Give Energy API to become Subscription Based

duplada

I asked Premium@Givenergy.co.uk on the 6th May via email If the subscription of £4.99 per month included maintaining the API and fixing the bugs that it has. Today 20/05/2025 They replied as follows

"Yes we will endeavour to fix bugs that are reported. You can do so at this email address with the subject Bug Report.

We're sorry to say we have not heard of the error you mention. We are now only three software developers attending to all functions of the software business, including replying to the many hundreds of emails we receive at this address. It was necessary to make deep cuts to ensure that we can keep our costs as low as possible. We therefore ask for your patience and understanding that we will need to prioritise those issues that affect the most people (most hardware types, most popular functions) and are the most severe in effect."

So reading between the lines what they are saying is you can report your bugs in our software, portal API or whatever, but we have little time to fix the errors, and we may not get around to fixing them at all.

I have no interest in cutting them any slack here, we are going from a free service to a paid for service. Unless the paid for service works, and is value for money, they are not going to be in business for very long.

I find it very tiresome communicating with these people, they are obviously in over their heads, and don't have any idea how to run a business, or how to communicate effectively with their potential customers. They are absolutely clueless how to set about putting everything that is wrong, right again (right for the first time actually).

@admin time to start thinking about a scheduler using local GivTCP for GivEnergy customers in the future.

KristianS

duplada ----- 3.... as in THREE. Dear life.... heaven help them. No offence, that is not a development arm, that is a disaster zone. What that will be in real terms is 2.6 FTE or 87% availability, allowing for leave and sickness. What realistically are they going to be able to do that is required to be done.
No one is going to stay around long to do that IMO. That is begging to be churn central.

duplada

KristianS as in THREE

With over 100,000 installations when the pay wall goes up, and people who are blissfully unaware of all of this, are suddenly going to wake up when their system ceases to function. Then guess how many emails you will have in your "Premium" Inbox, you are going to need 10 people on emails alone.

johalareewi

duplada when the pay wall goes up

Do you think they will actually be able to get a pay wall working?

duplada

johalareewi Do you think they will actually be able to get a pay wall working?

I really have no idea, with just three people it seems a tall order to me. They rolled out a new version of the GE App unannounced a few weeks ago which enforced the SSO login, This has caused no end of issues for people who have had their systems a long time and use the App infrequently.

I don't know if you have read the GE Administrators report, legal, but is well dodgy, and looks engineered to me, give it a read

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11571089/filing-history

There is a thread over on the GE forums with some of the highlights of the report.

https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/6803-giv-energy-in-administration/108

danvoner

@admin - have you had any communication back from GivEnergy Software about a commercial/bulk subscription model for WW otherwise it in essence doubles our subscription costs having to also pay them £5 to enable our WW subscription.

admin

danvoner Not heard a peep.

duplada

admin So what are your thoughts here, since GE haven't contacted you so far. Are you minded to explore an API solution for WW Givenergy customers with an obvious increase in subs here? Or are you just expecting everyone to subscribe to GE software Premium? to get continued acces to the API. It would be useful for us if you explore this, as I for one could do without their reports and rubbish App and Portal data., but obviously require access to the API to continue to enjoy my WW subscription.

duplada

On the topic of the Givenergy Software Support. I thought I would see what their response would be to a problem I encountered on the GE portal, that has never happened before and never happened (touching wood here) again since.

The problem I reported was that @20:18 on 07/05/2026 all of my portal daily totals, Grid Import, Grid Export, PV Generation were reset to zero (as they usually do @ midnight). I thought are these software guys messing with the portal? So I fired off an email with the screen capture below and asked for clarification on the issue. I thought this will be a good test of the software support we are likely to receive. The email was sent by me on the 07/05/2025 and the reply was received today 22/05/2026.

I asked "My Portal Data was reset to Zero @ 20:18 on Import, Export Consumption and Generation for the 07/05/2026. See screen grab below. Can you explain this please."

Their reply reads as follows.

"This data comes from the inverter, so it's actually your hardware rather than the software reporting these numbers.

We do know that this data resets once per day, but usually at midnight. It might be that your inverter's clock was incorrect or some issue made it think it was midnight.

Apologies, but at GivEnergy Software we are just three software developers - we do not have the resources, the skill set nor the legal authority to investigate issues with the firmware, hardware or installation.

Best,
GivEnergy Software"

Now I have received 2 emails from GES (GivEnergy Software) this week you can read the reply to my other email above.

It would seem that GES is being super selective in what they are responsible for, I am guessing that the three people selected for this project were the lowest paid NOT the highest skilled. You cannot use "We are a team of only three" as an excuse in every email you send out to potential customers. It is so unprofessional and not a valid excuse for anything.

I think that the enormity of the task in hand is dawning on this team of three, in a way I feel sorry for them, but at the same time I feel sorry for me also.

This whole situation is such a big mess.

KristianS

duplada Call it what it is... an absolute cock up! There, you feel better now. Well, for 10s you do.

Pourl

@admin
Axle are now paying the £5 subscription charge if you join up with them.
Just been thru the process, so can you keep an eye on your access Wim?
Cheers

duplada

As far as I can tell GE have now blocked access to the Portal and the App. Though I have tested that the API is still operational in WW with a quick schedule which succeeded. Its Only a matter of time though before they lock that too.

sniveling-border

It looks like the Premium App went live at 12:00. I got an email from GE asking me to update the App. It updated ok and seems to be working. The icons show live data but there is no sub display behind the icons. Under the menu (3 bars, top left) you can see Power,Energy and Battery graphs. There is a connect via Cloud Servers toggle to change from local 10s view to 5min view similar to before but there is a delay while the app re-searches for your inverter. After connecting to the cloud server it sends you an email to subscribe to the service. I've done this ok and signed up for £4.99 per month. Wonder Watt is still reading my Inverter ok so I will see if my Export 16:02-18:58 works as usual in 3 hours. I paid WW for 12 months up to next Jan so I don't need an alternative automation until then. I didn't see any Solar forecasting in this first Premium release which is supposed to cover the cost of the Subscription but maybe I missed it. My only concern apart from no Solar forecasting is the slow searching for the local inverter or connecting to the Cloud Server which maybe due to subscription active checks.
Since posting this I have signed up to Axle Energy which was quick and the Portal shows the subscription with them so I don't have to cancel anything. As I am on Octopus Flux it's easy for me to manually adjust WW for the Events 4-6 times a month. It's a win-win for users. Free Premium service and at least £10/month payment plus £1 for every kWh exported on top of Octopus payment.

4watts

Just been updated on app
No notice -looks like they did a deal with Axle.

I presum unless I pay up WW will not work with immediate effect. Please advise

duplada

4watts Existing automations such as the API will continue for a one-week grace period to allow you a chance to sign up.

danvoner

Yes I've also just seen that Axel VPP membership also now pays for the GivEnergy premium subscription (which of course should allow WW to carry on using the APIs!!).
If anyone fancies joining Axel (it's free, they pay YOU a minimum of £10 per month and / or £1/kWH for any grid events) feel free to use my referral code so that we can both get £25 (hope it's ok for me to share this) - https://vpp.axle.energy/landing?ref=R-JGRTHWUH

danvoner

@admin on the subject of Axel VPP, if this a good route for your customers to get their GivEnergy subscription paid for, might there be scope to integrate with them to stop your schedules conflicting with them (it happened to me last week)

duplada

danvoner I don't think you can subscribe to Axle if your tariff is IOG I believe. Something to do with Octopus T& C and being a member of only 1 on demand service.

4watts

duplada
Thanks for that info
Unfortunately I am away from home for next 15 days so looks like signing up for a month is the only option for now.

danvoner

@duplada I believe the VPP product is separate from DFS so shouldn't conflict with any other provider.

duplada

danvoner Could you explain the difference for me and other readers? Please

J1m

It looks like signing up with Axle is the way to go now, as you get paid a minimum of £10 a month for giving them access to your inverter, and there is no subscription to pay to GE!
You can just sign up with them of course, but if you use this link you and I will both get £25!
Hope is okay to put this here?!

https://vpp.axle.energy/landing?ref=R-NWBAMALE

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