Tariff choices

With the clocks changing and the weather looking up (?), its time to think about which tariff will be best. Does anyone have a good "ready reckoner" for this?

I have a 5kwp west facing array (so good - generally - in the late afternoon and evening), a 5kw gen 2 hybrid inverter, 9.5kwh battery and GivEnergy EV charger.

Didn't have an EV last year and was on Flux. I wasn't "on it" with forcing exports etc and was pleased to see a lot of days in "profit" of pence and occasionally pounds.

Got an EV in November and moved to Octopus Go with th Lite export. We only use about 30-50kwh a week on the car though, not heavy usage.

Average daily usage (excluding car) is around 10kwh (and shifted things like dishwasher and washing machine to overnight wherever possible).

Trying to work out if Flux will be worth it again, even factoring the occasional night time charge will be higher than Go, the potential export may make up for it. Though also hoping to use the solar to charge the EV rather than export (though in that case there is less of a need to charge at night).

I have PredBat running in read only mode at the moment. Need to understand it a bit more and not sure how it will factor in the EV, but assume this would help more on a tariff like Flux, rather than Go, given the variety of rates etc.

Any advice or tips greatly appreciated!

Considering your typical daily usage (thank you for including that btw) and as you said a west facing array you could try out Flux for a month to see how you get on but west is perfect for 4-7 peak and that battery should see you from end of cheap period via topping up to when the sun comes up.

I say try flux for a month as there is a minimum period you have to be on them.

michaelhoskins see some recent discussion in thread "eon drive Vs octopus flux".
Agile is a bit harder to compute, if you're considering that.

Your west-facing array should be beneficial for Flux - still getting solar during peak rate.

Can't edit my original post but I was going to add this

Me personally start tanking quite hard after 4-5pm so Flux for me isnt worth it as with being a direct south and tilted roof they get no direct sun before half way through the peak period.

If you have a compatible EV or charger then you should be checking out Intelligent Octopus Go. Better than Go (longer and cheaper overnight rate), and MUCH better export rate.

Check compatibility on the Octopus site.

Look forward to hearing your conclusion.

PianSom thanks. I can't get IOG. Hyundai Ioniq 5 and a GivEnergy charger.

Thanks for the tips all. Am tempted to try Flux again - maybe in May and set up PredBat properly...

Tim & Kat’s Green Walk on YouTube recently published a rough ready reckoner to work out whether Flux or other tariffs were better. All depends on your ratios of generation to consumption IIRC

geoffreycoan Indeed, should see a nice return with a typical 10kwh per day home usage and a 5kw west facing array with a 9kwh battery though on flux, west is perfect for that peak export and given their lowish usage should be quite nice.

Should at least get a couple of quid a day, depending on sun ofc.

We don't have an Electric vehicle ( unless a Brompton Electric counts 🤔), but after following a recent discussion I wondered if charging frequency affected the choice of tariff. If you only needed to top up once a week for example?

michaelhoskins perhaps consider EON Next Drive: similar to IOG, with something like 8p for 7 hours overnight, and 16.5p export. Not sure about daytime rate, but you probably don't use much of that?

I'm in exactly the same boat. I drive a fair bit more than you do but I am very tempted to go to intelligent flux and try and make the export work

michaelhoskins Trying to work out if Flux will be worth it again... Though also hoping to use the solar to charge the EV rather than export (though in that case there is less of a need to charge at night).

Not sure it's worth it? IIRC, on Flux, daytime is export is roughly same as overnight import. So while there is some satisfaction to be gained from driving on solar power, it's cost-neutral, but adds the hassle of minimum power requirements, and having to ride out dips when a cloud passes over the sun (requiring cover from battery or grid). Just exporting, on the other hand, the grid is not at all fussy, and will take the energy at whatever rate you supply it.

DD I do get this actually. I think it's partly a mindset thing of being able to charge from solar, but agree - it's equally satisfying to be exporting...