Octopus Go Intelligent new 6 hours charging limit

[GaryMG4]

Now that makes better sense John @johnb80 , we have to constantly read between the lines on this type of forum due to people not fully explaining what they are trying to say, or perhaps not reading back what they write
In this case my neighbour should perhaps buy an EV, they are on an original feed in tariff of close to 55p per kWh, I wonder if they would still get the tariff if they upgraded their panels to achieve a better efficiency and up their feed in rate?

Sorry I forgot that unless you had been looking at solar panels prior to around 2017(?) you wouldn't have known about FiT. I believe it is possible to replace/add panels but but your FiT payments would be based on your original agreement, usually 4kW. I think if you originally had a 4kW south facing array and you add 4 more, 2 east and 2 west. You can only be paid for 50% of your generation.

 

[GaryMG4]

You have to admit though, when we signed up for solar panels & FiT, nobody had EVs, power diverters or batteries to use 100% of it.

It's only fair!

True, although I tried quite hard to self consume as much of this summer's output as I could and still only managed 1.1 MWh out of the 3 generated, (no batteries!).

 

[Joningy]

Sorry I forgot that unless you had been looking at solar panels prior to around 2017(?) you wouldn't have known about FiT. I believe it is possible to replace/add panels but but your FiT payments would be based on your original agreement, usually 4kW. I think if you originally had a 4kW south facing array and you add 4 more, 2 east and 2 west. You can only be paid for 50% of your generation.

Ah thanks @GaryMG4 , I'd heard of FiT, but never absorbed the details, I didn't fit my solar system until 2021, a late lockdown project for me I guess and well after the best deals had disappeared.
My own system has a huge lead acid battery bank of 24 x 2 volt aircraft tug cells, around 45kWh capacity, we are all electric with an 11kW ground source heat pump, so I went down the lead acid route, being a fraction of the cost of lithium ion.

Edit moderator: "late 202“ -> "late 2021“, guessed from "late lockdown".

 

[LenEV2016]

Just got an email from octopus saying they are delaying this till march to make sure all their improvements are in place and working.

In my last email, I mentioned we’re introducing a 6-hour smart charging limit to keep the system fair for everyone. I’ve heard your feedback, and we’re making two big changes to ensure it works for you, not just the grid:

We’ve delayed the changes: We want to make sure the transition is smooth, so we’re taking our time to test and iterate the cap internally before launching. We expect it will be ready in March — we’ll let you know before it goes live.
We’re introducing “Charge Cap”: A new feature that gives you control. You’ll be able to toggle between capping your charging to the 6 cheapest hours — so if you plug in regularly, you won’t see any change to your costs from the 6 hour limit — or hitting your charge target, even if it requires a little extra charging outside those 6 cheapest hours. Charge Cap will launch alongside the cap in March.

 

[GaryMG4]

interestingly it also said that new IOG customers would be charged the a price that included the January rise but for existing IOG customers they would hold off the rise for as long as possible.

 

[JohnV6]

The 12p for export sucks

 

[Rolfe]

I wish I'd known this new rule wasn't in force yet last week, when I got home on 9%. I could have done a calibration charge.

 

[GaryMG4]

I wish I'd known this new rule wasn't in force yet last week, when I got home on 9%. I could have done a calibration charge.

The original email did say something like 'we will inform of the details fully before it is implemented at the end of January'

 

[Rolfe]

I've been away, so I just assumed they would have done it.

 

[GaryMG4]

According to my price increase email this will be coming to the App in early May, or at least the option to stop the charge once the 6 hours of smart charge have been used. It doesn't explain how they would bill it if you don't set it.
I wonder what it would do for my last calibration charge, although I did turn off smart charge to ensure it was continuous. I plugged in at 11am with the Zappi set to Eco, i.e. supply a maximum of 1.4kW from the grid but use all the excess solar to minimise the grid usage. I also set a schedule of 23:30 for 8 hours (in case it hadn't completed by 5:30 - not necessary as it completed before 5). As a result I used 9kWh of peak rate, 15kW of free solar and 37kWh of off peak going from 7-100%.

 

[EVsince2016]

I switch off smart control for much of the summer due to IO interference with solar charging and do balance charges on granny.