Anybody have direct experience with Amber Electricity?

[Jules22]

Been on Amber for nearly 9 months in nsw. It is more expensive over winter but that is balanced out by the previous months. No battery only solar.

Great to hear, I always wondered how those without batteries made it work. Is it still significantly cheaper overall? Do you have to make a lot of sacrifices in when you use power to make it work?

I do love the API link to ChargeHQ, especially in summer when you can set it to only charge as soon as the price goes negative, it's super responsive to the price changes.

 

[Borgy]

Great to hear, I always wondered how those without batteries made it work. Is it still significantly cheaper overall?

A lot over spring. But I’m guessing retail prices will follow what wholesale is doing anyway eventually.

Do you have to make a lot of sacrifices in when you use power to make it work?

Not really we really only just shift some usage around. But I work from home so easy to do. If you are not home during the day it probably won’t work. We do have most things in the house under home assistant control so the only automation is to turn everything off on price spikes.

 

[Vostok]

Actually still possible, when I signed up I forgot to apply the referral code I'd been given, but I emailed them and they were happy to apply it and give me my discount.

Goodo… if anyone wants to PM me their code then it will be gratefully received… I’ll use the first one I receive

 

[Vostok]

Prices on Tuesday/Wednesday in nsw added about 1c kWh to averages over the year. This months bill is going to be high.

Well based on my 3 days with Amber so far I’d be paying nearly double what my previous typical bill would have been. And that’s not including daily supply charges and GreenPower .

But not panicking… the last 3 days have been complete rubbish weather-wise in NSW and (hopefully) not representative. Winter might not go so well in NSW with Amber’s model because NSW is still a very coal dependent state and negative prices don’t occur very often. But my expectation is that spring/summer will more than counteract it. At least that better be the case, or I will be switching again

FYI, number of days over the past 12 months where the volume-weighted average wholesale electricity price for the day was negative:

• VIC: 48
• SA: 26
• NSW: 0
• QLD: 0

 

[Vostok]

Goodo… if anyone wants to PM me their code then it will be gratefully received… I’ll use the first one I receive

…aaaand I have already received a code. Thanks all!

 

[Jules22]

FYI, number of days over the past 12 months where the volume-weighted average wholesale electricity price for the day was negative:

• VIC: 48
• SA: 26
• NSW: 0
• QLD: 0

wow, ok, that would be pretty lucrative for VIC and SA then, provided they have batteries to be able arbirtrage those negative prices.

I'm on the NSW grid here and defiintely had plenty of opportunities for negative tarrifs through Summer (only joined in the tail end), best I had was -87c or something around there, plenty of days with several hours of low negatives.

 

[Borgy]

Well based on my 3 days with Amber so far I’d be paying nearly double what my previous typical bill would have been.

Bad time to be signing up. I did last June got scared off by a spike and came back a few months later in spring.

 

[Vostok]

Bad time to be signing up. I did last June got scared off by a spike and came back a few months later in spring.

Yeah, I suspected it would be given Amber’s model, but my “plan” with my previous electricity provider expired yesterday so I was forced to made a decision. And staying with my previous provider wasn’t an option I was entertaining, since I was completely jack of them.

I always play the long game, and the test will be is Amber better over 12 months. I can have a crappy few months if the rivers of gold come later in the year. And it should also get better as renewable percentage in NSW increases. But time will tell.

It’s only money and I’d rather it go to someone who is doing something genuinely innovative rather than one of the stodgy majors.

 

[OzVic]

Well based on my 3 days with Amber so far I’d be paying nearly double what my previous typical bill would have been. And that’s not including daily supply charges and GreenPower .

I like to micro-manage, have a Powerwall 2, but am too apprehensive living with my mother and daughter to risk it! I can imagine them turning on the heater on the reverse cycle and emptying the battery within 2 hours and then copping the $16 kWh rates that happened over the last week! Maybe next summer I'll pucker up and give it a test.

Basically paying 8c all day with AGL. Fill the car and battery up overnight and get whatever the solar produces back at 7c. Daily charge is at the lower end too at 79.2c

I've watched the NEM rates in Charge HQ that changes every 5 minutes and was excited to charge at free or negative and sell when high (Smartshift & Charge HQ), but apparently there are a few increases added to the NEM price by Amber? (Transmission fee? Hedge fee? etc) and they do it over 30 minutes instead of 5 minutes. I wish we could access the actual Amber rates (without an API) so I could compare for a day or three.

 

[Jules22]

but apparently there are a few increases added to the NEM price by Amber?

There's about a 11c/kWh fee added by the supplier, but that's easily accounted for.

Generally I'm buying for less than 10c and I wouldn't be selling for anything below 30c, often in the $$$.

eg my average FIT over this past week is 77.2, with a 12.9c purchase price (slightly higher because I was willing to pay more knowing I had no solar and was getting $10+ FIT for a few days)

 

[Vostok]

Can folk experienced with Amber provide their comments/thoughts on this (noting I have solar and PW2):

1. I am comfortable with Amber taking control of my PW2 with SmartShift. My assumption is their algorithms will be way more sophisticated than anything I could brew up. Is my faith misplaced ?
2. I presume once Amber take control of my PW2, I will need to stop my own python script that grid charges my PW2 overnight if solar production the following day is forecast to be poor? Otherwise I could be screwing up what Amber is doing?
3. Anyone have experience with running Tesla Charge on Solar at the same time that Amber is trying to do its thing? Any “gotchas”? Should I leave CoS off or on?

Also because I have a dumb car (Nissan Leaf) as well as a smart car (Tesla Model 3) I will need to cook up something for smart charging the LEAF. There is no App for the LEAF, no way to remotely stop or start a charge session, and no way to know what its SoC is.

I am thinking of connecting up a Shelly WiFi switch to the socket the LEAF charges from, turning the LEAF charger timer off (so that it will charge whenever electricity is present), and starting and stopping charging remotely via a home-brew python script in response to Amber pricing via its API. Anyone have experience doing something like that?

Shelly 1PM Plus Wi-Fi Relay Switch

Smart control (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) and power metering of 1 circuit up to 3.5 kW - control virtually anything that turns on and off.

www.smarthome.com.au

Thanks

 

[Jules22]

The algorithm is pretty good after a couple of weeks. I used to manually do things quite often but I've really been leaving it do it's own thing the last couple of months.

I don't use charge on solar, I usually import the power to charge when prices are very low (preferably negative) so that I save my battery to export when FIT is much higher.

They are currently testing software that will do all the charge hq type stuff. Currently only for Tesla but they are looking to expand it so that should handle the charge on solar.

 

[jamesgo]

I use Amber.. they're great

 

[Borgy]

It’s only money and I’d rather it go to someone who is doing something genuinely innovative rather than one of the stodgy majors.

It's probably the only plan which genuinely encourages you to use power when more renewables are in the grid. (ie it's cheaper!)

 

[Jules22]

It's probably the only plan which genuinely encourages you to use power when more renewables are in the grid. (ie it's cheaper!)

Would be great to see some competition come in with these sorts of plans though, just to help spur more innovation. Would really like them to move to 5 minute billing rather than the 30 min average for example, something they've been talking about for a while.

The value add such as EV charging apps, will be good to see as well.

 

[Vostok]

Some more thoughts a whole 5 days in…

It’s a bad time of year, but I’m yet to see electricity selling for less than 18c/kWh. Overnight hasn’t gone below 22c so far - which is when we charge the LEAF and PW2 . What rates do others see overnight?

It’s not clear if the realtime rates include the Amber 100% green power surcharge of 5c/kWh (or thereabouts… it was disclosed at signup but I never wrote it down, and now I’m a customer, it doesn’t seem to stated anywhere in the App or their website?). I suspect the answer is no, although if the realtime prices are already including the green surcharge - which frankly it should to properly set expectation - that is much more reassuring.

I think the characterisations could be improved. The App currently says general usage is 23c/kWh and renewables at 38% with the exhortation “it’s cheap and green to use electricity right now!”. Perhaps it’s all relative, but 23c is not particularly cheap and 38% is not particularly green in my book. 38% was the national renewable average in 2023 so being average is nothing to write home about.

I don’t think they should declare the supply “green” below 50% renewable, or “cheap” unless the price is less than half the applicable peak network tariff (which for my Ausgrid tariff would be half of 30c/kWh, i.e. less than 15c/kWh).

The “Usage” Tab in the App should not just show the Usage cost, but the cost over the same period of the daily supply charges and 100% green power (if not already included in the Usage). These would be trivial to include, so customers can see a clearer breakdown and get a better idea of what the monthly bill will be.

I’ll provide the feedback to Amber, but their autoreplies always tell me how small an operation they are so don’t expect quick answers

 

[Jules22]

It’s a bad time of year, but I’m yet to see electricity selling for less than 18c/kWh. Overnight hasn’t gone below 22c so far - which is when we charge the LEAF and PW2 . What rates do others see overnight?

Hmm, last night got to 14c for me, but during the day yesterday got down to 5c. I've got 10c between 1300 and 1430 today, I would have thought NSW and ACT would be the same, I guess while it's the same 'grid' it's different providers.

 

[Vostok]

Hmm, last night got to 14c for me, but during the day yesterday got down to 5c. I've got 10c between 1300 and 1430 today, I would have thought NSW and ACT would be the same, I guess while it's the same 'grid' it's different providers.

The ACT has its own distributor - ACTEWAGL - hence its own set of electricity rates. The ACT has been smart and negotiated supply agreements with generators to supply 100% of ACT’s consumption with renewable energy, ACT’s rates are cheaper than in NSW.

There are 3 distributors in NSW: Ausgrid, Endeavor and Essential. I’m on Ausgrid.

 

[Jules22]

The ACT has its own distributor - ACTEWAGL - hence its own set of electricity rates. The ACT has been smart and negotiated supply agreements with generators to supply 100% of ACT’s consumption with renewable energy, ACT’s rates are cheaper than in NSW.

There are 3 distributors in NSW: Ausgrid, Endeavor and Essential. I’m on Ausgrid.

Yeah, makes sense, do the higher prices translate to higher FIT's in NSW? (I'm guessing not), the forecast is showing FIT of 36c for me from 1730 to 1830, what does it show for NSW?

 

[Vostok]

Yeah, makes sense, do the higher prices translate to higher FIT's in NSW? (I'm guessing not), the forecast is showing FIT of 36c for me from 1730 to 1830, what does it show for NSW?

Currently showing 32c for that.