GivEnergy Eco Mode Explained — System Modes, Timed Charge & Schedule Guide
GivEnergy has four system modes — Eco Mode, Timed Charge, Timed Discharge, and Timed Export. Getting this wrong is the single most common cause of GivEnergy support calls. This guide explains what each mode does, when to use it, and how to configure your schedule correctly — including the midnight rule that trips up most users.
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Choosing the wrong system mode is the most common GivEnergy setup mistake. We review your tariff, schedule, and monitoring data to configure everything correctly — and verify it's working with your overnight charge window.
Book a Remote Setup Session — from £75 → Tariff optimisation guideNot affiliated with GivEnergy Ltd. Independent configuration support.
Eco Mode — solar-first, no grid charging
Eco Mode is the default GivEnergy system mode. It's designed for solar-first operation and is the correct mode for households on flat-rate tariffs with no cheap overnight window.
In Eco Mode, the inverter charges the battery from surplus solar generation during the day. When solar generation exceeds household consumption, the excess charges the battery. After dark, or when solar is insufficient, the battery discharges to cover household load, reducing grid import. The battery acts as a buffer for solar energy.
Eco Mode never charges the battery from the grid. This is the most misunderstood thing about GivEnergy settings. If you have Octopus Go, Economy 7, Agile, Cosy, or any other tariff with a cheap overnight window and you are in Eco Mode, your battery will NOT charge on cheap rate electricity. You must switch to Timed Charge.
Use Eco Mode if you are on a flat-rate tariff (same rate 24/7 with no cheap window). Also use it for the off-peak daytime portion of your day if you're on a time-of-use tariff and want solar-first behaviour between your scheduled windows.
Timed Charge — for cheap overnight grid electricity
Timed Charge is the mode to use if you have any tariff with a cheap overnight rate. It forces the inverter to charge the battery from the grid during your specified window, regardless of solar generation.
How to set up Timed Charge
Log into givenergy.cloud → My Inverter → Settings tab.
Select Timed Charge as the System Mode.
Enter your cheap-rate window start and end times in the charge schedule. If your window crosses midnight (e.g. 23:30–05:30), split it into two slots — see the midnight rule.
Set the target SoC (state of charge) — this is how full you want the battery to be by the end of the charge window. For overnight resilience, 100% is typical.
Click Save and verify the schedule appears correctly. Check the next morning that the battery has charged as expected.
Timed Charge and solar — what happens during the day
When you are in Timed Charge mode and the charge window is not active (i.e. during the day), the inverter will continue to use solar generation to maintain the battery and cover household load — it does not ignore solar. Outside the scheduled charge window, Timed Charge behaves similarly to Eco Mode.
To maximise solar use during the day and grid charging at night, set the charge target SoC to whatever level your overnight usage requires — typically 80–100% — and let solar top up the remainder during the day.
Timed Discharge — discharge during peak rate periods
Timed Discharge forces the battery to discharge during a set window — typically evening peak rate hours — to avoid importing expensive grid electricity at peak tariff rates.
When to use Timed Discharge
Timed Discharge is used alongside Timed Charge as a two-schedule strategy for time-of-use tariffs. The typical pattern is:
Off-peak overnight: Timed Charge runs to fill the battery on cheap rate.
Daytime: Solar covers household load and tops up the battery.
Peak evening hours (typically 4–7 PM): Timed Discharge runs to cover household load from the battery, avoiding grid import at the peak rate.
Timed Export — sell electricity at peak export rates
Timed Export discharges the battery to the grid during a set window — earning export payments at peak export rate periods. This is typically used with tariffs like Octopus Agile, Octopus Flux, or any tariff with variable export pricing.
When Timed Export makes financial sense
Timed Export is profitable when the export rate during the peak window exceeds the cost of the cheap overnight electricity used to fill the battery plus any degradation cost. On Octopus Agile, export prices can briefly reach very high values during cold, still, dark evenings — at these times, Timed Export can earn significantly.
For most users on fixed tariffs, Timed Discharge is more reliable than Timed Export — it reduces consumption rather than generating revenue, which is simpler and has no dependence on export rate timing. For full tariff-specific guidance, see the tariff optimisation guide.
Schedule slots cannot cross midnight
This is the most common configuration mistake with GivEnergy schedules. A single time slot cannot span midnight — if your cheap rate does, you must split it into two entries.
How to split a midnight-crossing schedule
If your cheap rate runs from 23:30 to 05:30 (as with some Octopus tariffs or Economy 7 variants), you cannot enter this as a single schedule entry. You must create two separate slots:
Slot 2: 00:00 → 05:30
Both slots should have the same charge target SoC. The inverter will treat them as a continuous charging period spanning midnight.
Navigate to Settings → charge schedule in the portal.
Add slot 1: start time = 23:30, end time = 00:00, target SoC = your desired level.
Add slot 2: start time = 00:00, end time = 05:30, target SoC = same level.
Save and verify both entries appear in the schedule correctly.
Which GivEnergy mode to use — by tariff type
Quick reference for the correct system mode and schedule approach for common UK energy tariffs.
| Tariff | Cheap window | Mode to use | Split needed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Octopus Go | 00:30 – 05:30 | Timed Charge | No — single slot |
| Economy 7 (standard) | 00:30 – 07:30 | Timed Charge | No — single slot |
| Economy 7 (early start) | 23:00 – 06:00 | Timed Charge | Yes — split at 00:00 |
| Octopus Agile | Variable (lowest 30-min slots) | Timed Charge + automation | GivTCP recommended |
| Octopus Cosy | 04:00 – 07:00 + off-peak | Timed Charge | No |
| Flat rate (no cheap window) | — | Eco Mode | N/A |
Economy 7 hours vary by region and supplier. Check your bill or supplier portal for your exact cheap-rate window. For full per-tariff configuration guides, see Tariff optimisation →
Full per-tariff configuration guide — Go, Agile, Intelligent, E7, Cosy and more.
Full diagnostic guide for overnight charging failures — mode, schedule, CT clamp.
How to configure the GivEnergy export limit for your DNO requirements.
Portal-based checks — schedules, Remote Control, event log, system mode.
GivEnergy system mode questions
No. GivEnergy Eco Mode only charges the battery from surplus solar generation — it never draws from the grid to charge the battery. If you have a cheap overnight tariff (Octopus Go, Economy 7, Agile, Cosy), you must use Timed Charge mode with your cheap-rate window entered in the schedule. Eco Mode on a time-of-use tariff will leave you paying full rate for overnight house loads.
Eco Mode charges only from surplus solar and never from the grid. Timed Charge forces the inverter to charge from the grid during a specific time window — regardless of solar output. Timed Charge is required for any tariff with cheap overnight electricity. The fact that solar charging works in Eco Mode does not mean Timed Charge will also work automatically — they are fundamentally different modes.
No. GivEnergy schedule slots cannot span midnight. If your cheap-rate window crosses midnight, split it into two entries: one from your start time to 00:00, and a second from 00:00 to your end time. Both should have the same target SoC. This is a known limitation of the GivEnergy portal scheduler and applies to all system modes.
For Octopus Go (cheap rate 00:30–05:30), use Timed Charge with a single schedule slot of 00:30–05:30. This window doesn't cross midnight so no split is needed. Set the target SoC to 100% (or your preferred maximum). For daytime solar use, the inverter will use solar-first behaviour outside the charge window. For full Octopus Go configuration, see the tariff optimisation guide.
GivEnergy firmware updates can reset the system mode to Eco Mode and clear the charge schedule. This is a known issue. After any firmware update, check the Settings tab in the portal — if the mode has changed to Eco Mode and the schedule is blank, re-enter your required system mode and charge window. Going forward, check the portal the morning after any update notification to catch this before your next charge window.
Not sure if your mode and schedule are right?
Tell us your tariff, what system mode you're on, what your schedule shows, and what the battery is actually doing overnight. We'll review your portal data and confirm — or fix — your configuration in a single remote session.