9 July 2026
Rebuilding my energy automations after changing supplier
Changing supplier means reviewing the assumptions behind battery, solar, hot water and EV charging automations.
Making a smarter home, one practical lesson at a time.
Switched On Home is where I document what I am learning about home energy, solar, batteries, EV charging, smart devices and Home Assistant. Not as an expert. As someone building it for real.
Latest posts
9 July 2026
The simple Home Assistant setup I actually use every day
A practical look at the parts of Home Assistant that are useful every day, not just interesting to build.
9 July 2026
Why I moved from Octopus to EDF for import and export
A holding post for updating my home energy setup now that import and export have moved from Octopus to EDF.
22 March 2026
Peugeot e-308 GT: 10 Months, 10,000 Miles — An Honest Long-Term Review
I've been driving our Peugeot e-308 GT for ten months and 10,000 miles. Here's what it's actually like to live with — the real-world range, what it costs to charge at home, driving to France, and the one frustration I didn't expect.
16 March 2026
My First Home Assistant Automation: Protecting the Powerwall from Daytime EV Charges
We needed to stop Intelligent Octopus Go from draining our Powerwall during daytime EV charges — without interfering with Octopus's control. Here's how we built our first Home Assistant automation to solve it.
16 March 2026
Using Excess Solar to Heat Our Hot Water — Our Second Home Assistant Automation
Our battery was full, solar was still generating, and we were exporting for nothing. So we built a Home Assistant automation to divert excess solar into heating our hot water tank instead.
15 March 2026
Why We Switched from PodPoint to Hypervolt Pro 3 — And What We Wish We'd Known Sooner
After a year of connectivity issues and failed overnight charges with our PodPoint 3, we switched to a Hypervolt Pro 3.
15 March 2026
Smart Meter, Not-So-Smart Experience: Our Ongoing Battle to Get Readings Working with Octopus Energy
We switched from E-On Next Drive to Octopus Energy in February 2026. What followed was weeks of missing readings, repeated calls, and a smart meter that refuses to communicate reliably. Here's the full timeline and what we've learned so far.
15 March 2026
Our Solar and Powerwall Installation: 7.6kW of Panels, a Powerwall 3, and What We've Learned So Far
How we installed 7.6kW of solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall 3 on our all-electric home — the full cost, what went wrong with our installer, and early performance data from Suffolk.