Real-world smart home, energy & EV tips from someone actually living it

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.