do you find the big difference is with the lower standing charge? With working from home and shopping at a local Tesco I normally have more juice in the car at the end of the week than the start.I have solar PV, Tesla Powerwall but I don’t do much charging as I only have a hybrid with a small battery, but it’s looking pretty good so far.
Octopus Energy referral code - split £100 https://share.octopus.energy/plum-liger-745
Do you get your FIT through Octopus ? If so how much are they paying?
FIT is with EON as I was with them when the PV etc was installed. I did look at the Tesla tariff with Octopus, which is a net charge tariff where they take control of the PW, but not convinced by that one yet.
Re the viability of a home battery...yep, quite a long-term gamble that one!
Chris-S and Gangzoom - cheers for your replies, makes sense.
Europoa John - when my battery (10 kW) arrived it was brought by the actual company who made it as my install is an early one for my energy provider (who are wanting to become an energy solutions company) and I heard those guys mention cost wise (it includes the V.E. Bus System) was £5 trade - so I suspect about £7-8k post VAT and company charges to the consumer. Net result is it adds about 2-4 years on to the period required to cover the purchase/install cost depending on battery size/cost, and that's assuming you put off peak power in to it during the winter months. Still much cheaper than a Tesla Powerwall and more capacity, though it won't supply the house in the event of a power failure (you can get an electrician to put a few box on the battery circuit) - I get the impression the Tesla unit has two sets of power circuitry, one to sit supply side to provide power if charged and for solar to provide power in priority over the mains supply, and a second circuit on the house side to take over if power is lost from the first.
Europoa John - when my battery (10 kW) arrived it was brought by the actual company who made it as my install is an early one for my energy provider (who are wanting to become an energy solutions company) and I heard those guys mention cost wise (it includes the V.E. Bus System) was £5 trade - so I suspect about £7-8k post VAT and company charges to the consumer. Net result is it adds about 2-4 years on to the period required to cover the purchase/install cost depending on battery size/cost, and that's assuming you put off peak power in to it during the winter months. Still much cheaper than a Tesla Powerwall and more capacity, though it won't supply the house in the event of a power failure (you can get an electrician to put a few box on the battery circuit) - I get the impression the Tesla unit has two sets of power circuitry, one to sit supply side to provide power if charged and for solar to provide power in priority over the mains supply, and a second circuit on the house side to take over if power is lost from the first.
I have 12kw of solar with a battery store using Pylontech 2.4KW battery packs, of which I have four. As the winter pretty much crushes my solar output I wanted some other way to reduce electricity costs. So I found a new cool inverter box. It's not a solar string inverter, it is a battery storage inverter and you program it with your off-peak rates and it charges the batteries. Then you can "replay" your off-peak energy during on peak demands.
I'm with EDF and I get 4.5p kw/h between 00.00 and 05.00 so this is the time I charge my Pylontech's (two more!). This helps balance out my usage during the winter.
One point I would like to make: If I base my average annual consumption on £1200, it will take me around 9 years to recoup the costs I've ploughed into buying all the gear. Yes I could have just handed £11k to the energy suppliers, but I have a problem with that hence the PV and gadgets
Worth a look.
http://www.sofarsolar.com/ueditor/net/upload/file/...
I'm with EDF and I get 4.5p kw/h between 00.00 and 05.00 so this is the time I charge my Pylontech's (two more!). This helps balance out my usage during the winter.
One point I would like to make: If I base my average annual consumption on £1200, it will take me around 9 years to recoup the costs I've ploughed into buying all the gear. Yes I could have just handed £11k to the energy suppliers, but I have a problem with that hence the PV and gadgets
Worth a look.
http://www.sofarsolar.com/ueditor/net/upload/file/...
Yup already doing that though at present, I'm topping up the battery the off-peak each day based on the next day's forecast so I don't charge power that the sun would have put in to my system. I'm expecting during the winter to just have a 5.5-6 hour top up set up for the early hours regardless (mine is a 10 kW battery based on two packs).
dapprman said:
Yup already doing that though at present, I'm topping up the battery the off-peak each day based on the next day's forecast so I don't charge power that the sun would have put in to my system. I'm expecting during the winter to just have a 5.5-6 hour top up set up for the early hours regardless (mine is a 10 kW battery based on two packs).
Which inverter are you running and how many KW can you get on the PV side? I currently have to use a PLC and some clever analogue algorithms to use all 12kw else my inverters would fry. I want to stack more inverters from PV on the North side of the roof. Not ideal but light is still in abundance in the summer months. Now you're asking me questions about magic - I bought a solution, however looking at the parts my setup includes:
On the power side - to the battery I've seen up to ~1850W/h and from it ~3.2kW/h. Panel wise I have 12 370W units in several chains, so a lot less than you - it's the maximum that would fit on my west facing roof.
- I bought a solution, however looking at the parts my setup includes:On the power side - to the battery I've seen up to ~1850W/h and from it ~3.2kW/h. Panel wise I have 12 370W units in several chains, so a lot less than you - it's the maximum that would fit on my west facing roof.
Edited by dapprman on Monday 22 March 19:57
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