Effective Smart Tariff Strategies (Part 4: Tracker Tariffs)

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This video in the final part in the effective strategies for smart tariffs series. Here we cover wholesale price tracker tariffs.
Effective Smart Tariff Strategies (Part 1: Setting the Scene):
• Effective Smart Tariff...
Effective Smart Tariff Strategies (Part 2: Template Tariffs):
• Effective Smart Tariff...
Effective Smart Tariff Strategies (Part 3: Solar Sponge Tariffs):
• Effective Smart Tariff...
Which? Best energy suppliers for 2024:
www.which.co.uk/reviews/energ...
Home Assistant - Interview with Speak to the Geek:
• How Can Your Solar Set...
Predbat:
• Predbat - Overview, ho...
My Energy Optimiser:
myenergyoptimiser.co.uk
Wonder Watt:
www.wonderwatt.com
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:23 Agile Octopus
4:34 Automated Battery Management
6:11 Approach 1 - Home Assistant and PredBat control
7:06 Approach 2 - Battery manufacturer control
7:25 Approach 3 - Energy provider control
7:48 Approach 4 - Third party service control
9:00 Outro
If you're getting a lot from my videos, and would like to support me in my efforts to help everyone, here are a few ways to do this:
1. I have a Patreon account, which gives you access to the "pro" editions of my various solar utilities: / garydoessolar
2. If you're thinking of switching energy supplier to Octopus Energy. If you call them and give them my referral code ("blue-wind-201") and my name ("Gary Waite") and we'll both get a £50 credit to our accounts as a result! share.octopus.energy/blue-win...
3. You could www.buymeacoffee.com/GaryDoes... :-)
For business enquiries:
Email: me@garydoessolar.com
(Please note: despite my channel name, I don't provide, nor consult on, solar installations)
(c) 2024 Gary Does Solar. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER
Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the content in this video, no warranty for that content is provided, nor should it be implied. Viewers acting on the content, do so at their own risk.
#smart #tariff #strategies

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24 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 106

@neilmarshall2315 3 месяца назад

An excellent overview of the options available with great links on where to find more info. Just what people need to know.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks Neil :-)

@lukegiles1803 3 месяца назад

Thanks Gary. I'm an option 1 (home assistant) user, having been guided significantly by 'speak to the geek' videos. I don't want to hand over control, not because of any scepticism just because I enjoy it. I have my solar/battery/EV/Eddi respond to the agile price signals and it works great, but i still meddle with things manually. My advice is not to be overwhelmed by the initial complexity of this method, and to build your interface in stages.

@bazcurtis178 3 месяца назад

Totally agree. I love Home Assistant, but I am a geek, not the speak one 😀

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Yeah, I’ve got admiration for folks who don’t mind getting their hands dirty with Home Assistant and PredBat. I wouldn’t mind having a go myself, but I just don’t have the time with my day day and the channel :-/

@RobRitchie-gk1ky 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar I always struggled with Home Assistant and decided to give predbat at go. It does take time to set up and I needed to follow the clear instructions very closely. But once set up, I leave it to do its thing. Predbat choosing all the charging and discharging slots to maximise return. I am sure that you are inquisitive enough to try it out ..... Rob

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

@@RobRitchie-gk1ky Ok, after your experience, Rob, I'm really going to have to find some time in my diary then! 😃

@elslopez 3 месяца назад

Just the video needed to kick this sort of thinking into high gear. I have all the kit, but have (for convenience) just maintained a set and forget mentality, with a 60kWh battery it was just “easy” to be on Octo intelligent GO, charge then coast the day out… I have over 16kW of solar, so even in march, the battery is rarely dropping below ~70% till the next recharge rolls around! Today a sunny day, it dropped to only 97% before the sun slammed it back to 100%… I always knew I could go further, but your video makes me want to try ;) Thanks 🤩

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks - this is such great feedback! 😀

@bazcurtis178 3 месяца назад

A good weekend to discuss negative tariffs. Agile was negative or 0p most of the weekend. Early Monday morning is very good too. I made a big mistake last year. I was on Agile Export. The fixed 15p rate seems much better over the whole day. We need some smart options for heat pumps now like inverters do for batteries.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Yeah, Agile is having a really great run at the moment, and I've always felt that as the climate warms, the weather will become more and more erratic, which is exactly where Agile comes into play :-) I went for Fixed Outgoing instead of Agile Outgoing as it just looked a way better, return!

@radiotowers1159 3 месяца назад

Nice timing Gary, held back charging my car when I saw the wind forecast as I am also on Agile. As I am now retired I dont need my car at 80% every day and can afford to wait for low prices or just charge enough via solar . So yesterday and a bit again today when prices were negative, car charging , home battery , home baking and every bit of washing all done and still managed to export , quite happy just now with 15p export and manually setting things. Thanks again

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks - it feels unreal, eh? We made good use of the zero-rated electricity too. I don't have an EV yet, but I was certainly wishing I did yesterday! :-)

@radiotowers1159 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar Oh and my daughter visited , plugged in her EV , took another 13kWh and I got paid for it. My total consumption was around 50Kwh for the day .amazing !

@BrianCripps 3 месяца назад

Thanks for another excellent video. Very clear and to the point. No waffle. 😎

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

You're most welcome, Brian - great feedback to receive! :-)

@medialegend 3 месяца назад

OMG Gary. on the one hand you verbalise what's going on in my head re taking personal control of my energy usage via Agile, battery and solar. On the other hand, you are leading me forward to the next step, automating the whole process via a third party. Liked and subscribed. Next project - heat pump!

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Haha! Thanks - you're too kind! Thanks for liking the video and subscribing - very much appreciated! I'm well behind the curve on my journey to get a heat pump, but two of my RU-vid buddies already have them, and share their experiences on their channels: Speak to the Geek (Air-to-Water): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KJzOMvRkkZQ.html Tim & Kat's Green Walk (Air-to-Air): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9domQlKtbBQ.html

@medialegend 3 месяца назад

Thanks, Gary. Just on my way out now but I’ll take a look at those channels when I get back later. Keep up the good work! 👌🏻

@bordersw1239 3 месяца назад

Good timing, just applied for the Octopus tracker after doing some research. Hopefully made the right decision. I don’t have solar or a battery.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Great stuff - I'd love to hear how you get on with the tariff. I'm on the Gas tracker tariff and no regrets at all - I've saved a lot of money!

@bordersw1239 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar . I’ve only applied for the electric tariff as my gas bills are low but electric is high. Will update you in a few weeks!

@GavinFAllison 3 месяца назад

Great video Gary. I also have Trefor and PredBat to thank for the automation I use for my GivEnergy solar/battery system. I use Agile Octopus so it’s always a bit of fun to see what PredBat is going to do. This weekend it was making best use of the negative pricing to charge then discharging when it could make some money. Getting Home Assistant setup isn’t for everyone but there is a great community around integrations like GivTCP (which connects Home Assistant to GivEnergy systems) and PredBat.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks for your kind words, Gavin - and also for your view into the world of HA and PredBat - it certainly seems to be doing the business! Hopefully, this will encourage people to give it a go!

@kristiansnelling9576 3 месяца назад

Thanks again Gary. As someone who has been trialing Wonder Watt for my AIO battery only installation, mainly because during BETA it is free, whereas MyEO is not, then I have to say so far I am super impressed. It is not 100% perfect yet, very much a work in progress, but it has some really cool features that you may wish to do a video on? Just a thought - the community around WW is growing so your insightful views I am sure would be most welcomed

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Hi Kristian, thanks for sharing this - will help those looking for such a solution. I probably won't do another on such services as I covered already with MeEO but I'll be keeping an eye on both to see how they progress... :-)

@gcbus2 3 месяца назад

I've had a Powervault battery for three years now and its smartSTOR scheduler works brilliantly with Octopus Agile import and export tariffs and indeed other Octopus tariffs too.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

That's great to hear - thanks for sharing!

@JohnThomas-ey1hx 3 месяца назад

Used both Wonder Watt and Batpred on Home Assistant. Have to say both have their place, but Batpred is a money making machine as it always charges/discharges your battery at the best times for the minimum cost. Most average days I'm operating at a small credit return (10p-75p), and on plunge days (of which there have been a few recently), I'm making about a £10 credit after standing charges.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks for sharing this - kudos to Trefor then, for developing such a fantastic product!

@JohnThomas-ey1hx 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar Indeed. I have now also started using the immersion heater config in Pretbat to draw from the grid and control immersion heater via smart switch when agile price becomes cheaper than gas, further reducing gas usage and overall costs.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

@@JohnThomas-ey1hx That's brilliant! 😃

@boblomax4371 3 месяца назад

Nice vid again Gary. Re: Option 2, I don't use it but I know Luxpower inverters like mine can have a feature added for Octopus agile/tracker wholesale tariffs. You can set how many of the cheapest slots you want to use in a day for charging and discharging or set trigger pricing for each. I don't use it because I'm using Option 1 with Home Assistant and a really good set of integrations and simple config. Keep up the great work, you're rapidly becoming peoples go-to-guy for beginner & intermediates in solar.

@RahulParmar1978 3 месяца назад

I have Home Assistant with Octopus integration and am about to go solar, which integration do you recommend?

@boblomax4371 3 месяца назад

@@RahulParmar1978 depends on your kit, what make of inverter & batteries?

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

More power to Luxpower! Great to see more and more battery manufacturers embracing tracker tariffs like Agile!

@RahulParmar1978 3 месяца назад

@@boblomax4371 I've got three quotes so far, one for GivEnergy, one for Sunsynk and one for Fox ESS. I'd like to factor in the level of Home Assistant integration into the purchase decision!

@RahulParmar1978 3 месяца назад

@@boblomax4371 at the moment the quote I like is for Sunsynk

@swademcYT 3 месяца назад

Powerlake is a third-party service over in the AU that focuses on optimising uni-directional storage (hot water systems, pool pumps, ev chargers). Looking at expanding into bi-directional storage and other wholesale markets soon too. Also, we have five minute intervals here just by the way.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Sounds interesting! Here's a link for anyone interested to find out more: powerlake.com

@SheepShearerMike 3 месяца назад

Puredrive batteries (with a Solis inverter) are just rolling out software control with runs with Agile and solar (if you have it), and works out best times to charge and discharge using day ahead electric tariff and day ahead solar production. I spoke to a chap on the Duracell stand at Everything Electric and found out they were actually Puredrive. They are just getting me signed up now, so haven't started using it yet.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Oh, that's great news! Thanks for letting me know!

@michaelrobins8204 3 месяца назад

Hi Gary, great content thanks. Have you done a video on HP / Lease solar arrangements and insurance. I am having trouble getting my system insured.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Hi Michael, you're most welcome! I haven't yet, but I've been contacted by a few people who'd like to see such, and I've also been contacted by a couple of companies that provide this kind of scheme. Let's see...

@AndrewEbling 3 месяца назад

Been toying with the idea of switching from Intelligent Octopus Go to Agile this summer. Feels like a bit of a gamble, but have recently realised there are some services out there now which try and predict Agile slot prices further in advance than the officially supplied values each 24 hours. This helps with planning ahead when to charge your EV(s).

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Yeah, I quite like the innovation we're seeing, to provide a few day's look into the future, to help people plan their energy management :-)

@AndrewEbling 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar even just Octopus Greener Days is a pretty good general indication.

@scwebb 3 месяца назад

I’m not on Agile but I know that FoxESS are rolling out Agile support across their range of Inverters & Batteries. As I understand it it uses the Octopus Agile API to set the 4 best charge & discharge periods on any given day, or can be triggered when prices go above/below set targets.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

That's great to hear about FoxESS - thanks for sharing this. Now the Agile rates could either be acquired using the Octopus API directly, or via other services, like energy-stats.uk, for example.

@stephenbrickwood1602 3 месяца назад

I think that a small extruded plastic fixture on the front bumper with 2 pins and a camera to guide the vehicle like the space shuttle connecting to the space station. Very gentle "kiss" in the last 100mm. The EV just takes or supplies 240volt current for money. Happy days. 😊😊😊😊😊

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Let's see what the future brings!

@stephenbrickwood1602 3 месяца назад

All we need is our selfplug-in EV. Like our home robotic vacuum cleaner but smarter 😊😊😊 The car computer will programme week EV driving demand and the home demand. In fact, I can see the supermarket car park enticing selfplug-in EV shoppers to come and be part of the supermarket virtual big battery. 😊😊😊😊

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

I can definitely see this happening - it’s great!

@ianbeck5897 3 месяца назад

We've been with Agile Octopus since the start of last autumn. Combining battery storage and Agile, our electricity bill is consistently half what it would have been were we still on the SVR. I do nothing special with selecting the charge times. I simply charge to about 70% full battery between 1am and 4.30am and then drop a further hour of charge in just after lunch. At this time of the year the solar tops up the rest. We don't export any of our stored power as we prefer to use everything - our battery system is G100 so isn't set up to export anyway. Occasionally, we find ourselves buying power at the peak evening rate but, for the most part we can load shift and use the batteries then. Even if we do buy above SVR, it's so infrequent and isn't worth worrying about. Admittedly, there is a hardware cost in buying the batteries in the first place - but batteries are useful anyway, Agile simply puts the whole thing on steroids !

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Brilliant results with even just a fixed charging strategy - thanks for sharing, Ian.

@mattdyson8139 3 месяца назад

Gary I believe Sun Synk inverter software has the capability to charge the batteries using agile 30 minute slots.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks for letting me know, Matt - I’ll see what I can find out about that 👍🏻

@smartmart1958 3 месяца назад

My Sunsynk system has a Sunsynk Agile mode you set the price where you set the price that triggers import or export

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

That’s brilliant. Is it quite effective, from what you can see?

@CC_FPV 3 месяца назад

Nice video Gary. Hands down the best way to go is Home Assistant and Predbat. I can’t rate this enough it’s just amazing. It does exactly as you described by charging and discharging when rates are favourable and considers load and solar. Done every 5 minutes! Over the weekend you talk about in this video Predbat put me well into profit both days. MEO is good but only doing its calculations once a day if things change like load or solar you have to manually jump in but Predbat does it every 5 minutes. Some evenings using MEO I found myself without a battery in the evening if the wife had gone mad with washing but with Predbat its able to see in realtime what’s happening and try to correct you.

@hyweljthomas 3 месяца назад

I would have thought that whatever system you use, there will be occasions where something unexpected happens - your wife using the washing machine for example - then the system will surely draw from whatever source is available? Like Gary, I'm a huge fan of MEO - just fit and forget!

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Thanks for sharing your experiences with PredBat, Mark. Yeah, that's certainly an advantage of a locally controlled system - a high cadence. The more I hear about PredBat, the more I'm impressed by its capabilities.

@CC_FPV 3 месяца назад

@@hyweljthomas I agree but with Predbat it adjusts accordingly as you go. So more load it may reduce export. Less load it increases etc etc. it will also if you want charge and the export to make you money. There is no better set and forget software.

@rmplatts 3 месяца назад

Option 2. Victron dynamic ESS has just launched out of beta. They only support 1 hour slots at the minute. There is talk of half hour slots coming to support 🐙

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Great to hear - thanks for letting me know! :-)

@stephenbrickwood1602 3 месяца назад

In Australia I can see 20million EVs competing with nuclear electricity generation because most vehicles are parked 23hrs every day. 😮😮😮😊

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Love it! ❤️

@andrewwright1200 3 месяца назад

Just moved to Octopus Agile, looking to charge battery and use solar when we can, use the battery when unit price is high, export excess at 15 PPU...

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Sounds like a workable strategy, Andrew. I think you’ll like Agile - I was always planning to change to Flux about now, but actually, I think I’m going to stay put 😀👍🏻

@stephenbrickwood1602 3 месяца назад

In Australia I can see 20million EVs trickle charging 23hrs every day and a few rapid charges at the community batteries. 😊😊😊😊

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Love it! ❤️

@RobAldred 3 месяца назад

This is the one I've really been waiting for. Lovely video and great detail. I've been on the fence deciding whether to switch from flux to agile. Tools out there that compare historical usage are good but they don't include export. I still think that flux is worth sticking with for summer with the bumper peak export rate. What do you think about the fixed export tariff? It's been 15p since 2019 with prices dropping will we see a reduction?

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Hi Rob, that's really great feedback on the video - thank you! Yeah, this is one of the reasons I am considering creating my own Patreon tool to do just that - it's going to be a lot of work though, and finding the time around my day job is a challenge. I'm on the fixed export tariff with Agile myself, and I think it's the right approach (certainly for me, anyway) as it consistently outperforms the Agile export tariff (Agile Outgoing). I had expected the 15p price to drop from 1st April, but it stayed the same for me. I was told - that it might be a 12-month fixed rate though....?

@RobAldred 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar that would be fab. Your other tools are super useful.

@dreamz743 3 месяца назад

@@GaryDoesSolar+1 for adding this to Solarazma. I'm in the same boat as Rob - took a look at Octopus Compare following your recommendation in another video but it doesn't allow for the difference in export rates between Flux and Agile, making it much less useful. Keep up the good work!

@geoffreycoan 3 месяца назад

The 15p or 8p Octopus export tariffs are fixed for 12 months. Octopus confirmed to me that they won’t change until the end of the 12 month period it says on your account

@RobAldred 3 месяца назад

@@dreamz743 i did a rough calculation on a spreadsheet and it looked fairly even overall so i think I'm going to stick to being a cautious here and the more stable costs of flux.

@user-uo9is9bh7j 3 месяца назад

Great video Gary, just what was needed. I have an AIO & Solar (no EV yet) and am currently on Flux. I am thinking of joining MyEnergyOptimiser. Just checked with Richard he supports the AIO (and AIO with a second parallel AIO) all good there. There are a few videos on which tariff is best e.g Winter (Agile) and Summer (Flux) Richard suggests Agile. Could I ask what tariff your on please? Do you stay on this tariff winter and summer? Should I change to my chosen tariff before joining MEO? Thank you in advance 😀👍

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

Cheers for the great feedback! So, I'm on Agile at present, and have been for over 4 months now. I also allow MyEO to control my battery. My experience so far for both Agile and MyEO has been excellent - it was certainly the best tariff for me financially over winter as I don't have an EV yet. If I had an EV, then Intelligent Octopus Flux might be a better option as we do a lot of mileage. I had always planned to switch back to Octopus Flux around now, but Agile has been so good that I'm likely to stay with it and see how it goes! :-)

@user-uo9is9bh7j 3 месяца назад

Thank you for the quick reply Gary. I have just switched to Agile ready to sign up to MEO One more question please, Octopus has changed my Import tariff to Agile but I need to decide on the Export tariff, can I ask your opinion on this one as well please. Option 1 - Agile (average over year 7.5p) Option 2 - Outgoing Fixed Rate (15p)

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

@user-uo9is9bh7j You’re most welcome - now I can’t advise you, but I went for option 2 😀👍🏻

@magic4rest 3 месяца назад

Hi All, this is a very important question, which i hope you will be able to answer. I have 14 panels along with FoxEss inverter. i also have a Tesla power wall. during the power outage on a sunny day, my inverter stops working, supplying absolutely no solar energy to the power wall, or the house. i contacted the installer, who checked with FoxEss, and they say that this is as per their safety protocol used in the inverter's settings. what is the point of having solar with power wall if the solar energy is not harvested during an outage.... looks like the inverter can only work with the grid... please share your experience. thank you!

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

I think you asked this question twice. I've answered on the other thread.

@stephenbrickwood1602 3 месяца назад

A little backwards thinking just for fun.😊😊😊 Premis 100% clean electric world. Nuclear SMRs dispersed through the community because the grid is extremely expensive. EVs 100%. No fossil fuels. No PV rooftop because it clashes with SMRs 15% to 100% electric energy. 7 times more. No more grid construction, costs are extreme. 7 times more SMRs uniformly dispersed through the community. Economy booms with high paying nuclear plant operators working 3 shifts a day, 24/7/365. New national grid to millions and millions and millions of customers will take decades and decades and decades. Nuclear needs decades and decades of cashflow to be profitable. Competing energy technologies clash economically and need to be managed. World CO2 emissions means huge nuclear technology business internationally, except for the dictatorships naturally. More and more love nuclear electricity ♥️ Populist politics enjoy cleaner energy 👏 👌

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

I think there is room for both :-)

@springfall2008 3 месяца назад

Thanks for the shout out over Predbat, I'm still surprised on how many people are now using it. Third party services could also be a great way to go for those who are less technical but obviously won't be as powerful.

@GaryDoesSolar 3 месяца назад

You're very welcome, Trefor - you've done a great job with it - the more I hear about PredBat, the more powerful it seems! :-)