Intelligent Octopus Flux

Has anybody switched to Intelligent Flux tariff from Octopus? If so what has been your experience>
I have a 5.3 kW battery pack with a 5.2 kW solar pack and Gen 1 5.2 Hybrid inverter.

I used flux earlier this year, I have a 4Kw solar array and 18 KwHr of batteries, so during the main solar season I could top up cheaply overnight (but only 50% due to the3hr limit), and take advantage of the peak hours export rate. WonderWatt was good for automating this using solar forecast. I have now switched to aglie octopus as the only tarrif where I can get 6hours of cheaper import (I don't have an EV charger). I'll be switching back to flux in the spring.

I have a similar setup to you. It's been a waste of time and money for me, I was on it for 2 months and it barely discharged back to the grid at all, let alone at peak hours. It would charge at about 300w on a sunny day and would sit at the same level for the whole day. I would have to keep changing the setting on the app in order to actually use the battery but this wouldn't last long as octopus control the inverter and would change the settings shortly after.

I've since bought an EV and after many phone calls have been able to switch to Octopus Go although this wasn't easy. Since switching tariffs octopus is still controlling my inverter despite revoking access many times on my inverter portal. So my battery is essentially unused most of the time. I haven't heard of anyone else having the same issues as me so seems to be some sort of glitch. I'm a big fan of Octopus but they haven't been much help, probably because this is a beta product.

Interik I've not tried intelligent flux, but from the blurb, I'd got the impression that the idea was that, because import and export prices are matched, you are effectively trading your small physical battery for an infinite virtual battery (ie the grid). So while it may not export during peak hours, as long as it doesn't import either, then it's giving you the low rate all day.

I'd have thought it would be of most benefit to those with a relatively small battery (relative to daily usage and/or solar array). If you have a larger battery, then you can benefit from a tariff with a cheap overnight slot, so that you can charge the battery cheaply and it will last the whole day. So standard Flux, E7, Go, any of those.

BTW all Octopus' smart tariffs are beta!

Terrylawless2023 I think it depends on your average home consumption relative to your battery + expected PV production.

Assuming you are rarely exporting in the winter due to low PV production, and the battery covers most of the house needs, I'd recommend Octopus Go for simplicity and low cost. They don't seem to check whether you have an EV or not.

This way you get a regular slot at just 9p/kWh to charge your battery / run appliances between 0030-0430. And then the battery carries the rest of the load throughout the day. So I just set a timed charge to 100% between 0030-0430 and that's all you have to do.

If it's a really good solar day, the paired export tariff is Outgoing Octopus Fixed Lite at 8p/kWh so you don't lose much if you've topped up to 100% earlier in the day (at 9p/kWh) and produce more PV that your battery can take.

The unit rate for all other times is 31p/kWh.

Alex23 ...top up cheaply overnight (but only 50% due to the3hr limit)

I think you're talking about Flux, not Intelligent Flux.

We've been on IF for a few weeks. but I'm unsure if we'll stay on it for much longer.
Pros:

• Cheaper import day rate apart from peak hours
• Very high export rate during peak hours
• Automatic 'cheap' charge of battery from Grid at 24p, peak discharge paid at 32p = profit!

Cons:

• High import rate during peak hours
• Octopus have control of your battery charge/discharge

The devil is in the detail though. The 8p per kWH 'profit' with 9kWH battery could give ~70p per day profit - except ...

• Round-trip losses to/from the battery are maybe 20%, reducing potential profit to 3p/kWH export
• Octopus restricts the discharge rate to ~2.6kW, so if you have a 3kW load for a kettle, you're importing 400w from grid at peak rate.
• it's a discharge limit, not a base load limit, and the battery doesn't seem to get fully charged/discharged so our max export has only been about 5kWH in a day.

Also, it plays very badly with Octopus Saving Sessions, because

• it can override discharge settings you've configured, so you don't get a full discharge during a session
• The "savings" are savings above your baseline, and IF's peak export will mean your baseline consumption for savings sessions already includes a significant export.

I think it's a very different proposition in summer when you've got lots of PV to export, but at this time of year PV export is minimal.

My personal experience of it:
https://terravolt.co.uk/api-integrations/givenergy/intelligent-flux/

DD I was happy to relinquish control over my battery so that it would charge prior and export to the grid during peak times to provide an income. The reality was it didnt charge from the grid at all as far as I could tell, and was only topped up by solar, usually at vey low rates (_300w) The battery was also set to not meet any home demand the whole time I was on the tariff. The ony time I got to actually use my battery was when I changed the settings in the app and got about 15 minutes usage before settings were reverted back. Very frustrating. And despite leaving this is still happening with no help from Octopus in how to unlink my inverter despite calls/emails.

Seems to be working okay for me. Not so sure how December will pan out, not much sun.

It hasn't always exported, some evenings it hasn't, although on the most part it does.

What annoys me is when it sits in eco paused during the 4-7pm peak - if it doesn't want to export, at least let me use some of the battery (I'd be happy if it was eco mode with a lowish discharge rate set).

Without an electric car it seems the best tariff for me at the moment, although the lack of sun now may change that. I'm comparing IOF to normal flux. Can't really compare Go as I wouldn't officially be allowed on that. Plus I'd be nervous about tracker or agile.

As I export a lot of my solar, low consumption household, it seems to be worth it for the higher export payments.

Will stick it out till next winter probably, and then maybe that winter I'll change to a different tariff then change back. Although my experience of switching tariffs hasn't been great, so will see about that. 🤣