Hi. I have a GivEnergy solar and battery system and seek advice on the optimal configuration for it i.e. taking into account the Octopus Agile Outgoing, Intelligent Octopus and Octopus 12M Fixed that we're currently on. We have the GivEnergy aSA2234G152 Inverter and 5.2Kwh battery. We have an EV and home charger. Any help appreciated.
Conroy there probably isn’t a single right answer for everyone, it all depends on how much you consume in your home during the day, how much you charge your EV, and how much your solar panels generate
I would say straight away that Octopus Agile Outgoing is probably not your best bet, the rates are typically around 10-13p/kWh, rising in the evening peak, but unless its really cold and there is a grid shortage, only to around 20p.
With a limited battery size you can’t export all that much in the evening peak to take advantage of the peak rates.
Outgoing fixed at 15p/kWh is probably a better bet as all the excess solar you generate in the summer will be at a better rate than you’re currently getting.
In terms of import tariff, you say you are on ‘Intelligent Octopus’ and ‘12M fixed’. You can’t be on both, can only be one or the other. And ‘Intelligent Octopus’ isn’t a tariff name, its either ‘Intelligent Octopus Go’ for EV charging or ‘Intelligent Octopus Flux’ for control of your inverter and battery.
They do different things, Intelligent Octopus Go or Octopus Go will give you an excellent overnight rate for charging your EV and your battery and then export all your solar during the day. As long as your battery is sufficient to see you through the evening period after the sun goes down this will mean that you’re only paying the cheap overnight rate for all your electricity.
Intelligent Octopus Flux you handover control of your battery and inverter to Octopus, they use it as they want. In return you get a better export rate which is matched to your import rate - its the same £ value.
So if you export loads you’ll get a great return, but the downside is that your EV charging will be at the same rate.
Either Intelligent Octopus Go or Intelligent Octopus Flux are probably your best bets