Axle Grid Events

[spiral]

Anyone else noticed that their Axle export doesn't match their suppliers export?
I have the results now of 4 sessions and on each occasion, Axle report me as exporting less than Octopus

Date.........................Axle......................Octopus's reading......................Difference
27/7........................ 3.7 ............................... 4.08...................................... 0.38
4/8 ........................... 4.6 ................................. 4.83 ............................... 0.23
5/8 .......................... 3.8 ................................ 4.268 ....................................0.4268
7/8.............................. 4.2.................................... 4.498....................................0.298

Now although the differences are small and are still profitable, I can't understand how they can have readings that differ from Octopus'. Axle have no hardware installed so presumably can only have the same readings available to them as Octopus.

[MaterialBarracuda48]

I have 3.9kW export limit, and I either see 3.90kWh or up to 3.92kWh

Last one was 3.92kWh Axle, 3.922kWh Octopus as they go the extra digit. Pretty much the same for all prior events.

[spiral]

So yours is pretty much spot on. To my mind the reduction is approximately what I consume in an hour at those times so I'm wondering if they are double dipping my consumption i.e. it is already not available for me to export because I've used it (which is how Octopus see it) but for some reason Axle are taking it off again. The reason I say that is because the closest match (0.23 discrepancy) was an overnight session when only "always on" items were running whereas all the others were evening sessions when TV's etc would also be running..

[MaterialBarracuda48]

Yes mine are pretty much spot on.
I can only guess that Octopus and Axle are getting readings from your smart meter, and using that for calculations.

So even if your house was using some load, the export readings should match as it's a measurement of what passes through the meter for both values. The only logical reason I can think of, would be if your meter clock is out/inverter clock?

Just checking, is your device 'Dispatch power' set to 7 kW? (it does not matter if this is above your export limit)

[spiral]

If by dispatch power you mean "Export limit" that's set to 13KW, otherwise you'll have to point me as to where to see this.

The problem with the clock being out is that it would be Octopus that would underread e.g if an 8-9 event occurs at the time that Axle think is 8-9 but Octopus think it is 8.05-9.05 my octopus downloads would miss 5 minutes at the start, the second half hour would be complete and there would be 5 minutes of export in my 9-9.30 download and that is not what I'm seeing.

[MaterialBarracuda48]

If by dispatch power you mean "Export limit" that's set to 13KW, otherwise you'll have to point me as to where to see this.

This is in the Axle website, Settings Cog -> Devices -> There you should see your battery and the 'Dispatch power' value.

[spiral]

Can't see a settings cog on the website but have a section called devices. Under this for battery all I see is Battery Soc, Charging power, min battery temp and charge/discharge energy.

There are many categories under "real time" but still nothing called "Dispatch power"

Edit: I've even tried google and after locating device it says click on battery/inverter system. On mine they are both separate so I've tried both (the battery is the one I tried first time). It then says click on settings or advanced settings. Neither section has that option that I can see.
In fact the only settings (apart from quick settings) I can locate anywhere are for my personal details.

[MaterialBarracuda48]

On my phone, clicking on the login like in email, this is the sequence I see.

[spiral]

Ah, we were at cross purposes. I was looking at the fox website, not the axle one.
It is set to 7KW.

Also interesting to see that you have odd pennies. All 4 of my events have been to an exact 10p, not penny.

[spiral]

Just had a reply from Axle and they are saying that the returns are based on net export i.e they subtract import during the period. MB, how do you ensure no import during that time. For me the battery is drained after about 50 minutes so I have to import for the last 10 minutes although I'm still more than sceptical that I import 200 to 400 Watts in that time.

[MaterialBarracuda48]

I think it might be as I have a bigger battery that I can export fully, last night was 2hrs and battery went from 100% to 16% after 2hrs at 3.9kW power. I have the EP11, so it can put out ~10kW, though this is limited by inverter/temperature to ~7kW. This is why I have no import at all during this time, and typically don't flatten the battery either.

Worth noting your EP6 has around 5.18kWh that you can actually use (Nominal Capacity: 5.76 kWh per module (5.18 kWh usable)) due to min SoC being 10% Your home usage at the time will affect how much you can export, but you should make good money still.

It's a combo of discharge rates/capacity/export limits/home load that is why you are getting different results to me.

[spiral]

I'm away atm but can't see how during my export, i am importing anything. For the end 10 mins, I would have to import around 2kw per hour to offset my export discrepancy of about 300w. Akin to having the kettle on everytime for about 6 mins in the final 10 mins . I'm just surprised that no-one else sees this. When I'm back I'll look at my imports during the sessions to see what they show.

[MaterialBarracuda48]

Their reply only makes sense to me if you was on 3-phase I think. So you could be importing power on one phase, whilst exporting on the other two, and the net export is therefore lower.

I don't know beyond that why your figures differ.

[spiral]

I have just checked a couple of the dates to see what Octopus have me down as importing during the "event". For both there is 0 import during the first half hour which is what I would expect because if there is a forced discharge on the battery, any household consumption would be taken from that and would just reduce the amount going to grid.
For the last 30 mins there is a small amount equating to 53 watts for one and 3 watts for the other, which is what I'd expect because min soc is reached with about 10 mins to spare. These though are nothing like the quantities of import that would be needed to drop the net export to the levels that Axle are paying me for.
If I was a glass half full type of person I might look on it that Octopus are overpaying me and Axle are giving me the correct amount but as I'm a glass half empty person, that's not the way I see it.

[spiral]

So after several bouts of emails to and fro, Axle have finally said

"Thank you for your patience while we’ve been investigating the discrepancies in your export readings.

I wanted to let you know that we are unfortunately unable to pull your export readings directly from your smart meter. This is due to a downstream issue with our third party reading provider, which is affecting multiple accounts and is an ongoing issue.

As a result, we are currently using readings we pull from Fox. These readings can differ slightly from those provided by your energy supplier, which may explain the differences you’ve noticed between our figures and Octopus’s.

We’re continuing to work with our provider to resolve this issue but until then you can expect discrepancies between our results and your Octopus's"

So at least I now know the reason for the discrepancy. Why they couldn't tell me this originally as it is a known issue I don't know instead of coming up with all sorts of excuses as to why the readings were not the same.

I will await their fix.