Power your home from clean & lower-cost energy with a Moixa optimised solar battery and a time-of-use tariff

Get the most out of your Moixa optimised battery with a time-of-use tariff

At Moixa, we want to help our customers get the most out of their batteries, so they can power their homes from greener and cheaper energy. Over the last few months, our team has been busy developing, testing and tweaking our software to allow us to maximise the benefits customers receive from time-of-use tariffs.

What is a time-of-use tariff?

A time-of-use tariff is an electricity tariff where energy suppliers offer different prices at different times of the day. The price differences usually correspond to when there is more or less demand for electricity often referred to as peak (when lots of people are using electricity) or off-peak periods (when fewer people require electricity such as overnight).

Traditionally, time-of-use tariffs were day-night, static tariffs such as Economy 7. There are also newer tariffs available which have been facilitated by the introduction of smart meters and these can have different prices throughout the day. Prior to smart meters being introduced, time-of-use tariffs would have cheaper electricity available for the same few hours each day, so the introduction of dynamic tariffs has been a big change in the energy industry.

The different tariff types available tend to fall into three categories:

Flat Rate Tariff: This is a tariff which remains the same price per unit of energy throughout the day and is the same every day.

Static Time-of-Use Tariff: This is a tariff which has different price periods during the day, but these different price periods are the same every day.

Dynamic Time-of-Use Tariff: This is a tariff which has different price periods throughout the day and these periods change every day. One example of a tariff like this is the Agile Octopus tariff by Octopus Energy.

Our latest updates for time-of-use tariff support ensure that Moixa optimised batteries* can not only optimise for static time-of-use tariffs but also dynamic ones.

Optimisation for all GB tariffs**

For the last few years, we have been supporting customers with time-of-use tariffs by setting specific plans for batteries to follow. However, with our most recent update, we are now able to make a personalised charging plan for each battery, every day, depending on the needs of the household.

The personalised charging plan will only work for households with predictable consumption patterns, but our team will be able to look at your household energy data and see if a personalised charging plan will work for you.

How does a personalised charging plan support time-of-use tariffs?

The battery software will rely on three key sources of information to generate a personalised charging plan. This data will then be used to build a plan for the battery aimed at powering the home from the cleanest and lowest-cost energy available.

1. Household Electricity Usage
   The battery will look at your recent household electricity consumption to try and predict when you are most likely to require electricity in your household in future.
2. Local Weather Data
   Your location, local weather forecast and previous solar generation data are used to predict how much electricity your solar should generate.
3. Your Time-of-Use Tariff
   The software looks at your tariff to understand the cheapest and most expensive times of day for you to purchase energy from the grid.

Then, based on all this data, the battery will generate a plan to cover your predicted household consumption with as much self-generated solar or lower-price grid energy, as possible.

How do I put my battery on a personalised charging plan for my tariff?

As the accuracy of the personalised charging plan is based on the predictability of your consumption, we’ll need to check your household behaviours before we move you over. We can do this by simulating how your battery would behave on the new plan due to how accurate the predictions are. The less predictable your household consumption is, the less accurate your personalised charging plan will be.
For households where consumption is very unpredictable, a specific static charging plan to charge the battery from lower-cost grid energy overnight may bring the best benefit and we would be happy to set that for you.

If you are a 4.8kWh, 7.2kWh or 9.6kWh Moixa optimised battery owner and you would like to understand if your household is suitable for a personalised charging plan, or if you are interested in optimising your battery for a time-of-tariff in future, please contact our Support Team on support@moixa.com for more information.

Further details

What changes would I expect to see in the Moixa Dashboard or app?

• If you are on a time-of-use tariff, with cheaper energy overnight, and you have a personalised charging plan switched on, you can expect to see a variable amount of battery charging from the grid overnight.
• You could also see that the battery may discharge through a low-rate period if it predicts there is sufficient charge available to cover your consumption for this period.
• On days with less solar generation, customers on tariffs with a high evening peak rate may notice charging during the day at cheaper rates, to help cover their peak consumption.

I have an electric car, can I use the personalised charging plan?

As we rely on your previous household behaviour to predict future consumption, any unexpected spike in that consumption (like plugging in your car at varying times each week) will create inaccuracies in the plan. However, if you have an electric vehicle that you charge in a regular pattern each week, then the personalised charging plan could work for you.

What else should I keep in mind about time-of-use tariff optimisation through the personalised charging plan?

• The battery will only charge from as much grid energy as it predicts it will need to cover your future household consumption. Moixa will not be able to set the battery to charge above this level.
• If you place high load items on a timer overnight, it is best to do that as part of a regular routine, so that the battery knows when your next high-load event will be. Random times of high-consumption will make it very difficult for the battery to make accurate predictions and you will see less benefit.

If you are a current battery owner and you would like to find out more, reach out to our team on support@moixa.com.

Not currently a battery owner but interested in purchasing a solar battery for cleaner and lower-cost energy? Contact our friendly team of Solar Storage Specialists on enquiries@moixa.com or enter your details on our enquiry form here.

*The personalised charging plan is only available for 4.8kWh, 7.2kWh and 9.6kWh batteries with standard inverter sizes.
**The personalised charging plan currently takes into account import tariffs when optimising your battery but not export tariffs. If you have a time-of-use export tariff, contact us for more information.

Additional Details

• In order to have a household personalised charging plan, you will need to have predictable household behaviour and submit you tariff information to Moixa. It is important that you update Moixa if you change tariff, as the wrong information will impact the benefit of the battery optimisation.
• It is important to note that because personalised charging plans are generated based on household electricity consumption, and solar generation based on weather forecasts – when there are unexpected differences between predictions and reality, you may see less benefit on a given day. However, the battery will always look to cover your household with the lowest-cost and cleanest energy available. In the long run, a personalised charging plan should save you money when compared to a static charging plan.
• The personalised charging plan will not work effectively for customers whose systems are not connected and do not have data available for over 90% of the times of operation.
• The personalised charging plan will not be immediately available for customers who have devices participating in active flexibility contract areas, although they can still have a static charging plan for their time-of-use tariffs.
• Customers who have multiple devices managed by Moixa, will currently not be able to use this method of time-of-use optimisation.