Octopus Flux Tariff

Hi Just switched from Intelligent Octopus Flux back to standard Octopus Flux for winter (as my understanding is that standard Flux is a better tariff for winter). Has anyone noticed that the overnight import rate is higher than the daytime export rate? Am certain this wasn't the case last winter! Just wondering what the incentive is to help the grid store excess renewable energy overnight now?

We have a 9.5kw battery and 3kWh inverter but don't have an EV .... are there other suppliers tariffs that are worth looking at?

Gen1 Hy 5.0 and 9.5 battery
I normally go for Flux in summer when there is enough sun for keeping the house powered, charging the battery and a bit of export. Any export I do at peak time.
Trouble is off peak charge hours are only 4.
In winter I switch to Eco 7 for import as I get 7 hours off peak charge. I go for 15p export as pretty much any sun just powers the house and tops the battery backup. Never much export opportunity

I’m guessing on average they don’t need battery exports during the day as there is enough solar and/or wind (over 12 months of the contract). So the export rates for that period have dropped.

Best to 100% fill the battery from the mains, especially this time of year, export the excess solar, export to the grid at the high peak (4-7pm?)

Other options might be Eon Drive (someone on here said no EV needed), tomato energy, etc.

Or Octopus agile if you have a way of automating charging and discharging at the right times (wonderwatt, predbat, etc).

Steer clear from Scottish power if I recall correctly as they don’t like brown exports and won’t pay for them (grid to battery to grid). And British Gas due to poor customer service if anything goes wrong.

Claire are there other suppliers tariffs that are worth looking at?

Eon next drive gives 7p-ish overnight and 16.5p? export. Available for EV or solar/battery.
Tomato energy are a new player. No gas, no export, and rates vary depending on lifestyle and kit. But typically 3 cheap periods.

DD can people have SEG with octopus or another supplier and electric import with a different company?

TX200 yes, but typically pay much less - octopus only pay around 4p for non-import customers. (Not sure if gas counts as import customer?)

Scottish power pay 12p to non-customers, but don't like batteries

Claire I had a message from Octopus setting out the tariff change, can't remember the details but low daytime demand might be true.

I think the gain is the increased payment for peak rate export.

In my case, I only have a 5kW battery, I need a top up before 1600. The gain by discharging at peak rate is but a few pence and what I do discharge at 25p I have to buy back at 24p later on.

In October I get sufficient solar to export even at the high tariff period.

Claire Has anyone noticed that the overnight import rate is higher than the daytime export rate? Am certain this wasn't the case last winter! Just wondering what the incentive is to help the grid store excess renewable energy overnight now?

I think last year the nighttime import was about 1p cheaper than the daytime export, but in reality after conversion and battery losses you’d actually lose money with a strategy of charging overnight and exporting the next day on Flux. It was only going to be worth doing that if the next day solar was so poor that you wouldn’t be able to fill your battery from solar.

geoffreycoan as a strategy agree. Assuming you only used the Flux low rate for appliances, Washing Machine and Dishwasher, you will get some benefit.

Assuming little solar and a small PV array* charging the battery to 100% will probably save. Only with lots of solar or a larger array will an overnight charge not be required. On a poor day I need a pre-1600 boost.

I might add, we are retired and home all day.

• a nearby estate by Allison Homes now installs PV panels as standard. These are attached onto the roof rather than part of the roof and just four . Why bother?

Roy124
With regard to the new housing and roof panels, we have a recent small development of 16 homes, they each have four inset panels. Perhaps it's new building regs so the developers fit the minimum.

Tenkaykev You could be right, the building must meet certain minimum standards and 4 panels adds a few extra points. I was a year back so don't think they have ASHP. Have you tried to get extra panels fitted? Just adding a few panels will cost almost as much as the initial array, the same with adding another battery.

I wonder if GSHP might be an option on new developments too as site access on a clear site would be easy. I guess you would need a geological survey on top of everything else.

Roy124
My install is just under a year old. In hindsight, having put the maximum number of panels on my SSE facing roof, I would have fitted panels to the NNW facing roof as it gets afternoon sun. With quality panels costing under £100, and having a spare string available on my inverter, if I could get a reasonable price it may be worth doing, but I'm not holding my breath.
While GSHP might make sense in some locations, I can't see any developer being interested, more profitable for them to do the minimum, hence the dire condition of a lot of new builds with developers using the cheapest subbies available.

Roy124 I wonder if GSHP might be an option on new developments too as site access on a clear site would be easy. I guess you would need a geological survey on top of everything else.

Builders won't do that as they won't be able to bury all their waste under the gardens/driveways etc.

Tenkaykev We are

Tenkaykev With regard to the new housing and roof panels, we have a recent small development of 16 homes, they each have four inset panels. Perhaps it's new building regs so the developers fit the minimum

Greenwash to do bare minimum for Building Regulations compliance.

We are 18° East of South. Our very first Solar salesman, so good we decided against panels, propose 11 or 12 on both sides. The cost was three times what we were prepared and eventually paid for just 8. In summer we do get a fair bit of solar from the North. The Western gabble less so as the next house gives early masking.