UK Only: Octopus Energy - Intelligent Octopus Tariff - How you finding it?

[portlandg]

Did further investigations into getting intelligent Octopus tariff (my Octopus Go current tariff ends next week) and one of criteria is that the intelligent app talks to the car to get it's location when it needs to charge. It states that if the app thinks you are away from "home" it won't charge. Fair enough. Unfortunately for me, my car (when at home in my revamped specially garage) thinks that is at No. 8. As I live at No 4 that is a bit of an issue. To get my car to think it is at home I would have to park on a junction which happens to be on a bend 70 yards or so from my charge point. So it looks as if I will be on a new Go tariff. Apart from an extra hour cheap rate, which is 2p cheaper, there is no difference between the two anyway. Never mind, I do most of my charging at work now anyway where I don't pay anything.

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[Wonky_Donkey]

Did further investigations into getting intelligent Octopus tariff (my Octopus Go current tariff ends next week) and one of criteria is that the intelligent app talks to the car to get it's location when it needs to charge. It states that if the app thinks you are away from "home" it won't charge. Fair enough. Unfortunately for me, my car (when at home in my revamped specially garage) thinks that is at No. 8. As I live at No 4 that is a bit of an issue. To get my car to think it is at home I would have to park on a junction which happens to be on a bend 70 yards or so from my charge point. So it looks as if I will be on a new Go tariff. Apart from an extra hour cheap rate, which is 2p cheaper, there is no difference between the two anyway. Never mind, I do most of my charging at work now anyway where I don't pay anything.

You’ve got two options really….

1) Setup Intelligent Octopus to have control over your car - do the test charge - then disable the “smart charge” option on the Octopus app. You’re still setup but you’re in control of the charging while getting the longer charge window and better p/kWh rate.

or

2) Smile sweetly and let me amend the map for you on “here” maps and Google maps. This will correct any inaccuracy in your home location that your car sees. I discovered this is what was causing issues with my charging kicking off at random intervals when the GPS signal had a moment every now and then. Since getting it amended I’ve had zero issues.

 

[portlandg]

You’ve got two options really….

1) Setup Intelligent Octopus to have control over your car - do the test charge - then disable the “smart charge” option on the Octopus app. You’re still setup but you’re in control of the charging while getting the longer charge window and better p/kWh rate.

or

2) Smile sweetly and let me amend the map for you on “here” maps and Google maps. This will correct any inaccuracy in your home location that your car sees. I discovered this is what was causing issues with my charging kicking off at random intervals when the GPS signal had a moment every now and then. Since getting it amended I’ve had zero issues.

.Thanks for the offer. Appreciate it but I have signed up for the new GO rates. The amount I charge at home these days it won't be worth the hassle of changing back. It's just a shame as it is only the built in nav/gps that's the issue. AA/Google maps are fine.

 

[Djmc321]

Thanks for the feedback looks like I'll stick with my existing Go tariff for now.

My old Go tariff finally expires this week so I've moved into the Go variable tariff along with Intelligent Charging. I've set up the app and car and will wait and see how it goes.

Sad to see my 7.5p overnight charging go though. Alongside almost a doubling of my daytime rate, my annual projected bill is going up by almost £800 in a year. How can this be sustainable for UK households?

 

[Windsor-tg]

Apologies to detract from this thread but was wondering if someone can offer some advice...

I am in the process of getting a Tesla and this should hopefully be arriving at the end of this month/early April. My gas & electricity supply is with Shell Energy who do not offer a cheap, night time tarrif (they have a set tariff covering the entire day which is currently 34.28p kWh). I will look to get a Zappi charger installed and I am seriously looking at having a solar system installed.

From what I have researched, Intelligent Octopus (IO) seems to be the best tarrif to switch to for night time EV charging, as well as to charge overnight a solar battery (in the winter time). What I have noticed though is that IO's day cost (42.86 kWh) is higher than other suppliers such as Shell Energy.

Would it still make sense for me to switch to Intelligent Octopus specifically for EV charging? Apart from EV charging, nothing else would really be used during the night. I don't think our washing machine or dishwasher is sophisticated enough to delay running until night time.

What about my gas supply? Would I leave my gas supply with Shell Energy which I'm not sure I can, or switch my gas to another tariff with Octopus since the IO (from what I have read) is only for electricity?

Depending on cost for solar, I would love to have solar installed and have something around a 10kW battery (I'm looking at SolarEdge for inverter & battery but trying to get the cost down from a few companies I am currently in touch with).

 

[portlandg]

I have just had a very interesting and informative conversation with a chap at the Octopus call centre. My GO tariff ended on 27th Feb and I was looking at the INTELLIGENT tariff as an alternative. Part of the TOC's was that you had a compatible car and wall box that would talk to the Intelligent app. My MME is compatible but because I use the Variopower charger supplied by Ford this isn't. Because my cars' GPS is not accurate (I live at No.4 and when parked in my atttached garage the car says I am at No.8) I couldn't sign up because "technically" I wasn't at home. I was told this morning that the TOC is either/or and not both. So you either need a compatible car OR compatible wall box, currently an OHME is the only (apparently) box that is compatible. He also said that they have been having issues communicating with Tesla's, BMW's and Hyundai's due to recent car updates that have thrown their systems and some people have reported that their cars haven't charged when they should have. Basically he told me that if you use an OHME wall box you don't need a compatible car because the app will talk to/control the OHME. If you haven't got an OHME then the app will talk to the car. Hope this explains things a bit. I certainly feel a lot more informed now. Basically I can't go to GO so will have to pay the extra 2p/kwh for a shorter time period for a bit longer.

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

I have just had a very interesting and informative conversation with a chap at the Octopus call centre. My GO tariff ended on 27th Feb and I was looking at the INTELLIGENT tariff as an alternative. Part of the TOC's was that you had a compatible car and wall box that would talk to the Intelligent app. My MME is compatible but because I use the Variopower charger supplied by Ford this isn't. Because my cars' GPS is not accurate (I live at No.4 and when parked in my atttached garage the car says I am at No.8) I couldn't sign up because "technically" I wasn't at home. I was told this morning that the TOC is either/or and not both. So you either need a compatible car OR compatible wall box, currently an OHME is the only (apparently) box that is compatible. He also said that they have been having issues communicating with Tesla's, BMW's and Hyundai's due to recent car updates that have thrown their systems and some people have reported that their cars haven't charged when they should have. Basically he told me that if you use an OHME wall box you don't need a compatible car because the app will talk to/control the OHME. If you haven't got an OHME then the app will talk to the car. Hope this explains things a bit. I certainly feel a lot more informed now. Basically I can't go to GO so will have to pay the extra 2p/kwh for a shorter time period for a bit longer.

Post #25 on this thread (Page 2) from January - just saying

 

[rodbin]

Depending on cost for solar, I would love to have solar installed and have something around a 10kW battery (I'm looking at SolarEdge for inverter & battery but trying to get the cost down from a few companies I am currently in touch with).
[/QUOTE]
HI A traitor in the camp Tesla ****!!!!!! ? However in the spirit of EV fellowship. Shell Energy do do a night tariff but your day time tariff will go up if you switch to this and I think it is about 17p with a day rate of 34p (That was last November) I switched form shell to Octopus intelligent as I also have a solar system with battery system. The consideration is the Shell of peak is for a longer period and the day rate is cheaper than Octopus but I did the calculations with Octopus current 10p for off peak I decided to switch to Octopus. You have to go on a standard tarrif first then switch to Intelligent. Intelligent means you should also be able to benefit from any cheap charge during the day but most users on this tariff do not think this is reliable sometimes if you plug in during the day it will take a charge at the higher rate. So far I have been happy with the switch.
With regard to Solar and batteries, I have had a system for 18 months and it has been a lot of trouble mainly because my house is on 3 phase and this has caused issues with the App and recording of solar gain. After 18 months and 100's of emails I am still no closer to knowing my yield for the year. When I had my system installed there was a lot less choice of batteries and systems. Most work on Solis for the inverter and batteries and use the Solis app which in my case is useless. I looked into Tesla system but it was almost double the price. One big advantage Tesla has, is that the battery can be used as back up incase of a power cut something I did not realise other batteries could not do because of the chance of a feed back when Engineers are working on the line. Tesla fit something that gets over this but there are other systems available now that can also offer this, ([email protected] gave me a lot of useful information even though he did not supply the system) unfortunately most use the Solis monitoring system, but it may be OK on single phase. I know I am getting benefits from the battery and the solar system but as yet not sure to how much. being quite advanced in years I am not sure if I will get the pay back but that was not the main consideration for me it was to help the environment and also to have an answer to my petrol head friends of criticising me for using up a limited electricity supply. I calculated that the energy I produce should be equal t my use with an EV, so conscious clear. I am pleased I switched to an EV and very impressed with the Ford having been a Porsche owner for years it had a lot to live up to and has. I still have a couple of petrol derivities as well.

 

[Windsor-tg]

thanks @rodbin. Just to clarify, when I mentioned Tesla, I am not referring to the Tesla battery, I am referring to the Tesla EV.

Talking of Tesla, I will be picking up my Telsa EV next week. I need to get my skates on in getting a MyEnergy Zappi EV charger installed as quickly as possible as I am sure it's going to be a lot more expensive charging the EV at public Supercharger places. I have just switched my energy provider across to Octopus Energy and I am on the Octopus Flexible tariff (rate is 34.23p kWh).

I am probably looking at several weeks away in getting solar (assuming I actually do). I have had a look at both, Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus but whilst their night rate is attractive at 12p & 10p kWh respectively (to benefit EV charging), their day rate of 43.37p kWh is much more than Octopus Flexible.

I do not think our washing machine and dishwasher is sophisticated enough to delay them operating in the middle of the night but that said. we do not run these appliances daily.

For now, can anyone recommend a suitable tariff with Octopus Energy that is best for EV charging and general home use?

 

[tannerk89]

I’m not UK customer, but was wondering if there is a risk of having your FordPass account disabled by using Intelligent Octopus to control your cars charging schedule. There is a similar app in the US many have a had issues with after a while due to unauthorized use of Ford API. Maybe they have it figured out over there.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...-use-can-disable-your-fordpass-account.13893/

 

[rodbin]

thanks @rodbin. Just to clarify, when I mentioned Tesla, I am not referring to the Tesla battery, I am referring to the Tesla EV.

Talking of Tesla, I will be picking up my Telsa EV next week. I need to get my skates on in getting a MyEnergy Zappi EV charger installed as quickly as possible as I am sure it's going to be a lot more expensive charging the EV at public Supercharger places. I have just switched my energy provider across to Octopus Energy and I am on the Octopus Flexible tariff (rate is 34.23p kWh).

I am probably looking at several weeks away in getting solar (assuming I actually do). I have had a look at both, Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus but whilst their night rate is attractive at 12p & 10p kWh respectively (to benefit EV charging), their day rate of 43.37p kWh is much more than Octopus Flexible.

I do not think our washing machine and dishwasher is sophisticated enough to delay them operating in the middle of the night but that said. we do not run these appliances daily.

For now, can anyone recommend a suitable tariff with Octopus Energy that is best for EV charging and general home use?

Yes I was aware you were referring to EV probably my grammar was confusing! I did recommend Octopus Intelligent although you may have missed that. I did the figures comparing what I would use charging the car against what I would use in the day and Intelligent came out cheaper. Particularly if you have the solar with some sun and a battery. Our washing machine has a 3 hour delay so that comes on during off peak and we turn on Dish washer as late as possible so we get some off peak

 

[rodbin]

I’m not UK customer, but was wondering if there is a risk of having your FordPass account disabled by using Intelligent Octopus to control your cars charging schedule. There is a similar app in the US many have a had issues with after a while due to unauthorized use of Ford API. Maybe they have it figured out over there.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...-use-can-disable-your-fordpass-account.13893/

Yep you are correct I do not plug my Stang in during the day although I have not had problems with Ford pass

 

[Windsor-tg]

You’ve got two options really….

1) Setup Intelligent Octopus to have control over your car - do the test charge - then disable the “smart charge” option on the Octopus app. You’re still setup but you’re in control of the charging while getting the longer charge window and better p/kWh rate.

or

2) Smile sweetly and let me amend the map for you on “here” maps and Google maps. This will correct any inaccuracy in your home location that your car sees. I discovered this is what was causing issues with my charging kicking off at random intervals when the GPS signal had a moment every now and then. Since getting it amended I’ve had zero issues.

@Wonky_Donkey, I too have a problem with Google maps & Google Earth where my home location is inaccurate; it picks up a house further up the road. How are you able to amend this?

 

[Windsor-tg]

Yes I was aware you were referring to EV probably my grammar was confusing! I did recommend Octopus Intelligent although you may have missed that. I did the figures comparing what I would use charging the car against what I would use in the day and Intelligent came out cheaper. Particularly if you have the solar with some sun and a battery. Our washing machine has a 3 hour delay so that comes on during off peak and we turn on Dish washer as late as possible so we get some off peak

Thanks @rodbin. Would you mind sharing how you did the figures? Also, stupid question but I do I know if I am on a single phase or 3 phase?

I have had a couple of companies quoting Solis inverter & battery. Would you recommend Solis?

 

[Wonky_Donkey]

@Wonky_Donkey, I too have a problem with Google maps & Google Earth where my home location is inaccurate; it picks up a house further up the road. How are you able to amend this?

Hi @Windsor-tg

Both Google Maps and Here Maps allow you to make minor edits to house numbering locations. This can be done either through a specific app or by raising a report to notify them of the inaccuracy. I have access to both mapping companies edit functions so can perform these edits.

If you need help with a map update then drop me a direct message with the details and I’ll help get it corrected for you.

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