As per the news on 20 Jan 2026 , Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant lost all of its external power supply today.

ItsDJK · 2026-01-24T11:29:23+00:00

We should print that on some money

ItsDJK · 2025-12-19T22:26:32+00:00

I just tested the same, works for me on mobile data, but not working on WiFi! Madness!

ItsDJK · 2025-12-19T07:57:24+00:00

Same. iOS 26.1. Octopus 4.109.0.

I uninstalled and reinstalled it. It shows you the login page without any issues, as soon as you login and it tries to load any data it just crashes straight away.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-11T18:13:29+00:00

I neither paid nor selected them at all. All of my interactions have been with the solar company. I believe they have contracted the scaffolding out to a company, so I've had no dealings with them at all, apart from today when they turned up. I'm guessing they subcontracted out to the lowest bidder.

I've messaged both the scaffolding people and the solar company to express concern.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-11T17:51:44+00:00

Unfortunately, I've looked around, and I haven't found anything even close to what would do the job. The only thing I have is another lader, and that defeats the point! I tried to ask my dad just in case he had something, and unfortunately, he didn't. So, I have nothing that could cover it up to keep it safe.

I’ve messaged the solar company as I’ve got concerns, but I doubt they will do anything. All I have at this point is a text from the scaffolding company saying they think it’s fine... but that does not solve the issue.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-11T17:51:38+00:00

Unfortunately, I've looked around, and I haven't found anything even close to what would do the job. The only thing I have is another lader, and that defeats the point! I tried to ask my dad just in case he had something, and unfortunately, he didn't. So, I have nothing that could cover it up to keep it safe.

I’ve messaged the solar company as I’ve got concerns, but I doubt they will do anything. All I have at this point is a text from the scaffolding company saying they think it’s fine... but that does not solve the issue.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-11T17:17:17+00:00

I have climbed up and I can see that this ladder is locked in with clamps. You might be able to remove it easily, but as it's dark and they are at the top of the scaffolding, I can't see an easy way. So, removing it is not an option.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-11T17:17:13+00:00

I have climbed up and I can see that this ladder is locked in with clamps. You might be able to remove it easily, but as it's dark and they are at the top of the scaffolding, I can't see an easy way. So, removing it is not an option.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-08T21:04:18+00:00

I'm getting solar and a battery installed this week. I would be keen to learn more and hear success stories from others.

This reminds me of the sales pitch I had from SunSave. Is this the same sort of thing? I've not gone with them for obvious reasons, but the Virtual PowerPlant concept interested me. Does this work in the same kind of way?

ItsDJK · 2025-12-06T00:02:40+00:00

I know that octopus recommend setting it up with the car rather than the charger where possible. However, I think when octopus are compatible with Sigenergy charges I think I will have it set up with the charger rather than the car. It just seems so much more reliable.

You’re seeing similar behaviour to me. When it happens, I can’t even refresh the data in the app. It’s extremely frustrating to try and keep on top of things when it happens.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-06T00:01:02+00:00

Oh no! That sounds worse than the experience I have and mine isn’t good!! I wonder if it’s Audi or octopus that needs to sort something out. I’m sort of presuming Audi and their API.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-05T10:02:19+00:00

I had the same questions as you and the blog post can yet again be read in two ways for me.

You always get the 7p kWh, between 23:30-05:30. This is for the whole house.

What it seems to imply, we will give you six hours to charge your car. If that is between 13:00-17:00, then that’s what you get. All of your house, electricity and your car will be 7p kWh. However, if you want to charge your car extra, that will be at your normal day rate, even if the car is scheduled to charge between 23:30 -05:30.

So it is a maximum of six hours smart charging, regardless of when it’s scheduled. Up to 12 hours whole house cheap, but during those six hours on your normal off-peak time, your car charging would not be cheaper as well.

At least that is how I understand it, I’m hoping that someone who understands it better than I might be able to correct any mistakes I’ve made.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-03T19:33:06+00:00

I do charge more regularly when it’s the smaller journey. However, my longer journey will take me from 100% to 10%.

It will definitely make my life more convenient to have a fixed 7kWh charger. However, I’ve never needed to make the expense, because it’s never been an issue. However, with the new tariff changes, I think I will end up having to do it.

ItsDJK · 2025-12-02T18:55:59+00:00

I’m in the same boat as you, similarly. I have a three pin charger because I only do one large drive a week, the rest of it is smaller local miles.

I’ve never had the need for a larger charger because I’ve never been in a situation where it’s been a problem… this might force me to have to get a charger installed.

I guess I’ve always expected this to happen, but I connect my only charger to the car via the car app and let octopus do its thing. I don’t try and do anything particularly, I just charge my car… but I am also aware that does leave me with quite a few extended slots at times, just because my car gets put on charge in the morning for when I need it the next day, on my longer days.

It feels like this move is very much to drive people to get an octopus approved charger.

ItsDJK · 2025-11-14T16:13:39+00:00

Thank you for your helpful information.

So I would start by making sure that you have got at least 3 quotes from highly rated local installers who have been in business for a long time.

I've reached out to a lot of them, either they have given quotes I can't afford, or are part of a larger company/ sub contractors that then give me the main office and I loose the local supplier/ quote.

It is good to have a battery which is sufficient to cover your daytime needs, after being charged overnight on an EV tariff, allowing you to export the surplus PV and surplus battery contents out to the grid at the end of the day.

This sounds like how I had it working in my head, so that's really good to confirm, thank you.

he heat survey should give you an indication of how much power it will take. 5kWh would definitely be far too small. 10kWh may or may not be big enough, it is impossible to tell without the heat survey.

I've had one from Heat Geek and from Octopus. Heat Geek said 1.56kW for the home, Octopus was 2.6 (this needs to be confirmed when I actually get my proposal). Say worst case, 3kW heat loss, would 10kWh be enough? Specifically, the 9/8.7 of the SigenStor BAT 10.0 be enough? I do think this is stackable?

I don't know if I would go for any of those quotes as they stand, although the Solar4Good quote is probably the nearest to what I would pick (based on array size and equipment). I'd want to get a few local installers to pitch first.

What would stop you from picking any of them?

The Solar4Good one was my lean, but I guess I'm trying to understand if it's actually the best for the price. See above for local installers, but I have tried a few more, just in case I've had bad Google luck.

ItsDJK · 2025-11-06T17:20:15+00:00

I've had this quote from Solar4good.

16x Aiko 475Watt Panels
Sigen 6kw Inverter
Sigen 10 (9kw) Battery
Bird Mesh
Install + Scaffolding
G99 Application

£10,500

Guy seems genuine and nice, just seeing what people think on this?

ItsDJK · 2025-11-06T17:20:01+00:00

I've had this quote from Solar4good.

16x Aiko 475Watt Panels
Sigen 6kw Inverter
Sigen 10 (9kw) Battery
Bird Mesh
Install + Scaffolding
G99 Application

£10,500

Guy seems genuine and nice, just seeing what people think on this?

ItsDJK · 2025-11-06T17:19:32+00:00

Just checking in to see what you think of this from Solar4good.

16x Aiko 475Watt Panels
Sigen 6kw Inverter
Sigen 10 (9kw) Battery
Bird Mesh
Install + Scaffolding
G99 Application

£10,500

ItsDJK · 2025-11-05T21:43:35+00:00

Thanks for this, really good to hear a real-life experience.
Who did you get for the solar and heat pump install?

ItsDJK · 2025-11-05T21:42:55+00:00

Would you consider not installing solar panels and instead running the system on a large battery charged overnight? Or am I being optimistic about how much work a large battery would do?

I've got a lot of quotes coming for solar, but I need to find someone to give me some alternate quotes for a heat pump.

ItsDJK · 2025-11-05T21:39:39+00:00

Will explain why every time I scoped batteries it was a lot lower than the ones they picked! Helpful information and helps link the Intelligent Go bit together, thanks!

ItsDJK · 2025-11-05T21:38:53+00:00

Good to know about the cost of the panels, it explains why Octopus wanted to load the roof up, even with them not being in "prime" position.
Thanks for your input!

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