Octopus tariffs and solar PV

[G4WFT]

We are taking the plunge and having a 4kW solar installation and 5kWh battery. The guy selling us the kit said that Octopus were the best energy supplier for our situation (we're with Bulb at the moment). I'm assuming one of the "smart" tariffs is what to go for but not sure which. We have a SMETS1 meter but it's a Secure meter and I believe, looking at the Octopus web site, that Octopus can talk to it.

What's the experience of the Octopus users out there? Do I go for Go or Agile?

 

[Dilly]

@G4WFT I’m on Octopus Go but I have deemed export. I believe Agile is painfully high at the moment.
I would opt for a tariff with the cheapest night rate and charge your car and house battery over winter with that
in summer it shouldn’t matter too much
I have a secure SMETS1. Works absolutely fine
hope that helps

 

[sparkymark75]

As far as I’m aware, you can’t be on Octopus Go and use Octopus Outgoing (the SEG tariff) at the same time. So you will have to sign up to someone to another supplier for the export of your solar PV.

 

[Erewegoagain]

As far as I’m aware, you can’t be on Octopus Go and use Octopus Outgoing (the SEG tariff) at the same time. So you will have to sign up to someone to another supplier for the export of your solar PV.

You can, I am, you just a slightly lower rate for exported electric

 

[sparkymark75]

You can, I am, you just a slightly lower rate for exported electric

Their website doesn’t help much.
At the top it states you can’t be on both at the same time. Down the bottom, it talks about being on both tariffs at the same time!

 

[Apd617]

As far as I’m aware, you can’t be on Octopus Go and use Octopus Outgoing (the SEG tariff) at the same time. So you will have to sign up to someone to another supplier for the export of your solar PV.

I am in this position. You are quite correct if on octopus Go you cannot also be on their dynamic SEG (octopus outgoing ), you can however still get paid for export from them, it just needs to be their fixed rate SEG at 3pkw. Bulb is better if they supply your electrons but have higher import cost. For us octopus Go became our best option once the Tesla arrived

 

[MrBadger]

Rumour has it that Bulb are either about to go bust, or get bought by Octopus.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

Rumour has it that Bulb are either about to go bust, or get bought by Octopus.

Eight legged unicorns on the adverts in future?

 

[Foucault]

Well I guess OctopusEnergy has to do something with th £438m funding they secured earlier this week (Al Gore fund).

 

[phil4]

It says at the bottom of that screen grab "You can choose to be on Octopus Go and join our new SEG tariff for Outgoing, offering 3p/kWh for your export."

Is that not being both on their outgoing and Go Tarriffs? Sure, 3p doesn't sound great, but it's an option.

I wouldn't go near Agile, last month it was a nice 4x the cost of Go for me, ~ an extra £300. Not good.

 

[PITA]

Their website doesn’t help much.
At the top it states you can’t be on both at the same time. Down the bottom, it talks about being on both tariffs at the same time!

View attachment 716366

I've just sent them an email as I'm already on Octopus Go... see what they say...

 

[btc1k]

We are taking the plunge and having a 4kW solar installation and 5kWh battery. The guy selling us the kit said that Octopus were the best energy supplier for our situation (we're with Bulb at the moment). I'm assuming one of the "smart" tariffs is what to go for but not sure which. We have a SMETS1 meter but it's a Secure meter and I believe, looking at the Octopus web site, that Octopus can talk to it.

What's the experience of the Octopus users out there? Do I go for Go or Agile?

Who are you using and what is the cost?

Be really interested to hear how it all goes, the install, costs, and where you get to with Octopus.

The price rise from 14p to 25p on peak has made me rethink solar and battery

 

[scdoubleu]

The price rise from 14p to 25p on peak has made me rethink solar and battery

Solar and battery storage is a game-changer now. Our panels and battery (Tesla PW2, of course) are being installed Mon/Tue next week. Scaffolding up today.

We're refugees from Peoples' Energy, sadly dumped on British Gas rather than Octopus. We'll almost certainly switch to Octopus Go as soon as the dust settles. The 3p/kwh export tariff doesn't bother us; we'll be saving as many of the electrons for ourselves as we can!

Steve

 

[sparkymark75]

I plan to sign up to SO Energy once I get all the paperwork. They offer a bank busting! 5p/kWh even if you're not a customer. So I'll switch to Octopus for elec/gas and go with SO for export. Trying to use as much of the solar myself during the day as I didn't go for the battery option for now as I wasn't sure what my usage would be. Will probably revisit after a year of EV usage and solar.

 

[G4WFT]

Who are you using and what is the cost?

Be really interested to hear how it all goes, the install, costs, and where you get to with Octopus.

The price rise from 14p to 25p on peak has made me rethink solar and battery

We're using a fairly local company called The Green Way (based in Olney). The battery and inverter are from Givenergy, panels are from Eurener. Total cost is a bit under £9.5k.

 

[s_ree89]

Has anyone had any luck with switching to octopus go recently… I am trying to contact Octopus but every time I get through they say system isn’t working or get through to wrong person etc. They then promise me a call back but then never do. This has happened 4 times now with no luck!

We are with Eon currently. Am I to presume they don’t want anymore new customers?

 

[Medved_77]

Has anyone had any luck with switching to octopus go recently… I am trying to contact Octopus but every time I get through they say system isn’t working or get through to wrong person etc. They then promise me a call back but then never do. This has happened 4 times now with no luck!

We are with Eon currently. Am I to presume they don’t want anymore new customers?

I believe they're being kept very busy by the amount of customers they are taking on from failed energy companies.

They've always been very responsive on Twitter, if you'd like to give that a go?

https://twitter.com/octopusenergy?lang=en

 

[Jeeves]

We're using a fairly local company called The Green Way (based in Olney). The battery and inverter are from Givenergy, panels are from Eurener. Total cost is a bit under £9.5k.

Ecological issues aside, how long do you estimate it will take to break even on the project?

 

[s_ree89]

Just spoken to someone again at octopus who says I actually need to have taken delivery of my car. No one has told
me this before and can’t find that info anywhere on the website.

Does this sound right? I didn’t really want to start charging my car using my existing tariff. It’ll cost around 4-5 times more to charge!

 

[G4WFT]

Ecological issues aside, how long do you estimate it will take to break even on the project?

It's a bit like the proverbial piece of string. The best estimate I can give is around 12 years. The payback wasn't the main consideration in my circumstances.