Octopus Energy Saving Sessions

[Stranger Dings]

Does anyone know how the Octopus ”Power Hour” energy saving sessions are actually calculated?

I’ve taken part in all of them, but the results just seem totally random.

I’ve had sessions where we’ve switched off as much as we can and gone out, only to be told that we didn’t manage to save anything.

Some sessions, we’ve made very small savings, Including one where virtually everything was switched off and the whole family was in another country.

One session I forgot it was happening despite signing up, only to be told I’d managed to save 93% of my normal usage and be credited with over £16 off!

I’ll continue to sign up for them and don’t really do it expecting to save much as we are already quite energy efficient. It all just seems so random.

 

[Pink Duck]

Lowest ever requested displacement and likely the lowest ever reward too.

I imagine Octopus will still bid for it, they [ESO] have until 14:00 to decide.

I’ll guess £1.50/kWh for now.

 

[ACarneiro]

Lowest ever requested displacement and likely the lowest ever reward too.

I imagine Octopus will still bid for it, they [ESO] have until 14:00 to decide.

Probably still worth going for it even if the bid is only half what we’ve been getting so far, I guess…

 

[yessuz]

as long as export price is better than import during peak rate (29-30p now?) - then it is worth it... somehow

 

[thewishy]

Octopus is "in" at £1.50/kWh ESO-> Supplier. Seems they're still offering £1.75/kWh to the consumer (!)

Axel / Givback got £1.69, although suspect they'll want their 30%

 

[Pink Duck]

Though Octopus Energy’s commercial/industry OCTOP-02 and OCTOP-03 bids were rejected, along with a number of other providers.

Unsurprising given how little reduction has been asked for in what feels like an arbitrary filler event.

 

[Oxid8ter]

Octopus is "in" at £1.50/kWh ESO-> Supplier. Seems they're still offering £1.75/kWh to the consumer (!)

Axel / Givback got £1.69, although suspect they'll want their 30%

Opted in and set battery discharge. Will be looking at battery SOC nearer the event to see if I can up my contribution as I'll be at the Gym during the session.

 

[Pink Duck]

They topped it up to £1.75! plus 100 Streak Bonus OctoPoints for opting-in.

 

[ringi]

Remember Octopus also gets profit on the spot macket if we use less electricity at these times.

 

[Oxid8ter]

Well that was a massive flop for my export. Set to Time of Use which only discharges to load. Changed to ToA-Sale (discharge to load or grid) when I realised and it still didn't send anything to the grid... Checked the time window for discharge, checked the inverter tim/date etc... all looked fine.

Even though now outside the session I want to know why it didn't work, so been playing with settings and I just cannot get the battery to discharge to the grid...

I'm baffled... No idea what I'm meant to do now. Best get on to the inverter/battery manufacturer before next year's sessions!!

 

[ACarneiro]

Well that was a massive flop for my export. Set to Time of Use which only discharges to load. Changed to ToA-Sale (discharge to load or grid) when I realised and it still didn't send anything to the grid... Checked the time window for discharge, checked the inverter tim/date etc... all looked fine.

Even though now outside the session I want to know why it didn't work, so been playing with settings and I just cannot get the battery to discharge to the grid...

I'm baffled... No idea what I'm meant to do now. Best get on to the inverter/battery manufacturer before next year's sessions!!

Ugh, that's annoying.
Worth getting in touch with them soon as there is still going to be one session left this year (unless I got my numbers wrong)...

 

[Oxid8ter]

Ugh, that's annoying.
Worth getting in touch with them soon as there is still going to be one session left this year (unless I got my numbers wrong)...

Yeah, I'm still waiting on a reply to my query in November, hence why I'm writing off this year's sessions and hoping to be in better standing ready for next year's.

 

[Oxid8ter]

Well that was a massive flop for my export. Set to Time of Use which only discharges to load. Changed to ToA-Sale (discharge to load or grid) when I realised and it still didn't send anything to the grid... Checked the time window for discharge, checked the inverter tim/date etc... all looked fine.

Even though now outside the session I want to know why it didn't work, so been playing with settings and I just cannot get the battery to discharge to the grid...

I'm baffled... No idea what I'm meant to do now. Best get on to the inverter/battery manufacturer before next year's sessions!!

To add insult to injury, I left TOU-Sale on (instead of reverting to Time of Use) and it decided not to charge my battery last night... so I lost out on a 5kW export and now will have to import the 8kW to get me through today at ~30p/kWh. Very unimpressed with this kit

I'd replace it all with a Powerwall if a) I wasn't still paying for it b) it wasn't only 18 months old.

 

[ACarneiro]

To add insult to injury, I left TOU-Sale on (instead of reverting to Time of Use) and it decided not to charge my battery last night... so I lost out on a 5kW export and now will have to import the 8kW to get me through today at ~30p/kWh. Very unimpressed with this kit

I'd replace it all with a Powerwall if a) I wasn't still paying for it b) it wasn't only 18 months old.

Can you remind me again what kit you have?

 

[Oxid8ter]

Can you remind me again what kit you have?

It's a SAJ H1 Inverter with 2x 5.1kW SAJ B1 Batteries.

I was meant to get Solax but got the SAJ due to a shortage of the Solax kit when I got it installed - the 2nd battery was 'compensation' for not getting the Solax we expected. I don't mind it actually, the kit and the software is pretty good, its just caught me off guard with this. I have found a SAJ thread on another forum so have signed up there to ask what I'm missing, and have sent a couple of emails to SAJ. Will have to see what is said, and hopefully can get to the bottom of this...

Here are the settings I set in the app for the charge/discharge - only difference is TOU-Sale where I'd normally have Time of Use Mode (But Time of Use only discharges to Load).

 

[yessuz]

It's a SAJ H1 Inverter with 2x 5.1kW SAJ B1 Batteries.

I was meant to get Solax but got the SAJ due to a shortage of the Solax kit when I got it installed - the 2nd battery was 'compensation' for not getting the Solax we expected. I don't mind it actually, the kit and the software is pretty good, its just caught me off guard with this. I have found a SAJ thread on another forum so have signed up there to ask what I'm missing, and have sent a couple of emails to SAJ. Will have to see what is said, and hopefully can get to the bottom of this...

Here are the settings I set in the app for the charge/discharge - only difference is TOU-Sale where I'd normally have Time of Use Mode (But Time of Use only discharges to Load).

View attachment 1016817
View attachment 1016818

have you tried to play with Home Assistant?

it automatically opted in for the session and switched my inverter to Grid First (meaning - all export) and then reverted back to load first (meaning - use of battery/solar for load needs)

 

[Fly.guy]

Last nights session was strange. We never import anything during this time so no 'savings' to be made. But we did export at full rate - limited to only 3.6kW - and earnt over £6 (at £1.75 per kWh) for the savings session plus another 50p for the actual export via Outgoing Agile.

But just 6-7h later we were able to recharge the Powerwalls at 6-7p per kWh via Octopus Agile. So 25p total cost to replace those exported 3.6kWh - maybe 30p to take charging losses into account.

I'm not complaining, but a >20 fold return within hours just seems a bit bonkers. It feels as if any market with that kind of arbitrage possibility is slightly broken and/or ripe to make a killing on.

 

[PITA]

To add insult to injury, I left TOU-Sale on (instead of reverting to Time of Use) and it decided not to charge my battery last night... so I lost out on a 5kW export and now will have to import the 8kW to get me through today at ~30p/kWh. Very unimpressed with this kit

I'd replace it all with a Powerwall if a) I wasn't still paying for it b) it wasn't only 18 months old.

Can't you just add a Tesla Powerwall and Gateway 2... then continue to use your other batteries alongside the Powerwall.

I considered this a long time back, and was told it is possible.

 

[Oxid8ter]

Can't you just add a Tesla Powerwall and Gateway 2... then continue to use your other batteries alongside the Powerwall.

I considered this a long time back, and was told it is possible.

Possibly, if the Powerwall/gateway can speak to the SAJ Batteries, would be good as would give me 23.3kW (I believe Powerwall is 13.1?) - But I need to pay off this install before starting to chop and change it. The system I have gives me enough, and works most of the time... so seems daft to trash it and blow another few k.

I firmly think my issue is an out of date firmware on the inverter. If I use the same schedule in "Time of Use"(TOU) and "TOU-Sale" the TOU charges as expected, and discharges to load only. The TOU-Sale ignores all schedules for both charge and discharge, which is what leads me to believe the inverter "doesn't understand" the TOU-Sale settings.

TOU-Sale is new in the app since the setup was installed, so I wonder if they have put the settings in the app, but theyre not on the inverter (assuming that even whilst connected via Bluetooth, the configuration is still code in the app and not a config menu on the inverter)

 

[PITA]

Possibly, if the Powerwall/gateway can speak to the SAJ Batteries, would be good as would give me 23.3kW (I believe Powerwall is 13.1?) - But I need to pay off this install before starting to chop and change it. The system I have gives me enough, and works most of the time... so seems daft to trash it and blow another few k.

I firmly think my issue is an out of date firmware on the inverter. If I use the same schedule in "Time of Use"(TOU) and "TOU-Sale" the TOU charges as expected, and discharges to load only. The TOU-Sale ignores all schedules for both charge and discharge, which is what leads me to believe the inverter "doesn't understand" the TOU-Sale settings.

TOU-Sale is new in the app since the setup was installed, so I wonder if they have put the settings in the app, but theyre not on the inverter (assuming that even whilst connected via Bluetooth, the configuration is still code in the app and not a config menu on the inverter)

The Tesla Powerwalls don't need to talk with your other batteries.

How it was explained to me was...

The 'other' battery type would be set to discharge up to a certain level... let's say 1 kW

So during the day, the 'other' battery would be on constant discharge to cover house base load.

Only when house demand goes above 1 kW ... then the Powerwalls kick in to do the heavy lifting.

I spoke with GivEnergy about this, and they said it can be done. Maybe your battery setup can to?

I saw this setup as a potentially 'cheaper' way to build the system, but still have Powerwall capability.

 

[Oxid8ter]

The Tesla Powerwalls don't need to talk with your other batteries.

How it was explained to me was...

The 'other' battery type would be set to discharge up to a certain level... let's say 1 kW

So during the day, the 'other' battery would be on constant discharge to cover house base load.

Only when house demand goes above 1 kW ... then the Powerwalls kick in to do the heavy lifting.

I spoke with GivEnergy about this, and they said it can be done. Maybe your battery setup can to?

I saw this setup as a potentially 'cheaper' way to build the system, but still have Powerwall capability.

I'll have a look into it, thanks! Useful to know for the future, even if I don't go down the Powerwall route for a time to come yet