An smart tariff or inverter lockout prevents you from manually adjusting GivEnergy settings when control has been granted to an energy provider or grid-service platform. This is usually part of an “intelligent” or price-optimised tariff, where the provider manages charging and discharging to take advantage of wholesale prices and offer cheaper rates.

Important: If you want the lowest-cost automated tariffs, it is likely you will not keep full manual control of your system at the same time.

Before you start

• Decide between tariff savings or manual control. Most intelligent tariffs require a lockout as part of their terms. You usually can’t have both full flexibility and the cheapest pricing.
• Identify who controls your system. The lockout is set by your energy provider, using the GivEnergy API key or login details you supplied during onboarding. It is not set by GivEnergy.

How to remove a lockout (standard process)

1. Contact your energy provider

Contact your energy provider and ask them to send an unlock command to your GivEnergy system. Only the provider can do this — GivEnergy cannot remove lockouts because doing so would break the tariff’s terms.

2. Keep communication active until unlocked

Do not do any of the following until the unlock is confirmed:

• Delete the GivEnergy API key from the provider’s platform
• Revoke permissions for the provider
• Remove the GivEnergy device from the provider’s app

If you remove the link too early, the unlock command cannot reach your inverter and the lockout will remain in place.

3. After confirmation, sever the link

Once your provider confirms that the unlock has succeeded:

• Delete the API key from the provider’s platform, and/or
• Remove the GivEnergy device from their app

This restores full manual control of your GivEnergy system.

If you already deleted the API key or removed the device

If communication was severed before the unlock command was sent, the provider’s command cannot reach your inverter. To fix this:

• Recreate the link. Re-add your GivEnergy system in the provider’s app and/or re-enter your API key to re-establish communication. Only reconnect; do not fully re-enrol in the tariff unless strictly necessary.
• Ask the provider to resend the unlock command. Once communication is restored, request that they issue the unlock again. After it succeeds, you can safely remove the link if you want full manual control.

Key points and trade-offs

• Tariff terms matter. Lockouts are part of certain tariff agreements. Removing the lockout may require leaving or changing your tariff.
• Only the provider can unlock. GivEnergy cannot override a lockout without an instruction from your energy provider.
• Communication must remain active. Deleting the API key or device does not unlock the inverter; it only blocks the command that would have unlocked it.

Quick checklist

• Choose: cheap tariff or full manual control.
• Contact your energy provider and request an unlock.
• Keep the API key/device connected until the provider confirms the unlock is complete.
• After confirmation, remove the link if you want full manual control.