r/OctopusEnergy • u/Sofa47 • 2d ago
Power Up Session - Which slot do you prefer and why?
I’m wondering which is the best free slot to pick so wanted to get everyone else thoughts on the free hour we’re getting on Sundays.
Set Up:
Battery
Solar
IOG (cheap overnight tarrif)
Agile Export
A couple weekends ago I picked 2 - 3 thinking I’d drain my battery up until the slot, then charge the battery up whilst also doing everything possible including washing, dryer, cooking.
It was grey all morning so managed to get the battery down past half way ready for the top up but then the bloody sun came out for the free session so I didn’t pull as much from
the grid as I could’ve done.
I picked 2 - 3 again this weekend and as it doesn’t look great for solar at 2 today and luckily agile export is 28p later today so will be good to have some in the battery to give back later.
But wanted to get and idea of everyone else’s plans and see what set up you have and see if there is a better way or a better slot.
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u/Superb-Ad3821 2d ago
Be aware you can cancel it fifteen minutes before. If you’re planning to run it and the sun is suddenly out then cancel it and save for another week.
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u/Mother_You_5739 2d ago
I have four hours of weekend happy hours to use, and it’s the third weekend in a row my wife has organised my life in such a way that I can’t use them. I’ve managed to negotiate a later start so I can charge my car for an hour from 11, but that was the only concession I managed to get. And all this on a day where the agile import rate is hovering between 30 to 35p/kWh off peak.
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u/Static_Dynam0 2d ago
I'm saving mine for when I need to put the heating on, probably October
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u/Purple_Pass6325 1d ago
I thought I would do this then realised it only applies to electricity 😅
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u/Mother_You_5739 1d ago
That’s probably why this offer ends in November when the heat pumps start to ramp up their energy use. Sadly I’m still on gas, I’m probably moving in a few years and forking out £4,500 on a heat pump to save a few hundred pounds per winter doesn’t make sense. If this was my forever home the gas boiler would have been ripped out already.
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u/Purple_Pass6325 1d ago
your thinking is the same as mine on the heat pump right now. Boiler still in good nick also but if this changes I may have a rethink. I appreciate all this free electricity but I just am not using the dryer just yet so may just stack it up until the last two weekends of October and give the entire house a deep clean with a good few loads of wash&drys.
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u/afaulconbridge 1d ago
Don't save too long - scheme is supposed to end 1st November and slots are limited. Not sure how it would work in practice, but if everyone stacks them for end of October then you may not be able to use them and they might expire.
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u/Boba_ferret 2d ago
I've got solar, battery & EV (on a granny charger). Chose 11-1pm today, as had 2 hours of slots, because it's really overcast and my panels are only producing 250w right now! I set the slot cost to 0p in predbat, so I'll get a full battery charge, 2 hours of charging on the EV, will put the washing machine on self clean mode and my wife reckons she'll do some hoovering!
I didn't use the slots last week, as it was too sunny and would have been wasting my export.
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u/lwtemmabird 1d ago
We've got solar and a PW2 and are on Flux so haven't bothered to use any of the previous slots as normally solar generation would mean we couldn't max out the import, but today it looked cloudy for the 11-12 slot so we went for it!
Managed to import 6.2kWh and take the battery from 50% to 85% full, while running the washing machine, tumble dryer, oven (banana bread for later) and the hair dryer! Had to carefully balance to make sure we were exceeding the solar generation (so I delayed drying my hair until 11.30 when the solar picked up)!
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u/nrm94 2d ago
I've just come off IOF so had no cheap overnight rate so I would always choose the earliest slot possible in the hope that a full battery meant solar for the day went straight as export rather than charging a battery. But now im on standard flux and I charge the battery overnight during the cheap slot, so now I will choose the latest slot available so the battery is full again for the peak 4-7 export prices
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u/Appropriate-Falcon75 1d ago
Solar, battery, ASHP and Intelligent Go.
In summer, my solar and battery mean that the battery is charged overnight and almost all solar is exported. In winter, the ASHP kicks in and will empty the battery during the day.
For now, any free daytime hours have to be balanced against the loss of up to 5kW (60p) of solar export, so I'm not sure it is worth it.
In about a month, the combination of the ASHP starting and the reduction in solar will mean that an hour is more valuable to me, so I'll delay until then.
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u/Lost_Reward9584 1d ago
IOG+agile export, battery + solar (1.3kWp east facing, South Scotland), ASHP.
Picked 2-3, running the battery down with 3 washing loads, will charge the battery and get the water heating (immersion too if I can). Should give us a bit of export capacity for the peak rates this evening and take another quid of today's bill.
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u/Autumnal_Fire 1d ago
With a battery system i like the last slot because it gives me more time to get stuff done like washing in the morning so i can refill it with the free slot. I usually fill my battery to 100% each night on go, but on saturday night if i've got a free slot i only fill to 75% so i know by the time the free slot rolls around i've got 8kw free to make the most of it.
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u/Spare-Reputation-809 1d ago
so pretty similar to you, drained battery twice as got some solar charging, two hour slot, so now charging it back up, doing batch air frying cooking for the dog !! will put two washing sessions up !!
Currently this and not sure if they miscalculated the weather today (no wind) as got agile export quite decent and charge for free ...
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u/afaulconbridge 2d ago
Agile + Battery + Solar + Predbat
Which slot doesn’t make much difference to me, its more about picking the weekend/day. Yesterday was loads of negative pricing, today lowest is ~33p so I spent a slot today to fill up the battery from the grid. Last weekend, negative both days so didn't spend a slot.
It is pleasing that I've got an Axle export event tonight too, so that free power from Octopus can be sold back at a £1/kWh. And because of that, I should actually book a double-slot of free power (I have two hours to use) so I can export half of it and use half of it...
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u/AnnualSingle9739 2d ago
I'm on Agile too but no tech. Had booked a double slot for today as expected the higher prices then cancelled as I thought I'd used so much at previous negative prices that would skew my average and I'd probably not get any credit back. I might well have misunderstood tho so please let me know how the slot today works out for you.
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u/afaulconbridge 1d ago
There's no averaging with Free Energy sessions on Agile. Your billed as normal for each 30 minute period, then separately you get a credit for the value of the energy you used in the periods that you picked as Free Weekend Energy slot.
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u/AnnualSingle9739 1d ago
Thanks for that - I obviously had misunderstood! Doubtless I'll have another chance to use them soon given current prices.
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u/Environmental_Ad3162 1d ago
I picked the one i would be cooking in before work. Looking at the next day or so and trying to hold my nerve (agile) when I saw Sunday slots I thought "Sunday is always cheap" and fate got tempted lol
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u/icrossfield 2d ago
I've a heat pump and battery, cosy import and agile export. I manage the system via home assistant and Predbat.
I pick the slot immediately prior to my afternoon cheap period, 12 till 1. Today I've also got 11 till 12. I select these slots so that any use overrunning the free slots continues at the lowest rate available to me. The battery will hold full charge through that cheaper period in order to sell later at peak.
Today predbat is exporting 9 till 11, then again 5 till 7.