Hello everyone,
We recently came across Tibber and are considering whether it might be suitable for us and economically viable. Does anyone here use it? Specifically, we’re interested in the hourly, dynamic billing and this Pulse device that you need to buy for it. Is it some kind of submeter? They throw around terms like “smart home,” but I haven’t fully understood it yet.
Can the Pulse device be installed by yourself, or does it require a certified electrician? The idea seems to be that it measures electricity consumption in real time.
We have photovoltaic panels, an electric car, and a fairly large battery storage system, so we would presumably be well equipped for this. However, I’m not sure if with our setup we can specifically control if and when power is drawn from the grid. Depending on the price (which can sometimes even be negative), it might make sense to feed everything from the photovoltaic system into the grid and power the household from the grid when the price (like yesterday) was as low as -40ct.
If anyone has any experience with this, good or bad, please feel free to share.
We recently came across Tibber and are considering whether it might be suitable for us and economically viable. Does anyone here use it? Specifically, we’re interested in the hourly, dynamic billing and this Pulse device that you need to buy for it. Is it some kind of submeter? They throw around terms like “smart home,” but I haven’t fully understood it yet.
Can the Pulse device be installed by yourself, or does it require a certified electrician? The idea seems to be that it measures electricity consumption in real time.
We have photovoltaic panels, an electric car, and a fairly large battery storage system, so we would presumably be well equipped for this. However, I’m not sure if with our setup we can specifically control if and when power is drawn from the grid. Depending on the price (which can sometimes even be negative), it might make sense to feed everything from the photovoltaic system into the grid and power the household from the grid when the price (like yesterday) was as low as -40ct.
If anyone has any experience with this, good or bad, please feel free to share.
We have been using Tibber since mid-September 2023, and since December we also have the Pulse. We have a photovoltaic system, a heat pump, an electric car, and a battery storage system. So, we use electricity for everything. We don’t often charge the electric car at home because my partner can charge for free at work. We only do this when we have a large surplus or when electricity is very cheap. We definitely want to try Tibber for a full year before drawing any conclusions.
In September, we paid €12, in October €37, in November €113, in December €195, in January €198, and as of today in February, we are at €89 (Tibber’s forecast: €93). I think the expensive months are now over, and so far, for these 6 "challenging" months, we have spent €648.
With our grid provider, we had a prepayment of €95.38 per month for the previous 12 months, so an annual payment of €1,144.53. We receive €45 monthly for what we feed in (this doesn’t really correspond to what we pay, but we have decided to use the feed-in tariff to cover our electricity costs).
For the rest of the year (March to August), we can therefore still use €496.53 (~ €82.83 per month) before reaching the price we pay to our provider. Since we produce our own electricity and last year from March onward were mostly self-sufficient, I currently believe Tibber is worthwhile for us.
You have to adjust your behavior a bit (summer = high energy consumers preferably during midday when the photovoltaic system is producing; winter = high energy consumers best between 1:00 and 5:00 AM), but both of us really enjoy that at the moment. We weren’t especially frugal; we only waited for the pyrolysis cycle of the stove until the photovoltaic system was running again.
In September, we paid €12, in October €37, in November €113, in December €195, in January €198, and as of today in February, we are at €89 (Tibber’s forecast: €93). I think the expensive months are now over, and so far, for these 6 "challenging" months, we have spent €648.
With our grid provider, we had a prepayment of €95.38 per month for the previous 12 months, so an annual payment of €1,144.53. We receive €45 monthly for what we feed in (this doesn’t really correspond to what we pay, but we have decided to use the feed-in tariff to cover our electricity costs).
For the rest of the year (March to August), we can therefore still use €496.53 (~ €82.83 per month) before reaching the price we pay to our provider. Since we produce our own electricity and last year from March onward were mostly self-sufficient, I currently believe Tibber is worthwhile for us.
You have to adjust your behavior a bit (summer = high energy consumers preferably during midday when the photovoltaic system is producing; winter = high energy consumers best between 1:00 and 5:00 AM), but both of us really enjoy that at the moment. We weren’t especially frugal; we only waited for the pyrolysis cycle of the stove until the photovoltaic system was running again.
Clear:
Sep 23: 27 kWh, 12 € → 0.44 cents per kWh
Oct 23: 93 kWh, 37 € → 0.40 cents per kWh
Nov 23: 364 kWh, 113 € → 0.31 cents per kWh
Dec 23: 751 kWh, 195 € (from now on with pulse) → 0.26 cents per kWh
Jan 24: 694 kWh, 198 € → 0.29 cents per kWh
Feb 24 (so far): 320 kWh, 90 € → 0.28 cents per kWh
(Hopefully I haven’t made a calculation mistake and am not making a fool of myself now)
Sep 23: 27 kWh, 12 € → 0.44 cents per kWh
Oct 23: 93 kWh, 37 € → 0.40 cents per kWh
Nov 23: 364 kWh, 113 € → 0.31 cents per kWh
Dec 23: 751 kWh, 195 € (from now on with pulse) → 0.26 cents per kWh
Jan 24: 694 kWh, 198 € → 0.29 cents per kWh
Feb 24 (so far): 320 kWh, 90 € → 0.28 cents per kWh
(Hopefully I haven’t made a calculation mistake and am not making a fool of myself now)
The prices include all costs from Tibber, including fixed fees and so on.
For comparison: with our local provider, the cheapest tariff currently is
Energy price 33.45 ct / kWh
Fixed monthly fee 12.30 € / month
Prices from 01.04.2024
Energy price 34.30 ct / kWh
Fixed monthly fee 14.40 € / month
The first two or three months are probably not fully representative yet, as there was some adjustment needed.
For comparison: with our local provider, the cheapest tariff currently is
Energy price 33.45 ct / kWh
Fixed monthly fee 12.30 € / month
Prices from 01.04.2024
Energy price 34.30 ct / kWh
Fixed monthly fee 14.40 € / month
The first two or three months are probably not fully representative yet, as there was some adjustment needed.
Last year, I received money from Tibber for my electricity consumption on two occasions. This is "actually" not very relevant.
Looking at my "roof gasoline" consumption, I refuel my car with an average of 138 kWh per month. When the battery is empty (hybrid BMW), I charge about 7 kWh per charge. Usually, electricity costs around 15 cents per kWh (including surcharges) at night. I haven’t found a cheaper filling station than that.
My electricity purchased from Tibber last year was 2,787 kWh, which is about 1,000 kWh less than my consumption in previous years without photovoltaics.
My photovoltaic system produced 6,228 kWh in 2023, of which I unfortunately had to sell 3,240 kWh at 8.3 cents per kWh. My annual self-sufficiency averages 63%. The lowest month was December with 15%. The highest was June with 98%.
My photovoltaic battery (8 kWh (10.7 kWh)) does exactly what I wanted. It stores the solar electricity during the day and supplies it during the expensive evening and morning hours. For example, yesterday wasn’t a sunny day, yet I still produced 30.4 kWh, used 9 kWh (self-sufficiency: 81%), and my battery was still at 40% at 7 a.m. At that time, my car was already fully charged (electricity costing 20.9 cents per kWh from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.), and the battery completely powered my house (electricity from Tibber cost 26 cents per kWh at 8:00 a.m.). That’s how saving becomes enjoyable.
Looking at my "roof gasoline" consumption, I refuel my car with an average of 138 kWh per month. When the battery is empty (hybrid BMW), I charge about 7 kWh per charge. Usually, electricity costs around 15 cents per kWh (including surcharges) at night. I haven’t found a cheaper filling station than that.
My electricity purchased from Tibber last year was 2,787 kWh, which is about 1,000 kWh less than my consumption in previous years without photovoltaics.
My photovoltaic system produced 6,228 kWh in 2023, of which I unfortunately had to sell 3,240 kWh at 8.3 cents per kWh. My annual self-sufficiency averages 63%. The lowest month was December with 15%. The highest was June with 98%.
My photovoltaic battery (8 kWh (10.7 kWh)) does exactly what I wanted. It stores the solar electricity during the day and supplies it during the expensive evening and morning hours. For example, yesterday wasn’t a sunny day, yet I still produced 30.4 kWh, used 9 kWh (self-sufficiency: 81%), and my battery was still at 40% at 7 a.m. At that time, my car was already fully charged (electricity costing 20.9 cents per kWh from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.), and the battery completely powered my house (electricity from Tibber cost 26 cents per kWh at 8:00 a.m.). That’s how saving becomes enjoyable.
WernStö schrieb:
Usually, electricity costs about 15 cents per kWh at night (including fees). I haven’t found such a cheap charging station yet. I pay almost 17 cents per kWh network charge alone....
Today, the rate before 6 a.m. would be 25 cents.
Our load curve last year looked like this:
Our electric car used just over 200 kWh per month on average. I can fairly reliably shift that to cheaper daytime hours. The heat pump, on the other hand, runs quite constantly.
Right now, I have blackout periods from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., which are overridden by Vaillant controls when temperatures drop below 4°C (39°F). If I shift them to 5 p.m. to midnight, that should have the same effect on cycling. But it would probably consume more electricity since mornings tend to get colder?
It’s not an easy decision. After all, we currently pay only 28.5 cents.
Lotti88 schrieb:
For comparison: With our regional supplier, the cheapest tariff currently would be But comparing with the local utility is only somewhat useful. What would the market price be with a low-cost nationwide provider through Check24 or similar?
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