
Is a smart electricity tariff worth it? - edent
https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2019/04/is-a-smart-electricity-tariff-worth-it/
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wolfhumble
In a BBC video from the same domain,
[https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/11/talking-solar-batteries-
wit...](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/11/talking-solar-batteries-with-bbc-
click/), it seems like the installation (panels and batteries) is £5.000 and
that this a community trial in the Rosehill area in Oxford where the batteries
are subsidized.

I think it is valuable to bake in fixed costs and maintenance when these
things are discussed. Apart from saving the planet it is nice to see if a
project pays itself in 2, 5 or 15 years . . .

~~~
edent
The panels are on track to pay for themselves in under 10 years. The battery
is a bit more complicated because of the direct subsidies.

But it is the sort of tech which could be built into every new home without
dramatically raising the cost.

~~~
wolfhumble
Thanks for the information. :-)

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rb808
> If we're willing to change, our power bills drop.

This is the big thing. I think with modern renewables we have to change our
behaviour. ie doing washing/drying when its windy, charge cars during the day
instead of night.

~~~
munk-a
You don't have to change your behavior. And if you're busy and making good
money you may find it's worth it to just eat the tariff cost. In some respects
this is the same scenario as toll roads, there is always a free way to get
there - how much is your time worth?

There are already a lot of areas that have peak power pricing and, in fact, a
lake I went to as a kid[1] actually took advantage of this by (at a scarily
low efficiency) pumping water into the lake during off hours and running the
turbines during peak usage - it's basically a giant battery (but, again, super
inefficient in terms of the energy required to pump the water into the lake,
still efficient enough to be profitable though).

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Mountain_Dam)

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metakermit
A 15% cost reduction – not bad.

Possibly interesting – I'm working on developing a similar battery - solar
panel off-the-shelf system that would be suited for people who live in cities
(e.g. if you want to put a solar panel on your balcony):

[https://www.craftstrom.com/](https://www.craftstrom.com/)

~~~
pintxo
15% sounds impressive but it's 60 GBP in absolute savings. That might just be
enough to finance the hours it probably took to collect, compile and process
all things necessary to make this calculation.

~~~
edent
Per year. And assumes electricity prices won't go up.

It took me half-an-hour to grab the CSV files from my monitoring, a write a
scrap of Python to work out the difference in prices, then double-check my
workings.

I'm happy with that ROI.

~~~
michaelt
What would your advice be to someone with no electric car, no solar battery,
no solar panels, and no subsidy available on them? Is the smart tariff still a
good deal?

~~~
edent
Depends on your usage patterns. If your job means you always get home after
7pm, or if you cook with gas, then it may still be worth it.

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JazCE
Hmmm this is interesting... currently i'm on a 2 year fixed, i live in quite
an energy efficient flat and mostly keep everything off unless i'm home.
Currently i pay roughly £16 a month for my electricity. Literally the only
things on during the day would be: my alexa, my router, my hue hub and bulbs
(in an off state), my fridge/freezer, my home hot water/heating thermostat and
the apartment extractor fan.

I'd love to charge my laptop and phones off of a solar battery.

~~~
michaelt
The author of the article has a smart battery which (as far as I can tell)
outputs 460 watts of power [1] - whereas and a fan oven can use up 2.5kW†, a
kettle 3kW, a shower 8.5kW.

So unfortunately you'll be importing electricity from the grid sometimes
anyway, if you want to shower or cook when it's dark.

[1] [https://www.moixa.com/solar-battery/wp-
content/uploads/2018/...](https://www.moixa.com/solar-battery/wp-
content/uploads/2018/09/0240_Moixa_User_Manual_Email_July_UM001.pdf)

†When the thermostat is turned on, that is. So the average consumption over an
hour of operation will be lower.

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IshKebab
Smart meters will let you switch tariff every half an hour, so you can just
switch to a cheaper one for the "peak" period.

(I'm not sure this functionality is actually available yet - most suppliers
are still barely rolling out SMETS 2 meters - the ones that aren't supplier-
specific.)

~~~
cdmp
You can't currently change _supplier_ every half an hour. But with the right
technology your supplier can change price every half an hour.

The only UK supplier with a half-hourly tariff is Octopus Energy.

\- [https://octopus.energy/agile/](https://octopus.energy/agile/) changes
price every half an hour, tracking wholesale prices.

\- [https://octopus.energy/outgoing/](https://octopus.energy/outgoing/) works
like Agile but also gives you half hourly export pricing. So you can sell
excess energy from solar or battery storage back to the grid when the price is
highest.

(Disclamer: I work for Octopus Energy)

~~~
edent
OP here. That looks _really_ interesting. Especially the V2G stuff. I've only
just started with Bulb, but I'll certainly consider switching to you in
future!

