Octopus Tesla Energy Plan

[Tony Hoyle]

Hmm if Octopus are back on smets1 I might give them a call. Smets 2 does not work here.

 

[Adopado]

Hi All. Just sent Octopus an email re a SMETS2 meter, they tell me that they are only fitting SMETS1, is that true ?

It depends on your area I believe. The two types use different communications frequencies and networks and some parts of the country have poor connectivity for SMETS2. Octopus fitted a secondhand SMETS1 meter for me in 2019 and it's been fine.

 

[Gatsojon]

I’ve been on the Tesla plan for a few weeks now and so far they don’t seem to have taken control of the PW or managed any of the car charging. Odd but at 8p in and 8p out with no standing charge, we are a few quid up over Go so far.

 

[roadcred]

That's odd - I don't have that problem at all. It does like to max out export around those hours but only a small amount comes from the powerwall if the sun is shining (eg right now it solar is producing 3.8 house is consuming 0.4, powerwall discharging at 2.6, export is 6)

So do you think that is a Tesla problem that they might fix?

 

[Cuban8]

Just in case those on the TEP haven't noticed, Octopus has issued new import/export rates of between 10 and 12p/kWh depending on region and a 22p/day standing charge. I cannot confirm but the 8p Tesla EV owners' rate appears to have disappeared.

Go and Go Faster peak rates have also increased by about 15% but offpeak remains unchanged.

 

[KennethS]

Just in case those on the TEP haven't noticed, Octopus has issued new import/export rates of between 10 and 12p/kWh depending on region and a 22p/day standing charge. I cannot confirm but the 8p Tesla EV owners' rate appears to have disappeared.

Go and Go Faster peak rates have also increased by about 15% but offpeak remains unchanged.

I have several months remaining on the old 8p/8p rate, and will then find out firsthand what the new rate offering is. My original plan when considering a Powerwall was to fill it overnight with off-peak rates. The TEP worked out better. Depending on what the next rates we are offered are, we may switch out of the TEP and revert to my original plan...

 

[KennethS]

I only have one complaint. Tesla empty the PW between 4 and 6pm every day. They refill it in the morning. We have found in the summer that because the PW is discharging when the sun is still shining, the panels shut down so they do not exceed the export limit imposed by the DNO. We therefore have to increase energy usage in that period so that we still generate and use solar during that period. WE tend to charge the cars therefore after 4pm.
The system would be perfect if in the summer months you could get Tesla to delay the PW dump untilthe last 2 hours of the peak window.

Perhaps because our PV is only 3.5kW we have never faced this issue. But in our setup with our DNO imposed export limit at 3.6kW the Powerwall seems to regulate itself during the 4pm dump to the grid so that it ramps down to allow our PV system to always continue to generate, sun permitting.

 

[Fred2]

So do you think that is a Tesla problem that they might fix?

Certainly not inline with the behaviour I’ve seen. What things could cause that I don’t know. I found the energy support team pretty responsive when I had an issue

 

[KennethS]

A new version of the iOS Tesla App was released yesterday (Version 3.10.12). Release notes just say the usual, "minor fixes and improvements". The only change I've spotted is when you go into the Power Flow screen for the Powerwall Gateway it now has a Tesla Energy Plan notation under the Powerwall and if you select it you get a description of the Tesla Energy Plan.

 

[barry.perfect]

Just looking at whether to go onto the Tesla Energy Plan when my Solar and Powerwall are installed.

Searched in quite a few threads here and can’t find the answer this question (unless I am missing something)

Is there anything set up by Tesla so it doesn’t just empty the Powerwall when you plug your EV in to charge?

Assume it still makes sense to charge from the grid rather than take all the power from the battery?

 

[btc1k]

Just looking at whether to go onto the Tesla Energy Plan when my Solar and Powerwall are installed.

Searched in quite a few threads here and can’t find the answer this question (unless I am missing something)

Is there anything set up by Tesla so it doesn’t just empty the Powerwall when you plug your EV in to charge?

Assume it still makes sense to charge from the grid rather than take all the power from the battery?

I asked the same question in the solar panel thread a while back, I was told by some PW owners that it doesn't discharge the PW, i.e the PW software intervenes and charges EV from the grid. I guess it must either detect the EV or that the load ~7kw is larger than what the PW can discharge to?

Love to hear more..

 

[Fred2]

You can configure how much power to use for charging your car in the case of an outage. I assume this wouldn’t work if you had a non Tesla & a 3rd party charger.

Other than that car charging load isn’t treated differently to any other electrical load in the house. It mostly doesn’t discharge from battery until around 4pm-7pm

 

[scdoubleu]

Just looking at whether to go onto the Tesla Energy Plan when my Solar and Powerwall are installed.

Searched in quite a few threads here and can’t find the answer this question (unless I am missing something)

Is there anything set up by Tesla so it doesn’t just empty the Powerwall when you plug your EV in to charge?

Assume it still makes sense to charge from the grid rather than take all the power from the battery?

As I understand it, you would have zero control over when the Powerwall charges or discharges, other than setting the standby reserve. It's no longer "your" battery; the grid becomes your battery due to net metering.

 

[Mark_T]

As I understand it, you would have zero control over when the Powerwall charges or discharges, other than setting the standby reserve. It's no longer "your" battery; the grid becomes your battery due to net metering.

You don't have direct control over the standby reserve either, but you can choose to have it set to 20% when you join the TEP.

Storm Watch mode does work, but again, you do not have the option to turn it on/off.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Is there anything set up by Tesla so it doesn’t just empty the Powerwall when you plug your EV in to charge?

Does it matter? I'm asking because I can't get my head around this ...

Battery fills from PV during the day. Fully charged, and that will (lets say) exactly run out tomorrow when the sun comes up. Happy days.

Overnight I charge my car - from the grid. I buy X units (and don't discharge the PowerWall)

With Tesla Energy Plan the battery discharges to charge the car (lets say), so I wind up buying X-Units to bridge between battery running out and the sun coming up.

Looks about-same to me?

I'm sure there is some, modest, inefficiency from charging car from battery, rather than grid, but other than that because the Import / Export rate is the same will I actually care? Is there a situation where I could be significantly worse off? (such that I would be better off buying Of Peak units at, say, 50% of Tesla rate, and day units at 300% of the Tesla Rate (and any export that I did make at a pittance)

 

[Mrklaw]

Isn’t the point that there aren’t off peak/peak rates - all units cost the same to buy, and the SEG is the same as you buy for. You could literally turn the battery off and be no worse off. Effectively the power wall is a key to enable the tariff and is no real use to you after that - it’s there for octopus’ benefit

 

[Steerpike]

Does it matter? I'm asking because I can't get my head around this ...

Battery fills from PV during the day. Fully charged, and that will (lets say) exactly run out tomorrow when the sun comes up. Happy days.

Overnight I charge my car - from the grid. I buy X units (and don't discharge the PowerWall)

With Tesla Energy Plan the battery discharges to charge the car (lets say), so I wind up buying X-Units to bridge between battery running out and the sun coming up.

Looks about-same to me?

I'm sure there is some, modest, inefficiency from charging car from battery, rather than grid, but other than that because the Import / Export rate is the same will I actually care? Is there a situation where I could be significantly worse off? (such that I would be better off buying Of Peak units at, say, 50% of Tesla rate, and day units at 300% of the Tesla Rate (and any export that I did make at a pittance)

In the first full year of operation my Powerwall was about 88% efficient, and presumably will gradually deteriorate further, so it is necessary to take account of round trip loss when doing calculations.

 

[WannabeOwner]

so it is necessary to take account of round trip loss when doing calculations.

Thanks. My PowerWalls fully charge / discharge every day currently, not sure that would be any / significantly more under Tesla Control?

 

[ACarneiro]

In the first full year of operation my Powerwall was about 88% efficient, and presumably will gradually deteriorate further, so it is necessary to take account of round trip loss when doing calculations.

That's interesting, how did you measure that? It seems in keeping with Tesla's claimed "90% road-trip efficiency".

Although, I'm not sure the batteries will lose efficiency. Surely they lose capacity but shouldn't the efficiency stay the same?

 

[Dilly]

There is a view that the plan causes Powerwalls to cycle far more which may be detrimental to longevity