Smart Home Energy Analysis 2023

This is my energy analysis for 2023, to assess the impact of my smart home solar installation project. The project was started in October 2022 and my energy analysis page explains how my returns/savings are calculated.

In 2023, we generated a total of 7,471kWh. We imported 6115kWh and 2880kWh of that went into our CUPRA Born. We also put 723kWh of free solar energy into our EV when we were on a tariff that this sense to do or we needed to get our EV to 100% in limited time. The actual house usage was 3857kWh as measured by our Tesla Powerwall. We used 13,930kWh of gas for cooking and heating.

December has been wet and also mild. We have had to use the tumble dryer a lot. Solar generation across the whole of the UK has been poor. I have stuck with the Octopus Flux tariff tariff, to see how well it works during the worst months of the year.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for December is 539kWh, an average of 17.4kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 7985 at the start of this month and 8150 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 344kWh this month.
• We imported 493kWh for home use, with a low of 6.9kWh, a high of 26.2kWh and an average of 15.9kWh. This is a 8.6% reduction on our historical usage and cost £94.08, a saving of £71.50.
• Our home usage was 546kWh, with a low of 12.4kWh, a high of 23.8kWh and an average 17.6kWh per day.
• We generated 170kWh, with a low of 0.5kWh, a high of 20.8kWh and an average of 5.5kWh per day.
• We exported 73kWh, with many days being 0.0kWh, a high of 16.6kWh and an average of 2.4kWh per day.
• We have earnt £12.31 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £0.00, a high of £2.82 and an average of £0.40 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 170.4kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 25.7.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for October is 2784kWh, an average of 89.8kWh per day. This is typically high because the colder weather means we need to turn on our gas central heating. This December has been particularly mild and our central heating was pretty much on all through the day.
• We used 1980kWh this month with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 104.2kWh and a daily average of 63.9kWh.
• This is a reduction of 28.9% on our baseline and a saving/return of £54.53.

Transport

• We have driven 16,053 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £590 (3.7p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We are mostly charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (16.76p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible but, we had to charge it during two evenings to get enough energy into it London trips. We spent zero on public chargers this month.
• We have driven 885 miles and put 333kWh into our CUPRA Born costing £56.76.
• Petrol averaged £1.45 per litre giving a saving/return of £81.80 this month.

The weather turned properly cold and wet in November and this accounts for the large increase in electricity used by our home. In particular, the tumble dryer was used a lot to dry clothes that couldn't be hung outside.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for November is 486kWh, an average of 16.2kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 7633 at the start of this month and 7985 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 344kWh this month.
• We imported 396.0kWh for home use, with a low of 8.94kWh, a high of 18.24kWh and an average of 13.2kWh. This is a 18.5% reduction on our historical usage and cost £77.14, a saving of £72.16.
• Our home usage was 481.2kWh, with a low of 12.2kWh, a high of 21.0kWh and an average 16.0kWh per day.
• We generated 357kWh, with a low of 1.2kWh, a high of 24.8kWh and an average of 11.9kWh per day.
• We exported 215kWh, with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 18.3kWh and an average of 7.2kWh per day.
• We have earnt £36.35 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £0.00, a high of £3.10 and an average of £1.21 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 357kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 53.8.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for October is 2130kWh, an average of 71.0kWh per day. This is much higher than October because the colder weather means we need to turn on our gas central heating. This November, we only really used it in the last week of the month though.
• We used 1848kWh this month with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 88.3kWh and a daily average of 53.2kWh.
• This is a reduction of 31.3% on our baseline and a saving/return of £45.27.

Transport

• We have driven 15,168 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £452 (3.5p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We are mostly charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (16.76p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible but, we had to charge it during two evenings to get enough energy into it London trips. These 49.2kWh added another £5.57 to our charging costs. We also spent zero on public chargers this month.
• We have driven 1344 miles and put 396.0kWh into our CUPRA Born costing £71.94.
• Petrol averaged £1.49 per litre giving a saving/return of £144.31 this month.

A good start to the month and on the 18^th we hit exactly one year with solar panels installed, with 7481kWh generated. We started using the central heating towards the end of the month and this is likely to double our gas usage over last month. The new lower Octopus Flux tariff rates came into effect this month. As our exports start to fall and our imports increase, this is good news.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for October is 443kWh, an average of 14.3kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 7108 at the start of this month and 7632 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 469kWh this month.
• Our home usage was 352.2kWh, with a low of 4.8kWh, a high of 20.5kWh and an average 11.4kWh per day.
• We generated 509kWh, with a low of 1.1kWh, a high of 35.7kWh and an average of 16.4kWh per day.
• We exported 382kWh, with a low of 0.2kWh, a high of 29.4kWh and an average of 12.3kWh per day.
• We have earnt £67.07 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £0.05, a high of £5.11 and an average of £2.16 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 509kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 76.8.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for October is 1220kWh, an average of 39.4kWh per day.
• We used 789kWh this month with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 55.8kWh and a daily average of 25.4kWh.
• This is a reduction of 35.3% on our baseline and a saving/return of £29.24.

Transport

• We have driven 13824 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £452 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (16.76p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 1524 miles and put 297.1kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 16.76p/kWh and costing £49.79 + 20.0kWh of free solar energy. We also spent £15.76 on public chargers this month.
• Petrol averaged £1.50 per litre giving a saving/return of £218.58 this month.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for September is 373kWh, an average of 12.4kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 6385 at the start of this month and 7108 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 648kWh this month.
• We imported 229.9kWh for home use, with a low of 3.8kWh, a high of 11.2kWh and an average of 7.7kWh. This is a 39.0% reduction on our historical usage and cost £51.58, a saving of £64.24
• 67.6% of our home imports were between 02:00 and 05:00 on the cheap Flux rate (20.39p/kWh) and the rest was on the Day rate (33.98p/kWh). We imported just 0.3kWh on the Peak rate (47.58p/kWh).
• Our home usage was 304.5kWh, with a low of 4.9kWh, a high of 15.4kWh and an average 10.2kWh per day.
• We generated 756kWh, with a low of 7.9kWh, a high of 41.4kWh and an average of 25.2kWh per day.
• We exported 595kWh, with a low of 3.4kWh, a high of 35.5kWh and an average of 19.8kWh per day.
• We have earnt £124.70 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £0.76, a high of £7.34 and an average of £4.16 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 867kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 114.0.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for September is 619kWh, an average of 20.6kWh per day.
• We used 375kWh this month with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 16.6kWh and a daily average of 12.5kWh.
• This is a reduction of 39.4% on our baseline and a saving/return of £18.03.

Transport

• We have driven 12300 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £402.78 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (20.39p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 759 miles and put 309.2kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 20.39p/kWh and costing £56.99 + 50.2kWh of free solar energy. We also spent £15.76 on public chargers this month.
• Petrol averaged £1.49 per litre giving a saving/return of £64.35 this month.

Summary

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for August is 377kWh, an average of 12.2kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 5514 at the start of this month and 6385 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 735kWh this month.
• We imported 246.5kWh for home use, with a low of 5.5kWh, a high of 13.3kWh and an average of 8.0kWh. This is a 34.6% reduction on our historical usage and cost £50.74, a saving of £65.07
• 82.6% of our home imports were between 02:00 and 05:00 on the cheap Flux rate (20.39p/kWh) and the rest was on the Day rate (33.98p/kWh). We imported just 0.3kWh on the Peak rate (47.58p/kWh).
• Our home usage was 331.5kWh, with a low of 7.1kWh, a high of 13.3kWh and an average 10.7kWh per day.
• We generated 867kWh, with a low of 6.1kWh, a high of 43.2kWh and an average of 28.0kWh per day.
• We exported 716kWh, with a low of 3.2kWh, a high of 38.2kWh and an average of 23.1kWh per day.
• We have earnt £152.83 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £0.75, a high of £8.92 and an average of £4.93 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 867kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 130.8.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for May is 509kWh, an average of 16.4kWh per day.
• We used 440kWh this month with a low of 10.27kWh, a high of 18.9kWh and a daily average of 14.2kWh.
• This is a reduction of 14.3% on our baseline and a saving/return of £5.45.

Transport

• We have driven 11541 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £330.03 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (20.39p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 1026 miles and put 254.8kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 20.39p/kWh and costing £46.96 + 31.5kWh of free solar energy.
• Petrol averaged £1.42 per litre giving a saving/return of £129.66 this month.

Summary

Despite being a very wet July, we still generated a lot of energy! I am running the Tesla Powerwall in 'Time-Based Charging' operational mode. We were on holiday for a week this month.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for July is 380kWh, an average of 12.3kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 4680 at the start of this month and 5514 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 791kWh this month.
• We imported 219.1kWh for home use, with a low of 2.8kWh, a high of 10.5kWh and an average of 7.1kWh. This is a 42.6% reduction on our historical usage and cost £46.73, a saving of £70.62
• 75.9% of our home imports were between 02:00 and 05:00 on the cheap Flux rate (20.39p/kWh) and the rest was on the Day rate (33.98p/kWh). We imported just 0.3kWh on the Peak rate (47.58p/kWh).
• Our home usage was 318.2kWh, with a low of 4.8kWh, a high of 15.2kWh and an average 10.3kWh per day.
• We generated 841kWh, with a low of 12.2kWh, a high of 45.3kWh and an average of 27.1kWh per day.
• We exported 705kWh, with a low of 9.3kWh, a high of 39.9kWh and an average of 22.7kWh per day.
• We have earnt £149.43 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £1.94, a high of £8.35 and an average of £4.82 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 841kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 126.8.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for May is 509kWh, an average of 16.4kWh per day.
• We used 361kWh this month with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 18.1kWh and a daily average of 11.6kWh.
• This is a reduction of 29.1% on our baseline and a saving/return of £10.97.
• These savings have mostly been improved by making our home smarter but, were also helped by us going on holiday.

Transport

• We have driven 10515 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £283.06 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We have used the CUPRA Born a lot less this month as we have been on holiday and I have been looking after my terminally ill father in Somerset.
• We are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (20.39p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 616 miles and put 157.3kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 20.39p/kWh and costing £39.25.
• Petrol averaged £1.39 per litre giving a saving/return of £74.64 this month.

Summary

It makes a lot of sense to run the Tesla Powerwall in 'Time-Based Charging' operational mode again, as we did so well last month.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for June is 346kWh, an average of 11.5kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 3673 at the start of this month and 4680 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 781kWh this month.
• We imported 222.9kWh for home use, with a low of 4.6kWh, a high of 9.68kWh and an average of 7.4kWh. 74.9% of this was between 02:00 and 05:00 on the cheap Flux rate (20.39p/kWh) and the rest was on the Day rate (33.98p/kWh). We imported 0.5kWh on the Peak rate (47.58p/kWh). This is a 41.7% reduction on our historical usage and cost £48.47, a saving of £85.46
• Our home usage was 326.9kWh, with a low of 7.4kWh, a high of 15.2kWh and an average 10.9kWh per day.
• We generated 1013kWh, with a low of 15.0kWh, a high of 46.0kWh and an average of 33.8kWh per day.
• We exported 771kWh, with a low of 10.1kWh, a high of 40.6kWh and an average of 25.7kWh per day. This was lower than predicted because we had to charge the CUPRA Born using solar power a few times.
• We have earnt £191.93 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £2.84, a high of £9.83 and an average of £6.40 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 1013kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 152.8.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for May is 512kWh, an average of 17.0kWh per day.
• We used 480kWh this month with a low of 11.3kWh, a high of 26.9kWh and a daily average of 16.0kWh.
• This is a reduction of 6.2% on our baseline and a saving/return of £3.25.

Transport

• We have driven 9899 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £253.90 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• Our transport savings have reduced significantly this month as we are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (20.39p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 1034 miles and put 192.5kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 20.39p/kWh and costing £39.25 + 110.6kWh of free solar energy.
• Petrol averaged £1.40 per litre giving a saving/return of £136.24 this month.

Summary

With the Octopus Flux tariff it is cheaper to charge the CUPRA Born and Tesla Powerwall overnight and get paid more to export our free solar energy, so I have a greater incentive to run our EV on imported cheap rate energy. For this month the Tesla Powerwall will be run using the 'Time-Based Charging' operational mode, whilst I explore the Tesla API to enable intelligent smart home control.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for May is 382kWh, an average of 12.3kWh per day.
• The lifetime generation meter read 2760 at the start of this month and 3673 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 793kWh this month.
• We imported 227.6kWh for home use, with a low of 4.3kWh, a high of 10.3kWh and an average of 7.3kWh. 90% of this was between 02:00 and 05:00 on the cheap Flux rate (20.39p/kWh) and the other 10% was on the Day rate (33.98p/kWh). We imported zero on the Peak rate (47.58p/kWh). This is a 41% reduction on our historical usage and cost £48.83, a saving of £85.10.
• Our home usage was 334.2kWh, with a low of 6.3kWh, a high of 15.9kWh and an average 10.8kWh per day.
• We generated 915.8kWh, with a low of 7.7kWh, a high of 46.4kWh and an average of 29.9kWh per day.
• We exported 766.5kWh, with a low of 3.8kWh, a high of 41.7kWh and an average of 25.1kWh per day.
• We have earnt £189.27 from exporting solar energy, with a low of £1.02, a high of £10.10 and an average of £6.11 per day.
• It doesn't make financial sense to use my smart immersion heater controller on the Octopus Flux tariff.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 918.5kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 138.1.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for May is 1029kWh, an average of 33.2kWh per day.
• We used 731kWh this month with a low of 16.5kWh, a high of 32.5kWh and a daily average of 23.6kWh.
• This is a reduction of 29.2% on our baseline and a saving/return of £30.69.

Transport

• We have driven 8865 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £214.65 on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• Our transport savings have reduced significantly this month as we are charging our CUPRA Born over night on the Octopus Flux tariff Flux rate (20.39p/kWh), to export as much solar energy as possible.
• We have driven 1052 miles and put 290.5kWh into the EV using the Octopus Flux tariff at 20.39p/kWh and costing £59.23 + 11.7kWh of free solar energy.
• Petrol averaged £1.425 per litre giving a saving/return of £122.50 this month.

Summary

This month we entered new territory in many ways. I saw three daily generation records in quick succession. On the 12^th we moved to the Octopus Flux tariff and started getting paid significant amounts for our exported energy. For the first 12 days of the month, we generated £6.76 from exporting on the Octopus Go tariff. On the Octopus Flux tariff we were paid £56.68 for the rest of the month.

On the 24^th our Tesla Powerwall was installed and this has been a game changer! For the rest of April I ran the Tesla Powerwall in 'Self-Powered' operational mode and switched off grid charging. This allowed me to measure the energy flows without interference from the Tesla algorithms and AI, to benchmark our smart home solar installation project. It is NOT the optimal way to run my smart home on the Octopus Flux tariff.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for April is 392kWh, an average of 13.1kWh.
• The lifetime generation meter read 1990 at the start of this month and 2760 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 771kWh this month.
• We generated 860kWh this month, with a low of 6.7kWh, a high of 44.8kWh and an average of 28.8kWh per day.
• We imported 147.3kWh for home use, with a low of 0.0kWh, a high of 9.84kWh and an average of 4.91kWh. Note that we ran our home effectively off grid for the last week in April. This represents a 62.4% reduction and a saving of £88.36.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 860kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 129.7.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for April is 1460kWh, an average of 48.7kWh per day.
• We used 1329kWh this month with a low of 31.1kWh, a high of 61.4kWh and a daily average of 44.3kWh.
• This is a reduction of 9.0% on our baseline and a saving/return of £13.54.

Transport

• We have driven 7813 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £155.41 (2.3p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We have driven 1134 miles this month and charged it using 227.5kWh of free solar energy + 106.5kWh imported on the Octopus Go tariff and Octopus Flux tariff costing £18.14 + 8.8kW with Blink Charging costing £6.06 + 25.2kWh with PodPoint costing £16.39.
• Petrol averaged £1.445 per litre giving a saving/return of £158.61.

Summary

The month started well with a 30.0kW generated on the 2^nd March but it tailed off and has been worse than expected. It has been the wettest March on record since 1981. We were away on holiday up until the 9^th of March, so this is going to affect the numbers slightly. Once we returned the generation improved significantly and the solar irradiance has significantly increased this month. We have seen peak power generation of 5.8kW and a daily Solcast forecast above 40kWh. I was really hoping we could run our CUPRA Born on more than 50% solar energy this month but, my daughter has made a few trips into London.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for March is 387kWh.
• The lifetime generation meter read 1443 at the start of this month and 1900 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 599kWh this month.
• We have generated 457kWh this month, with a low of 3.0kWh, a high of 34.6kWh and an average of 14.3kWh per day. This is lower than last month's average of 15.2kWh.
• We imported 368kWh this month, a 15.1% reduction on our baseline usage.
• We imported 213kWh excluding EV charging, a 50.7% reduction on our baseline usage, an average of 6.9kWh and a saving/return of £78.09.
• 17.1% of our house usage was off-peak.
• We consumed (house & EV) 236kWh (53.5%) of the solar energy generated, with a low of 2.0kWh, a high of 24.0kWh and an average of 7.6kWh.
• We exported 210kWh (47.5%) of the solar energy generated, which generated an income of £8.62 at our Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rate of 4.1p/kWh.
• My 960W smart oil heater uses free power to reduce our gas usage. It was used on 20 days, for a total of 15 hours and 15 minutes, using 15.3kWh.
• My 150W smart pond heater was was on for a total of 12 hours and 9 minutes, using 1.8kWh and costing about 40p.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 457kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 68.9.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for March is 2012kWh.
• We used 1850kWh this month with a low of 39.0kWh, a high of 90.6kWh and a daily average of 59.7kWh.
• This is a reduction of 8.1% on our baseline and a saving/return of £16.70.

Transport

• We have driven 6029 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £114.82 (1.8p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We have driven 770 miles this month and charged it using 87.5kWh of free solar energy + 156.7kWh imported on the Octopus Go tariff (7.5p/kWh) costing £11.75.
• 35.8% of the energy put into our CUPRA Born was from our solar panels.
• 19.8% of the solar energy generated this month has gone into our CUPRA Born.
• Petrol averaged £1.47 per litre giving a saving/return of £125.47.

Summary

A good start to the month! 🙂 Octopus Energy have now set up our Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments, so we get paid 4.1p for every kWh we export. The plan is still to export as little as possible though and to use what we generate to reduce other, more expensive costs. The goal was for our CUPRA Born to run on at least 50% solar energy this month but, frequent trips to London meant charging it up to 100% over night.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for February is 433kWh.
• The lifetime generation meter read 1037.84 at the start of this month and 1442.93 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 375kWh this month.
• The Solcast forecasts for this month totalled 419. The highest daily prediction was 31.8kWh.
• We generated 426kWh this month, with a low of 1.6kWh, a high of 29.8kWh and an average of 15.2kWh per day.
• We imported 482kWh this month, a 11.2% increase on our baseline usage.
• We imported 262kWh excluding EV charging, a 39.6% reduction on our baseline usage, an average of 9.3kWh and a saving/return of £58.87.
• 14.1% of our house usage was off-peak. Our Tesla Powerwall should significantly increase this once installed.
• We consumed (house & EV) 245kWh (57.5%) of the solar energy generated, with a low of 1.4kWh, a high of 24.2kWh and an average of 8.7kWh.
• We exported 178kWh (41.9%) of the solar energy generated, which generated an income of £7.31 at our Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rate of 4.1p/kWh.
• My smart immersion heater controller was being improved and tested this month.
• My 960W smart oil heater uses free power to reduce our gas usage. It was used on 20 days, for a total of 15 hours and 15 minutes, using 15.3kWh.
• My 150W smart pond heater was was on for a total of 12 hours and 9 minutes, using 1.8kWh and costing about 40p.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 426kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 64.3.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for February is 2041kWh.
• We used 1814kWh this month with a low of 46.9kWh, a high of 87.1kWh and a daily average of 64.8kWh.
• This is a reduction of 11.5% on our baseline and a saving/return of £23.44.

Transport

• We have driven 5909 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £103.44 (1.7p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We have driven 1024 miles this month and charged it using 90.7kWh of free solar energy + 217.8kWh imported on the Octopus Go tariff (7.5p/kWh) costing £16.34 + 6.9kWh on the Octopus Go peak rate tariff (40.13p/kWh) = £19.11.
• 29.4% of the energy put into our CUPRA Born was from our solar panels.
• 22.9% of the solar energy generated this month has gone into our CUPRA Born.
• Petrol averaged £1.47 per litre giving a saving/return of £163.38.

Summary

We have generated our first megawatt hour (1 MWh = 1,000 kWh) in just 105 days and over winter too! That's an average of 9.7kWh per day 🤯 To improve our Return On Investment (ROI) I am actively trying to increase our electricity consumption and use free power to replace other more expensive energy costs. We don't have our Tesla Powerwall installed yet and Octopus Energy have yet to set up our Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) payments. Peak power output from our solar panels was around 4.7kW and 5.0kW in the last few days of January.

Electricity

• Our historical baseline electricity usage for January is 528kWh, the highest month of the year.
• The lifetime generation meter read 735.51kWh at the start of this month and 1037.84 at the end.
• The European Union PVGIS service predicts we will generate 291kWh this month.
• The Solcast forecasts for this month totalled 269kWh. The highest daily prediction was 28.2kWh.
• We generated 303kWh this month, with a low of 0.4kWh, a high of 25.3kWh and an average of 9.9kWh per day.
• We imported 508kWh this month, a 3.9% reduction on our baseline usage, despite charging our CUPRA Born and all the other new things I am now using electricity for.
• We imported 341kWh excluding EV charging, a 35.5% reduction on our baseline usage, an average of 11.0kWh and a saving/return of £66.15.
• 16.0% of our house usage was off-peak. Our Tesla Powerwall should significantly increase this once installed.
• We consumed (house & EV) 204kWh (66.4%) of the solar energy generated, with a low of 0.4kWh, a high of 19.3kWh and an average of 6.6kWh.
• We exported 103kWh (33.4%) of the solar energy generated, which would have generated an income of £4.21 at our Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rate of 4.1p/kWh.
• My smart immersion heater controller was being improved and tested this month.
• My 960W smart oil heater uses free power to reduce our gas usage. It was used on 20 days, for a total of 33 hours and 8 minutes, using 31.8kWh. On the 27^th January there were 44 on/off events. My contextual smart home is very responsive to power usage changes and the shortest period the heater was on was just 7 seconds.
• My 150W smart pond heater was used from 16^th to the 23^rd. It was on for a total of 100 hours and 21 minutes, using 15.1kWh and costing about £5.25.
• The Monthly Generation Factor is 303kWh ÷ 6.63kW = 45.7.

Gas

• Our historical baseline gas usage for January is 3088kWh, the highest month of the year.
• We used 2393kWh this month with a low of 49.2kWh, a high of 119.8kWh and a daily average of 77.2kWh.
• This is a reduction of 22.5% on our baseline and a saving/return of £71.60.

Transport

• We have driven 4885 miles in our CUPRA Born and spent £83.96 (1.72p/mile) on electricity to charge it since collecting it.
• We have driven 666 miles this month and charged it using 78.7kWh of free solar energy + 169.1kWh imported on the Octopus Go tariff (7.5p/kWh) costing £12.68.
• 31.8% of the energy put into our CUPRA Born was from our solar panels.
• 25.6% of the solar energy generated this month has gone into our CUPRA Born.
• Petrol averaged £1.51 per litre giving a saving/return of £109.23.

Summary

Previous Years

• 2022

If you are considering moving to Octopus, you can use this referral link and Octopus will give us both £50.

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Further Reading

My Features

• Improving Solar Energy Return On Investment
• How To Save Energy

My Projects

• Smart home solar energy project.
• Smart home energy modelling project.
• Smart home energy management project
• Enphase Microinverters In My Solar Energy Project
• Tesla Backup Gateway smart home integration project.
• Smart solar immersion heater control project.

My Reviews

• Tesla Powerwall review
• Smart meter review
• CUPRA Born V2 review
• Zappi smart EV charger review