Nirvana

I installed solar PV in 2009, since when I have recorded the cumulative grid import/export figures each week. Last Sunday I achieved Nirvana with the total grid import reading being the same as the week before. The AC-3.0 inverter and 8.2kWh battery installed last November had succeeded in reducing grid import for the week to zero for the first time (actually 0.4kWh, but let's not quibble). Here's to many more weeks of the same. 😀 I wonder how long it will take for the electricity companies to cotton on and send the standing charge through the roof!

Excellent news. Better usage than me, I have had some 4kw import days this month so getting closer to zero My last zero day was October 31st. Last zero week looks like first part of October. So sounds like you have a really good grip on your energy usage!

Once you regularly have Zero import, simply detach from the grid to avoid standing charges....

anabanet Erm..

browellm I have a dream..... 160kwh of batteries, 100kw solar, all you can eat electricity.... and snip the grid.

anabanet A couple of months ago I did the ROI calculation for the equipment needed to guarantee continuity of supply through the winter if off grid. The payback period came out at 150+ years but I could have supplied a small village in the summer! 😄

I understand ROI but for me it is the reduction in monthly running costs that is the significant figure. Last March before I had any idea of the coming price rises we switched from ICE to EV and later in the year GE with 3.85Kwh solar panel array the Hybrid 3.6 Inverter and 8.2Kwh battery. With Octopus Go to charge the car and the battery our costs have plummented and every month that I check the electricty bill I have to remind myself 'and we haven't bought any petrol'. Looking forward to the months ahead with exporting additional generation to help wind back the new electricty increases which will impact me in March. Throughout the winter our max daily usage of peak rate electricty has been 1.2Kwh.
It has been something of a learning curve and we don't really have the opportunity to futher invest in this property. But I am looking forward to a future project and maxing on solar and storage and who knows what other technologies. One day!

Woodstock My comment about standing charges was intended as a flippant throw away but having since received revised tariffs for April 1st onwards from my electricity and gas providers it turns out I was not far off the mark! I am of average intelligence and when Ofgem announced a price cap rise of 54% that is what I was expecting. It turns out that the truth is somewhat more subtle. The 54% headline figure is the expected increase in the overall bill for a dual fuel user consuming average amounts of gas and electricity. On diving into the figures it turns out that the breakdown of actual price cap increases is as follows:-

Gas unit price per kWh 81%
Gas standing charge 4.2%

Electricity unit price per kWh 36.3%
Electricity standing charge 82%

Can anyone explain why an increase in the wholesale price of gas should cause such a huge rise in the electricity standing charge cap?

As an aside I think the gas companies are going to be inundated with queries from customers who had steeled themselves for a 54% increase in their bills only to find that the actual increase is going to be around 80%!!!!!

Conversely if people are expecting their electricity bills to go up by 54%, the lower 36.3% increase in unit cost will mask the 82% rise in standing charge so they may not notice. Unless, of course, you have solar PV and a big battery and the majority of the bill is standing charge!

Woodstock yes the standing charge increase is really annoying as it can’t realistically be avoided… makes me wonder however if we will reach a point where buying an electric boiler (cheap option) or heat pump (expensive option) will look sensible? I can’t do without electricity, but I could cut the gas supply and avoid that standing charge at least!

Probably just mean not showering in winter and buying heated clothes 🤔

I wonder if the standing charge is where the climate levies get stuffed?

As far as I understand, the increase in the Electric Standing Charge is to cover the costs for the SOLR process for all the failed supply companies. Basically, to cover the credits & increased costs for those that choose poorly managed supply companies that did not sufficiently hedge their wholesale supplies. It has been put on to electricity, rather than gas, as nearly everyone has an electric supply.

Woodlands perhaps I was lucky with my timing!
My Octopus Go rates increasing from 5/14p to 7.5/30.78 but the current standing charge is 25p and the new 25.08p
My tariff ends/renews on 16 March 22

What are people classing as ‘zero’ days. I mean on face value that seems like a silly question because zero is zero but when I check my IHD from the smart meter there is always some import. So is zero anything under 1 or are people actually achieving complete flat zero? I have a 5kwp array with a 5kw hybrid and 8.2 kWh battery, for reference.

c_squared You'll never get zero because in my case the inverter can only deliver a maximum of ~ 2.5kWh to the house, so when the oven is on and the kettle is boiled for example, it can only meet 66% of that roughly. Also I believe there are times when demand ramps up the grid initially meets demand before the inverter can take over, but that I'm not 100% sure of the exact details/correctness. I consider any day under ~ 1kWh grid import to be a "zero" day.

Not sure about zero days, either positive or negative for me. Balance of import vs export. Looks like today will be the first negative day of the year for me woohoo

GrahamShaul That is very good as the new electricity standing charge cap from April is 45.34p/day and mine is going up to 43.39p/day!

I’m importing around 0.7kWh a day peak time - things like shower, kettle, oven use a little more than the inverter can handle.

Moved 2/3 of my consumption to off peak and things will get better as we get more sun 😀

Looks like I’m saving 50% on my electric so far, which I believe is lower because of the standing charge and the AC-DC-AC loss.

I count anything under 1kWh as zero - although perhaps that's too generous as I only count import fromthe grid at peak times. Offpeak import (i.e grid use between 12.30 and 4..30am for me) that either charges the battery or more specifically the EV I don't count - as the EV consumption is pretty large.
(spot when the system was back up and running!)

Woodlands

I read in an FT araticle that the elctricity standing charge is atually paying for both climate levies (or part thereof) and the SOLR process as you correctly mention. So I guess we are both right!

wilfleek I think so - this is what the FT said:

“The 82 per cent rise in the electricity standing charge now includes half the cost of reimbursing big firms which took over the nearly 3mn customers of 27 smaller suppliers that went bust in 2021. Ofgem puts that at £68, which means £34 on the electricity standing charge. It also includes a share of the “policy costs” — the government-imposed charges to pay for a greener future.
Worse is to come. From April 2023 the £40 a year repayment of the £200 discount which the chancellor is lending every electricity bill payer, will be added, the Treasury says, to the electricity standing charge. I estimate that this would raise it by nearly a quarter.”
Source: https://www.ft.com/.../05fc1440-5538-4072-ac46-4b87ecc3a5f3

GrahamRead So over half the standing charge is now effectively a tax for having an electricity supply! 😆 "Policy costs" and reimbursing big firms for the cost incurred by poor government policy and market regulation.

It seems clear at this point in time, especially now the ex KGB chap in the East has now made some interesting choices, that prices are only heading further upwards.

Like most my limiting factor is inverter battery support for demand, 5kw would be a magic number for me with only the electric shower ever exceeding that demand.

In terms of zero days I'm counting those as import and export being the same, if I can load shift most of that import to the Go rate I've got a 1p split between import and export.

I also have to remind myself that we are paying less to power and heat the house alongside fuel for the EV at £400 less than we used to pay for the house alone when electricity was 15p a unit and diesel was £1.20!

chrisdev yep, looks that way. Sucks

I was away on holiday last week and turned off most devices at home except for fridge/freezer and router and a couple of other things. The lowest day we managed for import (as reported by Octopus) was 0.1660 kWh so I can't see that I'll ever get lower than that.