I’ve done a few of those Octopus things where they pay you to either use more power or less, depending on which way the grid is struggling to balance itself, but they are pretty stingy. It’s quite entertaining watching your kWh usage go well into double figures without it costing anything. I’ll be better able to eat more power once I’ve had batteries installed, hopefully in a few weeks.
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From 11am to 4pm today octopus was paying agile tariff customers to import energy at around 8 to 10 p per kWh - it was 4p paid from noon to 4pm yesterday. Our average price per kWh yesterday was about 2p
I tried really hard but the windy and sunny weather meant (we have solar and wind generation) that I only managed to import anything for about the last hour when I plugged my car in (had been away from home before then). Despite turning on the underfloor heating for the first time in years 
At one point we were generating around 11kW
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It is all new to us. East/West panels with a generation of 10kw…..we actually were generating 8kw mid day in April, so we were pleased. Then some April showers, but 30 kw produced.
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I can see how that would be annoying. I got another PowerUp today from 10-12. I was out for the first 45 mins, so had a lot of catching uo to do. There was a bit of sun, but only reached 3.5KWh tops, so was quite easy to beat that with heating hot water, putting on both ovens, a couple of electric heaters, and the odd toaster turn on. I managed to used 8.5KWh in the end at a cost of 8.5p, and managed to heat the house to around 19 degrees.
Thanks Nigel. Looks like you have made a good move there, both with the solar and the heat pump. I can see that a heat pump will ultimately be the way we go, but changing the gas boiler and investing in load and weather compensating controls (with a bit of time spent optimising everything) has made a big difference, both in comfort and energy use.
The scaffolding goes up a week today so I’m looking forward to getting everything installed and getting to grips with the new setup.
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I think this is a long way into the first world problems envelope 
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In the end, March cost us £8.83. We should go into surplus in April, just as we did last year. While the export rate has dropped to 12p, the import rate has fallen to 5.2p, at least for now. Being able to use an EV tariff makes such a difference; being able to export about 10kWh in the evening at 12p and then bring it back for 5.2p makes 68p, more than enough to cover the 48p standing charge. Over the course of a month it really adds up.
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We were in credit by an extra £9.40 on total consumption of 1317kWh and export of 555kWh. However we pay £25/month standing charge so net cost of £15.60. Our neighbour uses our Zappi.
Phil
Our net cost for March was £14.81, but we drove over 1,300 miles in the EV - a combination of it being new to us and the current cost of diesel.
Bargain! Do you have gas as well? Sorry, I should try to remember who has a heat pump.
We have an LPG tank and boiler for our heating and hot water. It costs us about £1,000 pa to run. However, with the current energy crisis when my fixed 2-year deal ends in September I’m expecting that to rise significantly. Time will tell.
Our new neighbours are having a Heat Pump installed shortly, so I’m keen to see how that goes before making any plans.
We love ours, and hopefully your neighbours’ installation will work well. We heat our water for 17p overnight.
Indeed, it will be interesting to see how their install goes. Although we live in a quite similar, recent new-build house, it’s not quite the same, so I’ll need to consider siting of the Heat Pump which will be different. Although I realise there will be savings, I don’t think a Heat Pump will be as financially advantageous as Solar, batteries and an EV tariff. But all that will depend on energy prices going forwards.
No it won’t, we did it to cut our carbon emissions, and it’s brilliant to heat the house during the day using the solar. The house is so much more cosy, as the pump runs constantly. No more doing for a wee in the middle of the night and feeling really cold.
Heat pumps work well if you have these things, if you don’t then the more off these you don’t have the worse it gets.
Very well insulated house and i don’t mean just the loft, floor and walls need insulation.
Good doors and windows, basically no drafts and double glazing as minimum.
Ground floor underfloor heating as its designed to work at low temperatures unlike rads, but more importantly gives you thermal slad to ride out any really low outside temperatures as this really hurts air to air heatpumps.
As long as we dont get much colder weather going forward for prolonged periods of time, say over a week at a time then most should be fine if you have the above.
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Agreed. Our house is warm throughout already. We have underfloor heating downstairs and quite large radiators upstairs, most of which I turn off as the spare bedrooms aren’t used much. Our insulation is good too, although I may put more in the loft. Our water cylinder is a pressurised type also. Being a recent new build the walls have good insulation already.
I am open to an installing Heat Pump for environmental reasons, but at our age the payback isn’t likely a factor.
I’d say that for most, if you’re hoping for a short payback time, a battery is by far the most cost effective thing to get. Second is solar panels. A heat pump then becomes relatively cheap to run, despite the significant outlay.
Something to be aware of when you remove an LPG tank: we had ours removed 20 years ago, and I vaguely recall that we had to pay the supplier about £25 to remove the tank, which you only rent from them. Last year my neighbour got rid of their tank, and the thieving *******s wanted £500 to take it away.
Our friend who lives on the Llyn Peninsula swapped from oil to a heat pump a few months ago. A local farmer took her oil tank, along with what was left of the oil, to use on his farm. No charge!
Yes, you buy your own oil tank whereas LPG tanks are leased. I gave our oil tank to a friend when we got the heat pump.
Agreed. batteries, then solar (or together ), an EV (on a decent tariff) and finally a Heat Pump. In preparation for more export in the short term and to support a Heat Pump longer term I’m having another battery fitted.
I’m waiting to see what our neighbours do with their LPG tank 
. Ours and theirs are below ground.