- Axel/Giv are taking 30% of the DFS payment, Octopus 25%
-- There is a bidding process for the Live DFS events, sometimes one will get a better rate than the other.
- Octopus have suggested that free sessions could happen at some point with Octoplus
In practice, free sessions don't save you a lot vs 7.5p off peak (The real money is in the DFS), and an extra 5% of the DFS payment isn't a lot. Both schemes pay against the same algorithm.
There were a few boo-boos with the first sessions, but Axel seem to have done a reasonable job of resolving the issues for future sessions
So it comes down to
- Do you have an opinion about how you want your battery charged? Some have commented that it charges just before the event rather than keeping off-peak charge in the battery via reserve resulting in more charging losses and battery cycles. If so, octoplus and home automation or manual configuration. Otherwise you've got to "let it go" and accept that Axel might not do things they way you would have preferred to.
- Do you have home automation which might "fight" with the settings Axel send to the inverter.
- Do you have home automation already which can offer wider house level power savings, for example adjusting the heating. If so, add octoplus to the home automation and make a bit more from the DFS feeling
I have home automation in place already, it's a hobby and it's a great feeling when "everything comes together". But not every battery system owner has home assistant or wants the faf
The exciting thing, at least for me, is that we're starting to see a marketplace for DFS appear (Facebook have been advertising a third scheme to me, much like Axel. Not interested in that one either, but competition is good)