“The Big Switch On” Experience

I just thought I’d give a quick update on the Octopus Energy. “The Big Switch On” event. This was the first of a trial why buy octopus energy used their customers to balance the load on the electrical grid by allocating slots for people to use energy and be paid 2 Pence per kWh to use the energy at their time.

On Sunday I had 31% in my Tesla model 3 long range called Tess. The time came at 1:00 PM to use as much energy as possible to help balance the grid. I started off by setting my car charge continuously until the end of the free electricity. Which was 3:00 PM, By the end of the charging time my car had gone from being 31% to being 62% charged. After doing some maths in regards to the electricity used I figured out that approximately 25-kilowatt hours in my car which would usually cost around £3.20 on my octopus go tariff as this was during the day instead it costs octopus 50 Pence for the charge session.

During the Octopus Energy “The Big Switch On” on I also had 2 servers running that we’re doing compute for COVID-19 research via rosetta@home via BOINC this uses multiple computers around the world to help scientists discover and learn about many different subjects including biology computer science and many other things.

One thing that I did have to watch during the event was the fact that our incoming fuse from the distribution supplier was only 60A into the house. I was running at approximately 10 to 11 kWh at the time Is close to that limit. I did read a few posts where I some people on the event did blow the supplier fuse and had to have the electricity supply company replace the fuse. Quite a lot of homes now come with either an 80 or 100 A inrush and I have now requested from my energy supplier that this be upgraded to 100A.

All in all this was a really good event and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this type of event. I would like to participate in future if there is anything further events like “The Big Switch On” as it is helping the energy network and secure the future of all green it energy production.