Octopus agile outgoing - intelligent export

Hi,
I have recently had a givenergy 5kw hybrid inverter and 8.2kwh battery system installed. The reason I got a battery was due to the low fixed SEG tariffs (best one 7.5p per kwh from Octopus). I'm on a capped variable import tariff, currently 28p per kwh, so I thought if I charged the battery instead of exporting, when I used the battery at night to power the home I'd be circa 20p per kwh better off.

I subsequently found the Octopus agile outgoing tariff and signed up to that. To date I've been paid on average around 26p per kwh, so my Original reasoning to get a battery doesn't hold up. On top of that I notice I am frequently charging the battery when the agile outgoing export tariff is way above my import tariff of 28p per kwh.

The only smart tariff I can see is to export from the battery between 4pm and 8 pm. Admittedly that ties in with my maximum export tariff rates, but I thought fully depleting the battery every day would shorten the battery life. What I'd like to do is only charge the battery when export rates are below my import tariff and export to the grid when export rates are higher than my import tariff, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do this.

jmccar23 You can do it - but currently you have to write code in something like Nodered and use something like GivTCP to talk locally to the inverter and change the settings.

I'd try the Octopus R&D scheduler.
Allows you to set your minimum rate for export and it'll auto discharge for you using the Givenergy API.
https://smart-energy.octopushome.net/sign-in

Don't personally use it but that's what it's for and far more smart than the GE one.

hoggy Didn't know about that one! Stand corrected!

anglefire nobody seems to, I hope it works! (I tried it with non Agile and it steers the inverter OK but a bit pointless for my use)
It can control other stuff though so hope they keep going with it!)

I've signed up for it and asked for the extended access. We will see!

Don’t recall having to sign up, maybe that’s new.
The app is pretty good though even being work in progress, it’s the most complete use of the API I’ve seen anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions. @anglefire I see on another discussion about 8.2kwh battery you pointed out the battery is larger than 8.2 with 20% dod that equates to 8.2kwh. So the battery doesn't actually fully discharge.

On that basis I think might use the out of the box agile tariff automation to export between 4 pm and 8 pm when rates are higher, rather than cover overnight household consumption.

jmccar23 this is what I do at the moment and worth bearing in mind the 8.2 has unlimited charge cycle warranty so I don’t think we can loose really. I also think that we may well be replacing these batteries in 5 years or so with something with many times the capacity for less money(I’ve still got a couple of 1gb memory cards for my camera that cost a fortune!). Solar panels were really expensive too, now a fraction of the price 10 years ago. The battery we have paid 2.5k for will be pretty worthless in a few years but will have paid for itself several times over. My view is get the maximum use from it now, otherwise it would be like not driving my car so I don’t wear it out while it depreciates!

I thought I'd try and set up something to export all solar energy if export tariff is over 28p.

Signed up to octopus r&d site and clicked on extended access. All I seem to be able to access us a set of graphs. Not sure if you need to link octopus smart home to givenergy, I've tried using the instructions https://kb.givenergy.cloud/article.php?id=8 but that seems to be specific to the Octopus agile import tariff (I'm on variable tariff) not the outgoing tariff.

On Octopus smart home site using IFFFT I can create an export tariff trigger, but could not find a givenergy system action applet. I'm a new to this sort of thing, so might be totally barking up the wrong tree. Any pointers welcomed.

Won’t work unless you are on a export tariff.

I also noticed the outgoing agile prices being higher than import all day for the past week. Before this there were usually cheaper periods in the afternoon when I charge the battery.
I use the normal Givenergy API (not GivTCP) in some python scripts to schedule charging. Now I charge only at night, exporting all solar generation.
This will probably not last past the October cap rise.