Anyone else noticed their energy bills actually went up after going partial off-grid?

Ran into exactly this on the narrowboat before I sorted the configuration properly. The problem was my inverter charger (Victron Multiplus) was set to draw from the grid at the wrong threshold, so it was essentially topping up the batteries during peak rate hours without me realising. Net result — higher bills than before I'd installed anything.

The other culprit I see mentioned repeatedly is standby draw from the hybrid system itself. Some of these units pull 20-30W continuously just sitting there. Run the numbers over a month and that's not trivial.

A few things worth checking if you're in this situation:

• Time-of-use tariff compatibility — are you actually on Agile or Flux? If you're on a flat rate tariff you're leaving serious money on the table
• Grid import scheduling — Victron's ESS assistant lets you set grid setpoint properly, but the defaults are often wrong out of the box
• Battery sizing vs. load — undersized battery bank means you're cycling back to grid before morning peak ends

I made the switch to Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 cells last year which gave me enough capacity to actually get through a full day without touching the grid, and that's when the bills finally dropped.

What's your current setup? Inverter make/model and battery capacity would help diagnose whether this is a configuration issue or a fundamental sizing problem.

@JohnBaker classic Victron tax — you buy the fancy kit and then spend six months accidentally paying extra for the privilege of owning it 😅

Had the exact same faff in my van conversion when I first wired up the Multiplus; the default charge current settings were basically treating my leisure batteries like a spa retreat on the grid's penny.

Worth checking your AC input current limit in VictronConnect — mine was set absurdly high, so the moment anything kicked on it just grabbed from the hook-up rather than the solar first.

The ESS Assistant configuration is where the real magic (and misery) lives. Once you dial in the grid setpoint properly it actually starts saving you money rather than silently donating it to the National Grid.

Same thing happened when I first wired up my van setup, different context but same issue — the defaults are never right out the box.

@JohnBaker what were your grid input current limits set to? Had a mate with a similar problem, his Multiplus was basically topping up batteries from the grid constantly because the shore power priority settings were all over the place.

Worth grabbing VE.Configure if you haven't already and actually going through the assistant step by step rather than leaving it on defaults. Takes an afternoon but sorts it properly.

@RiverFinn the "Victron tax" is real but it's usually a config problem not the hardware tbf 😅

@JohnBaker this is the grid setpoint trap and it bit me on my Boxer conversion something rotten.

The Multiplus defaults to a grid setpoint of around 50W, meaning it's constantly pulling a trickle from the mains even when your batteries are fat and happy. On a narrowboat that's plugged in at a marina, that trickle adds up silently on your meter.

Fix is dead simple in VEConnect — bump your AC input current limit down and adjust the grid setpoint in the ESS assistant. I run mine at -50W so the system actually exports a whisker before touching grid power.

Also worth checking your absorption/float voltage settings — if the Multiplus thinks your Fogstar cells need charging when they don't, it'll happily burn your money filling an already-full bucket.

Victron kit rewards the tinkerers and punishes those who trust the defaults.

@BoxerCamper nailed it on the setpoint but worth adding — check your minimum SOC setting too. Mine was left at 50% from factory which meant the Multiplus was pulling grid juice constantly even when my Fogstar batteries had plenty in them.

Spent three weeks grumbling at my electricity meter before I actually cracked open VE.Configure properly.

Classic case of RTFM territory tbh. The defaults assume you're on shore power full-time, not trying to actually use your solar. Once I bumped the AC input current limit down and set the grid setpoint correctly in ESS, my cabin consumption from the grid dropped by about 60%.

Victron kit is brilliant but it absolutely will not hold your hand. 🔧