So, the Hippo has been doing this, and seems to help in leveling up.....

What I do is before I level up, or before I use a cube or TME, I will shut off my relays, and then add a reactor if I'm not maxed out. This way I can maximize the energy I'm getting. Then I will use the energy, and then scrap the reactor and re-install the relays. The only cost to me is credits, which I'm outputting well beyond my needs.

Thoughts or other ways to maximize energy?

no, you're doing everything right.

get yourself some extra cargo room if you find yourself scrapping energy generators, I think everyone does this but I never scrap a generator unless I'm upgrading to a new tier .... and i usually skip and do 2-3 tiers before upgrading ...... 70 ranks ago I was doing what your doing till I realized how much credits were going to waist.

Yeah, that's pretty much what everybody does if they don't have space. Everybody always uninstalls relays when they level up, but at higher levels you don't need to (and usually can't afford to) actually sell reactors.