It would be very useful if anyone could answer it! 😀 (By the way, your results are actually not visible when clicking on the link, you may have to "create an app"). 

Form my experience trying experiting with this over the last few years, the landscape of automation protocols, manufacturers, brands has been and is always changing. Only having experience with Octopus TOU (mostly Agile), is it not a simple to do your own automation, not at low level. Just something as simple as an inverter with a battery ends up opening so many options. 

I found Home Assistant works pretty well to help the types of products used in the UK (and sometimes beyond), but mostly I look at whether the product and vendor supports open standards. But anything of significant size should have a decent UI, as most of us do not want to depend on the home geek!  🤓

Posted by: @batpred

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It would be very useful if anyone could answer it! 😀 (By the way, your results are actually not visible when clicking on the link, you may have to "create an app"). 

Form my experience trying experiting with this over the last few years, the landscape of automation protocols, manufacturers, brands has been and is always changing. Only having experience with Octopus TOU (mostly Agile), is it not a simple to do your own automation, not at low level. Just something as simple as an inverter with a battery ends up opening so many options. 

I found Home Assistant works pretty well to help the types of products used in the UK (and sometimes beyond), but mostly I look at whether the product and vendor supports open standards. But anything of significant size should have a decent UI, as most of us do not want to depend on the home geek!  🤓

If you are asking what is available to the non geek householder to optimise for ToU tarrifs, its Homely, Havenwise or Adia.  To the best of my knowledge there is currently nothing else, unless the energy companies offer such an optimisation as part of their tarrif. 

Of course you can rig something up in HA or even using your native controller if you have a simple ToU Tarrif (eg economy 7) but this requires a level of understanding on the part of the householder.  In the simplest case of an 'economy 7' like tarrif you can. with some heat pump controllers, program a nighttime 'set forward' in order to raise FT (and thus 'overheat' the house) during the hours when the leccy is cheap.  My Vaillant heat pump supports timed/programmed set forwards of FT and I have an 'economy 7 like' tarrif (7 cheap hours midnight to 7am).  I haven't so far been motivated to do it, but I do run DHW at night.  Maybe one day I may!

@jamespa

I doubt I would find those homely and similar good value for money.

I just found my inverter can handle the octopus agile rate with some ai. At some point I may let it loose but so far I am still in the control mindset with a bit of monitoring and less automation on ha! 😃

Posted by: @jamespa

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Posted by: @batpred

↑

It would be very useful if anyone could answer it! 😀 (By the way, your results are actually not visible when clicking on the link, you may have to "create an app"). 

Form my experience trying experiting with this over the last few years, the landscape of automation protocols, manufacturers, brands has been and is always changing. Only having experience with Octopus TOU (mostly Agile), is it not a simple to do your own automation, not at low level. Just something as simple as an inverter with a battery ends up opening so many options. 

I found Home Assistant works pretty well to help the types of products used in the UK (and sometimes beyond), but mostly I look at whether the product and vendor supports open standards. But anything of significant size should have a decent UI, as most of us do not want to depend on the home geek!  🤓

If you are asking what is available to the non geek householder to optimise for ToU tarrifs, its Homely, Havenwise or Adia.  To the best of my knowledge there is currently nothing else, unless the energy companies offer such an optimisation as part of their tarrif. 

Of course you can rig something up in HA or even using your native controller if you have a simple ToU Tarrif (eg economy 7) but this requires a level of understanding on the part of the householder.  In the simplest case of an 'economy 7' like tarrif you can. with some heat pump controllers, program a nighttime 'set forward' in order to raise FT (and thus 'overheat' the house) during the hours when the leccy is cheap.  My Vaillant heat pump supports timed/programmed set forwards of FT and I have an 'economy 7 like' tarrif (7 cheap hours midnight to 7am).  I haven't so far been motivated to do it, but I do run DHW at night.  Maybe one day I may!

 

I would extend that, @jamespa. Homely, Havenwise and Adia are the only hands-off options for optimising heat pumps for TOU tariffs. If you want to optimise your electrical use in general for TOU tariffs, there is nothing without rolling your sleeves up a bit (e.g. Home Assistant, OpenHAB etc.). As far as I’m aware, there is no solution plug and play offering that even adds a home battery/solar installation into its calculations alongside the heat pump and tariff, let alone EV charger or other big ticket item.

If I was a newcomer to this all and didn’t want to set up a home automation system, I personally wouldn’t even try to concentrate on the heat pump/tariff relationship. Instead, I would get the heat pump set up right for low/slow heating and then leave it to do its thing. I believe there’s far more scope for cost savings from optimising inverter operation and EV charging with tariffs, and far more options for doing exactly that through manufacturers’ apps. 

@majordennisbloodnok 

Seems reasonable. It would be mad, when managing a heat pump project, to have time to spare with those things.

The market is focused on pump efficiency and reaching the manufacturer efficiency. Listening to these enlightening Kitchen table podcasts , I imagine that an owner focusing too much on optimising cost for TOU tariffs (that keep changing) would just reduce their own choices. 

Electricity storage seems more appropriate to do that time shifting and realise that scope.