Intelligent Octopus in the US

[Riotous]

Does anyone have Intelligent Octopus in the US? It is now available in Texas at least. Here is the EFL - their software runs on the Mach-E and their App I guess, and tries to schedule charging for when the wholesale prices are cheapest. If you are enrolled and enabling your Mach-e, then you get a preffered rate for all energy used by your home.

Any experience from anyone here in the US? It has been available for a few years in the UK it seems.

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[Mrn]

Does anyone have Intelligent Octopus in the US? It is now available in Texas at least. Here is the EFL - their software runs on the Mach-E and their App I guess, and tries to schedule charging for when the wholesale prices are cheapest. If you are enrolled and enabling your Mach-e, then you get a preffered rate for all energy used by your home.

Any experience from anyone here in the US? It has been available for a few years in the UK it seems.

Why would anyone need this when one can just schedule the car to charge during the lowest rate hours in one's area?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Please note that using Octopus may cause your FordPass account to be locked out due to unauthorized 3rd party access to vehicle functions.

 

[MEL DAY]

Please note that using Octopus may cause your FordPass account to be locked out due to unauthorized 3rd party access to vehicle functions.

Yep I can second that for the UK as my FordPass account has recently been locked out for the same reason, I know I will struggle to get it sorted if I have to chase Octopus to remove my credentials as Ford asked as its been a month already, I will call Ford Customer Services tomorrow to see if they can connect me as after six emails Octopus finally said

"The smart tariff team have confirmed that you do not have a device registered with us. This should allow you to restart the onboarding process with your vehicle."

Hope it works when I contact Ford tomorrow and ask them to unlock my account as lately Octopus has been diabolical at sorting out a Tariff problem taking six months and over SIXTY email exchanges and I'm still not sure if it's sorted as although I am now on the correct tariff I have not got round to checking all the relevant invoices also it's rolling into trying to get onto their Intelligent ! Flexible Tariff. The only point in their favour is their web site is excellent and the automated systems work extremely well but if it is not sorted by automation and a human can't sort it first attempt then it could a nightmare.

I will keep you updated but don't hold your breath.

 

[AussieMikeL]

We have Xcel in Colorado and they calculate the charging windows for our Mach-E every night to minimize their wholesale electricity costs. They download those time slots to the car every day. The time slots are often at 11pm or 3am but sometimes a 6pm to 7pm slot is downloaded. This is when my time based billed cost from Xcel is very high. So maybe they maximize their electricity margin cost between my charges and the wholesale price.

 

[YunniorO]

We have Xcel in Colorado and they calculate the charging windows for our Mach-E every night to minimize their wholesale electricity costs. They download those time slots to the car every day. The time slots are often at 11pm or 3am but sometimes a 6pm to 7pm slot is downloaded. This is when my time based billed cost from Xcel is very high. So maybe they maximize their electricity margin cost between my charges and the wholesale price.

I wish my timeslots with Xcel were more like that, mine are usually in the middle of the day when I’m away from home lol

 

[smunro622]

I had a second meter installed and basically follow schedule below no need for permit as electrical company checks everything installs meter programs the meter and verifies it all works...they take a picture and it is done to process a $500 rebate..they do not handle installing meter enclosure or do any other wiring or install breakers...they do inspect it.. "Monday through Friday from 11 p.m. to 9 a.m. and all weekend" 11 cents per kWH..not in that time slot it is 24 cents...

 

[Riotous]

Thanks all for input - i tried to get info from Ford US but they didn't seem to know much about it. I took a chance and signed up starting 5/10 - will let you all know how it goes. Hope it works, it's a pretty good deal if it works. Fingers crossed.

 

[MEL DAY]

Yep I can second that for the UK as my FordPass account has recently been locked out for the same reason, I know I will struggle to get it sorted if I have to chase Octopus to remove my credentials as Ford asked as its been a month already, I will call Ford Customer Services tomorrow to see if they can connect me as after six emails Octopus finally said

"The smart tariff team have confirmed that you do not have a device registered with us. This should allow you to restart the onboarding process with your vehicle."

Hope it works when I contact Ford tomorrow and ask them to unlock my account as lately Octopus has been diabolical at sorting out a Tariff problem taking six months and over SIXTY email exchanges and I'm still not sure if it's sorted as although I am now on the correct tariff I have not got round to checking all the relevant invoices also it's rolling into trying to get onto their Intelligent ! Flexible Tariff. The only point in their favour is their web site is excellent and the automated systems work extremely well but if it is not sorted by automation and a human can't sort it first attempt then it could a nightmare.

I will keep you updated but don't hold your breath.

Update my FordPass App Account is now working I called customer service and it was setup to reinstate in under 10 minutes then I just had to visit the log on page and select reset password sorted in minutes unfortunately NOT the same with my Octopus attempt to change to the Intelligent tariff just could not get it to work so will now reply to their last email that said all will be fine and I would be able to move to the Intelligent tariff.

 

[Maquis]

Thanks all for input - i tried to get info from Ford US but they didn't seem to know much about it. I took a chance and signed up starting 5/10 - will let you all know how it goes. Hope it works, it's a pretty good deal if it works. Fingers crossed.

If you give them your FordPass logon credentials, you are violating Ford’s terms of service and 99% chance your account gets locked.

 

[Thunderbuck]

Why would anyone need this when one can just schedule the car to charge during the lowest rate hours in one's area?

Octopus is more flexible, and allows dynamic rate changes. I.e., depending on market conditions the rate may change dramatically depending on conditions like a surplus of solar or wind. So yes, handing over your charging schedule to them could, theoretically, ensure you're getting the best rates all the time.

This really is the future, and it would be great to see such functionality and close work with power retailers in FordPass, but at this point it sounds like you have to violate FordPass' ToS to make it work and for me that would be a no-go.

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