Octopus Agile (Time of Use) tariff

[Russdl]

@TerryE It’s certainly not going according to my master plan just yet, the standard ‘import’ rate seems pretty much firmly fixed at 35p. Ouch. 
 

The ‘export’ rate is a bit of a surprise as its not capped like the  ‘import’ rate is. Back in the old days, before energy prices went nuts, the export rate was around half the import rate, what ever that was, and that didn’t seem unreasonable but as you can see from the picture below, whilst the import is capped at 35p the export frequently exceeds half of that (the highest I’ve seen so far is £2.20, all be it when the sun wasn’t shining). 
 

Theoretically, if I ‘export’ twice what I ‘import’ then I break even. So far in October I’m exporting almost exactly what I’m ‘importing, so in effect I will be paying for half of what what I ‘import’ - most of it at 35p. Ouch. 

 

It’s obviously going to get worse as we move towards 21st Dec but should improve as we move into the new year. We’re all electric and in credit at the moment and I’m keen to see how it all balances out after a full 12 months of occupation. 
 

Wish me luck. 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Russdl

[TerryE]

@Russdl Thanks to our planners objecting to the impact on the street-scene, we had to drop rooftop PV from our plans, and so we are import only.   

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, Russdl said:

(the highest I’ve seen so far is £2.20, all be it when the sun wasn’t shining

That is interesting as I am just listening to Farming Today.

Some guy 'up north' is developing and energy farm, going to get £40/MWh, 4p/kWh.

Don't domestic installations get about 5p/kWh at the moment.

[Russdl]

5 hours ago, TerryE said:

our planners objecting to the impact on the street-scene, we had to drop rooftop PV

 

I think these planners could have a lot to answer for.

 

5 hours ago, TerryE said:

and so we are import only

 

Octopus Agile is definetley untenable in that case (at the present time).

 

32 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Don't domestic installations get about 5p/kWh at the moment.

 

I think that's about the most you'll get on a normal export tariff from any of the suppliers, Octopus included.

 

On Octopus Agile Outgoing (I perhaps should have emphasised that it's Octopus Agile Outgoing) you have to take the rough with the smooth but what that does mean is that the export rate is around half of the import rate for each particular 30 min period.

 

I used to be paying an average of 20-25p/kWh for import and would get an average of 10-12p/kWh for any export. The import price shot up an hour or so either side of 08:00ish and 12:00 ish and for around two hours or so either side of 18:00 ish. The export price would follow that price up, remaining at about half of the import price. What surprised me was that the export price didn't stop going up when the import price hit its 35p cap.

 

The below is from a reasonably sunny day where the export rate was pretty high. You can see that during the daylight hours the export rate was mid 20p's/kWh when I started exporting and was mid 30p's/kWh when I stopped. The break in export around midday is where I was charging the Sunamp.

 

On a clear day I charge the Sunamp and export as well. If the overnight tariff goes below the following days export tariff I charge the Sunamp overnight.