Solar - PowerEdge or Ecotricity?

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Master Geek
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#3430763 4-Nov-2025 13:55

Quinny:

Your most significant cost savings come from timeshifting ( instead of paying 30c or selling for x cents you use the power). You absolutely need to know how much you can timeshift (I can move about 90-95% of my usage to free and cover normal load with part of my generation), how much you use a day, we are 25-30kWh, if you have and EV, things like that.

Can you explain the concept of timeshifting a bit more for me please? We'll have an excess of generation during the day, and hopefully will have electricity in the battery for the evening once the sun has gone down.

richrdh18

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Master Geek
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#3430814 4-Nov-2025 14:17

Time shifting is shifting the time that you use appliances that draw the most power. I found that by using the dishwasher on delay start, so that it starts in the middle of the day when the sun is at its peak and the battery is fully charged that this simple change has saved us in drawing from the grid. When the Mrs used to do a load of washing in the evening, cooking using the oven, then turn the dishwasher on, this rapidly drained the battery. So now with this one time shift our battery will have 40 - 60% remaining by 0630.

CYaBro

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#3430818 4-Nov-2025 14:22

Getting a smart switch/relay for your hot water will probably make the biggest difference.
Only heat the hot water when there is excess solar.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Quinny

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#3430819 4-Nov-2025 14:28

cunningdavid:

Can you explain the concept of timeshifting a bit more for me please? We'll have an excess of generation during the day, and hopefully will have electricity in the battery for the evening once the sun has gone down.

As others have said, when generation is the highest, you do things—dishwasher, oven (bake early), washing machine, dryer. If you get really good at it, the impact is enormous. This one change will give you tremendous bang for your buck.

timmmay

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#3430822 4-Nov-2025 14:35

CYaBro:

Getting a smart switch/relay for your hot water will probably make the biggest difference.
Only heat the hot water when there is excess solar.

I have home assistant automations that turn on hot water heating when there is sufficient solar in the morning but also turns it on in the afternoon even if there is not excess solar. You need hot water on cloudy days too. I also turn hot water heating on early on days with high winds in case the power goes out, which is rare but does happen occasionally.

CYaBro

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#3430825 4-Nov-2025 14:41

timmmay:

CYaBro:

Getting a smart switch/relay for your hot water will probably make the biggest difference.
Only heat the hot water when there is excess solar.

I have home assistant automations that turn on hot water heating when there is sufficient solar in the morning but also turns it on in the afternoon even if there is not excess solar. You need hot water on cloudy days too. I also turn hot water heating on early on days with high winds in case the power goes out, which is rare but does happen occasionally.

True, ours is set to also heat in the early hours of the morning so will do that if needed.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

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timmmay

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#3430826 4-Nov-2025 14:46

I don't often heat hot water overnight because we have flat rate power. If I heat iwc during the day there is plenty of hot water for showers in the evening and again in the morning. If it is really cold overnight I do turn water heating on for 30 minutes about 5 am, but that's just in case as I don't want my wife telling me she had no hot water.

CYaBro

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#3430827 4-Nov-2025 14:50

We are on the Genesis EV plan currently so have half price night rate at 11c +gst per kWh, so makes sense for us to only heat water overnight and on excess solar.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

cunningdavid

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Master Geek
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#3430958 4-Nov-2025 17:45

Thanks for the tips on shifting our power use habits. Our timing of all these things will be reviewed once the panels are online!

We're also getting a new heat pump hot water heater. I've no idea if it has a smart switch or not - does anyone have a link to such a device you can buy, or is it a case of linking it to a service like Google Nest?

Jase2985

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#3430978 4-Nov-2025 19:32

cunningdavid:

Thanks for the tips on shifting our power use habits. Our timing of all these things will be reviewed once the panels are online!

We're also getting a new heat pump hot water heater. I've no idea if it has a smart switch or not - does anyone have a link to such a device you can buy, or is it a case of linking it to a service like Google Nest?

most will have an app or a way of setting on/off times on them.

prob

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#3431221 5-Nov-2025 13:32

Take care when comparing to consider how the buyback of excess power is handled from a gst perspective. PoweEdge credits excess power before gst is calculated meaning that they pay 20c kWh.

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cunningdavid

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Master Geek
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#3431240 5-Nov-2025 14:42

Thanks for tips!

bluey

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Master Geek
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#3431976 7-Nov-2025 19:21

Slight tangent and maybe discussed before - I was wondering if crypto mining is a viable alternative use of excess power rather than selling to the grid?

Handle9

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#3431979 7-Nov-2025 20:09

cunningdavid:

Thanks, yeah I checked that as well. Ecotricity seems to have the edge on price, but I'm worried about the poor customer service reports.

What customer service do you access from your power company?

cunningdavid

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Master Geek
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#3432083 8-Nov-2025 10:09

Handle9:

What customer service do you access from your power company?

Not a lot, but when I read bad reviews then I think those people did have cause to need customer service, and it didn't go well.

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