Power Move and Solar Panels - do they help or hinder me hitting my target?

@Jeremy_T i know exactly what you mean, such a shame not to be utilising your PV during daylight hours for washer and tumbler.
 

Mind you, up here in NE England I’m lucky now in late September to be getting any contribution over about 400 Watts from my relatively small array. In the afternoons, at any rate, this morning the panels were producing around one kW for a while, so I ran down the garden and wielded my little electric chainsaw for 20 minutes (had to buy 0.14 kWh for the session, but not bad). We’ve just done a wash load now actually 3.05 - 3.30 PM and, with the aid of 600 Watts from my small battery plus the 400-odd Watts from the roof PV we’ve only had to buy 0.22 kWh, so that’s not too bad and, being outside the 4-7 segment, will still “contribute” quite a bit to my 12.5% target. Of course, for the next hour or so (3.30-4.30 PM) I’ll now be racing to re-charge the few hundred Watts the battery has lost, before the already low sun sinks further, and preferably most of it before 4PM.  The total purchased today since midnight is 0.46 kWh as it’s been quite sunny (for Sunderland!) but I’m happy enough with that, and, as you say, gives me a bit of leeway towards achieving the 12.5% target. Swings and roundabouts! I suppose as long as one ensures that the 4-7 segment at the very least doesn’t exceed a customary “normal” 3 hour average for your household (my own “normal” daytime average is usage of 150 Watt-hours, so around 0.5 kWh for the 4-7 segment. Apart from Winter, though, I would expect a lot of that to be covered by PV and/or by batter); then any raised usage outside the 4-7 slot will help hold it down to 12.5%.

Not being very clear, but hope that makes some kind of sense?!

I guess as you say it’s a question of experimenting. I’m now sold on the idea of reckoning up at regular intervals during the month my rolling totals and getting a shrewd idea of how the month is progressing, and I’ll definitely be doing that for October.
 

Good that you look like you’ll come in nicely for September…good luck…

While Powermove plus seems great, I am interested to see how it fits with my solar PV. If peak sunshine is at hours of high consumption should I still time my use for these, or move it back to using the grid? Admittedly these are not likely conflicts this time of year, but in summer…

Hi @PhilHollington are you talking about solar PV plus battery? Otherwise I’m not sure how you can move your usage. 
Generally, those with solar and battery tend to combine usage in these events to minimise grid power at that time. 
We also don’t tend to see any power saving events during summer as overall demand is less. If you’re interested in helping to reduce peak demand and emissions, in my own view it’s better to utilise your tech mainly during peak times although you can also check the forecast emissions levels via NGC ESO

No, just the solar PV.

If you limit your solar PV feed, without any storage capability you are ‘losing’ that free energy

Should have added that I have a gizmo that diverts excess energy to the hot water tank

If it’s excess energy, then presumably the house is catered for and you’re not pulling from the grid at that point anyway. 

I have solar but no batteries, I work from home and my husband is retired

We do all our washing and dishwasher and hoovering when it's light outside

We have a hot cooked lunch and a later evening snack

We use about 25% of out energy during the relevant time, just living life no "jobs" so tv, lights, heating etc

There isn't anyway I can cut it as my big use (during the day) doesn't count

Am I right?

Hi @Katymac, Yes and No!

It’s extremely unlikely that your solar panels cover ALL your daytime usage, so you are probably still buying some electricity from the grid especially in the winter?  If that is the case, then you could well benefit from joining Power Move.

I have the sane problem as Katymac. We have solar panels but no battery. We use the dishwasher and washing machine either overnight or while the solar panels are producing electricity. We don't use the oven or kettle during the peak times and rarely use the microwave. All our light bulbs are LED and very often I avoid putting lights on to move around the house.

We don't seem to be able to hit the target and can't understand why.

Any tips would be very useful as I now feel why bother