Saving session today with Octopus, 1hr from 17:30......for a massive 12p per kWh. This is less than the normal 15p export rate.....DFS is a thing of the past, long gone are the rewards of last year. Shame because last year it was so beneficial whilst helping the grid.
Annaka bear in mind that it’s 12p DFS PLUS normal export rate
So worth it if you still have enough battery and don’t need to import later on
Tbf, my understanding is that the 12p is in addition to your normal export rate, not instead of.
But the late notice and small margin means it is not worth using my battery to actively help out the grid.
And yet they pay £5.50 per kwh for gas power stations to come online, I'd actively encourage you not to participate, if they realise no money= no participation and costs then a fortune to switch on a power station, then they might start to understand, this is a fishing exercise to see how low they can pay
They won't notice a few people who don't bother doing DFS sessions.
And asking for the extra power from gas turbines doesn't actually cost much more - as they're already on standby.
They are trying keep electric affordable, but sadly it's all a bit messed up.
Looking for advice on this. I don't recall signing up to anything, but my system auto dumped the battery starting at 5:30pm, to the grid. It hit the 5% buffer before 6:30pm.
I can see in the remote control history that settings were changed by "external change detected". I am not using predbat, or any online management tools to my knowledge.
Any way of finding out who initiated this without my knowledge?
Log entries as follows.....
2025-02-12 18:30:22 Server Enable Eco Mode Read Successfully false true External Change Detected
2025-02-12 18:30:16 Server Enable DC Discharge Read Successfully true false External Change Detected
2025-02-12 18:30:14 Server DC Discharge 2 Start Time Read Successfully 17:30 00:00 External Change Detected
2025-02-12 18:30:10 Server DC Discharge 2 End Time Read Successfully 19:30 00:00 External Change Detected
2025-02-12 17:31:05 Server Battery Discharge Power Written Successfully 2875 6000 6000 EV Charger Inverter Control
2025-02-12 17:30:28 Server Battery Discharge Power Read Successfully 6000 2875 External Change Detected
2025-02-12 17:30:16 Server Enable Eco Mode Read Successfully true false External Change Detected
2025-02-12 17:30:15 Server DC Discharge 2 End Time Read Successfully 00:00 19:30 External Change Detected
On the portal if you go into 'Account Settings' then 'Manage Account Security' you can check if anyone has Delegate Access or if there are any API Tokens.
Braddersmd Did you sign up for “GivBack” which is run by Axle energy
It looks very much as if they commanded the discharge. There was probably a charge up beforehand which depending on your tariff could have cost you more than you saved from the DFS saving session
geoffreycoan Braddersmd Did you sign up for “GivBack” which is run by Axle energy
scratch that, looks like Axle were not successful with their DFS bid for today’s session https://www.neso.energy/data-portal/demand-flexibility/dfs_utilisation_report so shouldn’t have been them. But do check the remote access as NormC says
NormC
Nothing there that I can see......
I appear to have been automatically registered into the Octopus Savings session - I didn't receive an email today, nor click to join the session.....how does one opt out, if that's causing the issue?
Braddersmd you need to click on manage givenergy cloud api tokens and look at the more detailed screen there
Braddersmd that doesn't show anything really, just that it is calculating your results, not whether you opted in or anything. That will appear when the results appear
But it makes no difference, Octopus do not automate your battery for the saving session unless you are on Octopus Intelligent Flux tariff
geoffreycoan
Thanks, and also for your other answer. Nothing to be seen in the manage api tokens either....
geoffreycoan No, not on Intelligent Flux, I am on OIG. I will check it again in a few days to see if it thinks I've been opted in somehow.
Braddersmd I’m sorry that really doesn’t make any sense at all.
The log shows the change in inverter settings happened “remotely” so that points to a change being made on the inverter without the portal/app knowing about it. This would be something like GivLocal/GivTCP or RubikCube’s Android app or the BBC inverter app.
If you didn’t use one of these then am stumped
geoffreycoan Thanks, I am a bit stumped to be honest. I do run GivTCP on a HA box, but it's not running any automations that I am aware of. Installed it around March last year to read details over to create a front end energy flow page. I've not touched the setup since the install, apart from occasional updates that are required.
From the GivTCP log, are the entries below. Looks like the culprit. I don't recall setting anything to do this on my behalf as I've not touched it since install, and can't see to see reference to it in the GivTCP configuration. If anyone can give this tech novice a heads up, I would appreciated it greatly. Cheers, Bradders.
2025-02-12 17:30:00,132 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Forcing Export for 120.0 minutes
2025-02-12 17:30:00,153 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery reserve target to: 4
2025-02-12 17:30:00,208 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Enabling Disharge Schedule
2025-02-12 17:30:00,251 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Discharge Slot 2 to: 17:30 - 19:30
2025-02-12 17:30:00,256 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Battery Mode to: Timed Export
2025-02-12 17:30:00,274 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge rate to: 6000 (50)
2025-02-12 17:30:00,287 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Force Export revert jobid is: 1b4b32e0-0592-41cd-bd5a-0dbab7b92753
2025-02-12 17:30:01,504 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Export successfully forced for 120 minutes
2025-02-12 17:30:03,257 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting shallow charge 4 was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:06,698 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Enabling Discharge was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:10,888 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Discharge Slot 2 was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:12,548 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting export mode was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:15,428 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Enabling Discharge was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:17,083 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge limit 50 was a success
2025-02-12 17:30:20,144 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge rate to: 3000 (18)
2025-02-12 17:30:24,493 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge limit 18 was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:00,090 - Inv1 - mqtt_client - [INFO ] - Retrieved jobID to cancel Force Export: 1b4b32e0-0592-41cd-bd5a-0dbab7b92753
2025-02-12 18:30:00,106 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Cancelling scheduled task as requested
2025-02-12 18:30:01,606 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Reverting Force Export settings:
2025-02-12 18:30:01,611 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge rate to: 6000 (50)
2025-02-12 18:30:01,622 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Discharge Slot 2 to: 00:00 - 00:00
2025-02-12 18:30:01,627 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Disabling Discharge Schedule
2025-02-12 18:30:01,632 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery reserve target to: 4
2025-02-12 18:30:01,637 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Battery Mode to: Eco
2025-02-12 18:30:04,488 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting battery discharge limit 50 was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:08,674 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting Discharge Slot 2 was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:11,514 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Disabling discharge was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:14,364 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting shallow charge 4 was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:16,335 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting dynamic mode was a success
2025-02-12 18:30:19,195 - Inv1 - write - [INFO ] - Setting shallow charge 4 was a success
A further update. I think I may have found the culprit.
There are two automations in HA. One called GivEnergy DFS-AIO that is switched off, and has been (I thought) since install. Another called Octopus Savings Session Detection - this one triggered "18 hours ago", and looks like it toggled the GivEnergy DFS-AIO to dump the battery as per the above logs.
I do not recall ever seeing this previous, nor setting it as active (Octopus Savings Session Detection). Is it possible it was set that way during a HA update? Looks like it's been running for the last two weeks.
Thanks to all that replied - truly appreciated. I'd not have thought to check HA more closely, and the GivEnergy DFS-AIO was set to off, and has been since install.
Braddersmd I do not recall ever seeing this previous, nor setting it as active (Octopus Savings Session Detection). Is it possible it was set that way during a HA update? Looks like it's been running for the last two weeks.
I’ve never seen HA make any on/off changes to my automations when doing an update.
Was going to say from the log it looked like it was select.givtcp_xxx_force_export being set to 120 which does a 2 hour forced export and then cancels itself at the end
Interesting the difference in points from the last one, it is only 1 kw more but loads of points.
Daveb01 Even more stark when you see the £ values
Especially yesterday’s
Results from the streamlit app
Thats 36p more than I made! Party on!
geoffreycoan where did you get that table from?
During those savings periods I am on grid rather than battery and my only potential for saving is avoiding cooking and kettle as the ASHP is going to be running. Will see what happens from the last session to see if the pain over gain is worth it.
Daveb01 , likewise, where did you get that?
Roy124 My gain is solely from turning off HP for an hour, allowing predbat to export.
Rob
Rbor too much pain for little gain 🇦 We would then be using the expensive tariff to replenish what we save.
Made 19p 😃
Baseline hurt me as I've had a few days of exporting at Agile Outgoing peak times while away from home.
Roy124 the table is produced by this app that interrogates your Octopus usage and determines what the results will be. This works the day after the saving session unlike Octopus that seem to take ages to crunch the numbers.
Make your own decision about using the app, but the source code is available if you have any concerns
https://savingsessions.streamlit.app/
I never export in the peak period, need all the electricity to run the home and ASHP!
The screenshot from @Daveb01 is of the saving sessions in the Octopoints area of the Octopus app
Predbat has just joined me into a saving session for tonight:
95 octopoints per kWh. The last session I had was on 19th March at 104 points/kWh.
Sunny day so batteries will be full by this afternoon so Predbat is planning a slow rate export to earn £1. Better than nothing
I still haven't managed to crack predbat wanting to export at peak evening time, so I decided to join this one.
I don't understand how predbat seems to have regressed since last year, when it was easier to stop.
Hook I still haven't managed to crack predbat wanting to export at peak evening time, so I decided to join this one.
Not really sure what the problem is, maybe share it on the 'second year with predbat' thread.
Possibly a number of reasons why predbat is exporting in the peak, it could be advantageous rate-wise, or it could be that you have carbon tracking on and predbat is doing its bit for the grid by exporting.
If you want to encourage predbat to not export in the peak then set a small negative export rate override for the peak period, see https://springfall2008.github.io/batpred/energy-rates/#manually-over-riding-energy-rates
Saving session today worth 80 octopoints per kWh, or 10p from 6-7pm. Financially not a great deal but its still better that just letting the solar export at 15p.
Predbat has auto-joined me into the session. No email or notification on X yet though
I got an email about 1pm
I earned 53p from the Monday saving session. Would have been slightly more but for the baseline of summer evening solar export.
