The Truth About Intelligent Octopus Go! | KC Talks EV

[@KCTalksEV]

Hi! As promised here is the Google Sheet for the calculator, as well as the compatible cars docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16hax8dS8WUpQBshHZGpmGjOPPKCG7JGwCA1EPzk4z-E/edit?gid=695653755#gid=695653755 FYI: You will have to download it to use the calculator, but not to view the vehicles / chargers If you have used this please let me know in the comments below!

[@michaelscott1178]

Thank you. Your well informed and balanced review should be seen by a wider audience. I am a big fan of Octopus who have broken the utility culture and expect to return to them in the near future. However, for our use case with EV, five adult household and PV/Home battery, that extra hour in the morning using EON Drive and their current export rate (SEG) of £0.165kWh for excess PV generation makes perfect sense, even (if not more so) during significant periods of the winter when peak time consumption remains under control without too much day-to-day geeky management behaviour on my part. To your views who read the comments, beware other KZbinrs who seem to be increasingly reliant on the commission paid by Octopus. Mike.

[@KCTalksEV]

Thank you for your kind words! I'll be completely honest though, I do also have a code but I don't tend to publicise it anymore because of the reasons you gave. If it has helped you then I would love for people to use it, but apart from that I'm happy to help!

[@Cobraguy321]

Great review and comparison thanks. I am with Eon next Drive and have an Ohme e pod charger. I think I will be staying with Eon next Drive.

[@KCTalksEV]

Glad I could help! As I said END and IOG are very few and far between, I like the excitement and technology so IOG is better for me!

[@IanLatham]

We have OVO Charge Anytime which is working really well for us. The nice thing is you're not limited to only having the charging done at night. You set a schedule, for instance I want to add 50% charge by 5pm every other day, and it will work out when best to charge to get that done. If it can't work out how to get it done by the time selected it will let you know and you have the option of charging at peak price (~23p/kWh) but as long as you use a schedule you will only pay just under 7p/kWh. Apart from having a faulty wall box (not OVO's fault obviously) it's worked seamlessly

[@KCTalksEV]

I've heard of Charge Anytime, it sounds like a great idea and avoids any limitations while charging the car. Unfortunately, it will only give you off-peak pricing for your car I believe and not the whole house. I've got a house battery and most appliances run overnight for me.

[@alistairlambert3275]

I'm in the process of switching from Octopus to Eon. I have a home storage battery and I found that my battery going drained when additional hours were needed (outside the 6 hour window). The benefit of the additional hour and the fixed tariff with Eon made the move a no brainer for me.

[@KCTalksEV]

Agreed - END is a very good tariff. In your position as well, you are certainly more likely to use more than the 33-35% off peak to make it worthwhile compared to SVT. To put in perspective when I was on E:On I used 90-95% of my electricity off peak, so both IOG and END was a great choice! Do you have an EV too? I don't know whether this is true, but I've been told that END doesn't even require an EV anymore, either battery storage OR EV!

[@terrymackenzie6784]

I'm on and sticking with IO Go works very well when you have home storage batteries with saving sessions and now power up sessions you can save a shed load of money. One tip, get a compatible charger works better if you have more than one EV

[@Warekiwi]

I'm on OIG to charge my Tesla using the Tesla (dumb) charger. As you know in this case the car connects to Octopus, not the charger. My house is entirely electric so the random slots outside the fixed 2330 to 0530 are very useful (when the car is home) as my total load in the fixed slot can get near the 100A limit! Good explanation as many people seem not to understand hiw it all works!

[@KCTalksEV]

Thanks! Yes with the car API it also allows the control of the charge rate. For example using the 3 pin plug means it takes longer and therefore increases the time of the slot. I'm not advocating it because I think they consider it playing the system! When I was on Agile I used to play the limit a lot. I used to love baths and I would use my 10.8kW shower to heat the water!

[@rugbygirlsdadg]

The battery draining issue is an issue if you need to charge outside the 23:30 - 05:00 hours. Within those hours you can set your battery to charge from the grid and not discharge.

[@KCTalksEV]

Sorry? I don't follow. Yes you can set your battery to charge using that time as I do. I also have automations that will charge whenever there are intelligent Go slots outside the time as well

[@alexwebber2612]

I did encounter battery drain when changing an EV on IOG too. We’d moved from IOF to IOG when daughters EV arrived. Fix for me was to reinstall PredBat on home assistant again (I removed predbat when we moved to IOF) This has stopped the battery drain and led to even better savings. 1 month in to EV ownership and still averaging -43p a day electricity for house and EV including standing charge. Incredible result for late September early October

[@deanm7430]

Thanks for this video. I am currently on a fixed deal with EDF which ends at the end of September. Been looking at tariffs for EVs and like the eon drive offer. I also have 10.5kWh of battery storage (no solar) hoping my usage outside the tou will be minimal. My question is how did you find eon service and app?

[@KCTalksEV]

From my perspective they never did anything wrong, import was very quick onto (IIRC about 7 days) and export was a bit longer (2-3 weeks) Customer service has been fine too, but definitely longer wait times for someone to get back to you, maybe 2-3 days Never messed about with my payments. I did have one issue when submitting an export reading, Apparently I didn't use the right reading but I took another one a day after and it was fine. No idea!

[@wobby1516]

I’ve 27kwh of battery storage as we as an EV so all my energy usage is off peak 7p per kWh. I don’t tend to bother with plugging the car in until overnight and always use the programme to set chargers times to off peak periods.

[@KCTalksEV]

27kWh is a massive battery!

[@izools]

How much cheap rate time outside the fixed off peak window (23:30-05:30) do you find Octopus give you in a given day / week? 🙂

[@KCTalksEV]

That is a great question! Simply put I've never monitored it directly, I will have to start!

[@GeraldEdinburgh]

Hi thanks for the video. We are on Agile octopus with solar panels and 2 * 7.5Kw Batteries. Looking at EVs . Do we get the same savings with Hybrid EVs?

[@KCTalksEV]

Regarding the hybrid EV, I'm not too sure of too many PHEVs supported using Octopus' API, only way to know is check out their checker: octopus.energy/smart/intelligent-octopus-go/ However, if you have solar, a charger like the Zappi would be a good option to have as an upgrade path. I used to be on Agile and noticed during the spring/summer agile is worthwhile but in the winter Agile pricing can be all over the place!

[@radiotowers1159]

On Intelligent Go here and just got a notification that if I charge the car Mon 26th August after 23:30 , any units used to charge will be at half price ..ie 3.5 p a unit , but only what the car uses. Cant complain . plus we have had 3 days this month with an hour free midday, all because of all that green energy

[@KCTalksEV]

Yes it is very good, although I'm a bit torn about the intentions of the 26th August. On one hand this is probably so they can track ONLY EV charging and have home at the higher rate in the future. But I know they can already to this through the API. However, Given the overnight wholesale rates, it would be in Octopus' best interest to have cheap off-peak because the actual wholesale rate is even cheaper. Also, it avoids any peak use (in the case of batteries). Personally something like Octopus Intelligent Go Flux where they can have access to my charger and battery, where I can export at favourable rates would be the holy grail, and once V2G is a thing...

[@ericandeva]

At IOG you need charge the car at least 1 time/month?

[@KCTalksEV]

I believe it is in the T&Cs that you must plug in once a month. However, I would be very surprised if you didn't plug in once a month if you were considering IOG. At that point given that IOG is ever so slightly more expensive on peak charges compared to SVT you may not even benefit from IOG.

[@ericandeva]

@@KCTalksEV maybe usualy I have for free at work..., but in some holidays I need home aswell

[@michaelketley1252]

I’m on IOG with a Zappi 2 and I’m very happy with Octopus. I’ve been offered a 4.5KWH for a LFP battery system for £2850 and may well go for it. My EV; MG4 Trophy for twenty months - has proven to be entirely reliable.

[@KCTalksEV]

Excellent stuff! IIRC I think £2850 for the LFP might be a bit pricey. For context I got a 8.2 kWh GivEnergy pack for £3120 and I had to pay 20% VAT. This was in 2023 as well.

[@thabo5799]

Yep, 4.5 for that price is too much. I just got quoted £6.5k for a 16kwh sigenergy system

[@KCTalksEV]

That is a really good deal, please don't tempt me ;)

[@michaelketley1252]

@@thabo5799 interesting and good to know. Thanks.

[@keithskerrow3366]

@@michaelketley1252 did you sync the zappi with your car or your charger when you set Octopus Intelligent up?

[@5kram]

Hi I am on Octopus intelligent go using an Ohme EVSE, have solar and a house battery and had a few times when the house battery was drained when octopus gave an extra slot of off peak rate I solved this by enabling the price cap in the Ohme which ensured that it would only charge in the off peak window. Now Ohme have disabled the price cap in the EVSE which may cause the house battery to be discharged again so have also enabled the cars inbuilt timer to stop it charging apart from in the 6 hour off peak window. This will stop my house battery from being discharged when I don't want it happen.

[@KCTalksEV]

Yes - I've set my Givenergy system to do the same However there are a couple things I need to fix on it!

[@shaunwalsh6354]

I’m on IOG using Zappi 2 with my MG4. Does the Octopus app tell you when there’s an excess of renewables, so that you could benefit in what would normally be a peak time?

[@KCTalksEV]

Unfortunately, it doesn't give you the ability to see or pick high renewable grid mix times. It is an automatic process and it's been built to have no input from the person. You can get a higher likelihood of more daytime slots by plugging in later and requesting the latest time (11am). I have also seen others plug in at 2pm and get more slots too so it's a mysterious art!

[@MikeGleesonazelectrics]

It's not on the octo app but online there's something called Greener Days forecast which shows the relative green Ness of the next 5 days, very useful. Its difficult to find so I suggest asking octopus support about this..

[@James-BB70]

Controversially, I am planning on plugging in my EV via its granny cable when I get home from work 5pm ish and unplugging it again around 6:30am the following day (I do about 70 miles a day), Should I just stick to my EoN SVT?

[@KCTalksEV]

Assuming you will be charging for 12-13 hours a day, purely on time you would be fine with the 3 pin plug. Main safety to check is the wiring between the socket and your consumer unit. I don't want to be responsible for any fires! However, something like E:ON next drive V4 may be better as the price differencial (let's assume 20kWh to do 70 miles a day) would be about: SVT: 20 x 25p = £5 END: 20 x 6.9p = £1.39 That is a huge difference per day, and even with the slight increase in standing charge and peak rate you may be better off. Use the calculator I've provided and check the results. I have yet to update it to V4 however you you can add your regions pricing as you see fit. I do a similar 70 miles a day when I'm back at home, and the off peak tariffs make a lot of sense.

[@James-BB70]

@KCTalksEV Hi, many thanks for your reply. In terms of safety, I will be plugging the EV into a brand new socket with RCD protection in the garage which in turn has its own consumer unit, separate from the main house consumer unit, this is about as safe as I can get for a 3 pin plug. Wouldn't I save yet more more switching to O.E.?

[@KCTalksEV]

In that case, hopefully you should be fine. It's just that I wouldn't recommend a 3-pin socket for use all of the time. That being said, I do use my 3-pin charger at a pinch. Regarding IOG, the BYD vehicles do not have support directly with IOG, hence you would need a charger that supports it. Something like a Hypervolt or a MyEnergi Zappi. END has the benefit of not requiring a specific charger or car, but also is with your current energy provider, so the switch is going to be (hopefully) significantly faster.

[@authuruksake969]

A very honest comparison between Eon ND & OI. True you pay more for Eon ND's Peak rate so not quite as cheap as OI, but you may need a £1,000 specific charger to qualify for OI, which would take quite a number of years to recoup from savings on OI (around 7 to 10 years depending annual savings on OI vs Eon ND) But if you already got a compatible/smart vehicle/charger then you won't have this possible outlay - so Octopus it is... If you have Solar, you wouldn't be using much peak rate electricity anyway, so the high Eon rate during the won't really be an issue, plus they'll give you 16.5p vs Octopus 15p per kW you export So EV owners with Solar may be better off on Eon ND ??? In the end it is horses for courses, depending on your own personal usage/situation There isn't much in it imho, pro's n con's for both perhaps but it is great for EV owners that Eon is a very close second to Octopus Intelligent, keeping competition & Octopus on their toes... Remember that Eon ND is fixed, so it will be interesting to see when the price rises come into effect in October & more rises expected maybe in January 2025 - which could narrow the gap between Octopus Intelligent & Eon ND v3 Eon could slightly raise these prices soon for ND v4 for October 1st & maybe January 1st 2025, so if anybody is looking to switch tariffs, do their homework very quickly & if needed, jump on Eon ND v3 whilst it is still available or stick/switch to Octopus Intelligent Good video sir

[@KCTalksEV]

Completely agree with your points! It's such a close competitor and I can't say that either one is better for everyone. For me at least the small amount of peak electricity I use makes IOG a better deal even with the small decrease in solar export

[@terrymackenzie6784]

It's Intelligent Octopus Go 😮

[@KCTalksEV]

Just pedance 😉

[@Richard-kf7ul]

Hello, I’m with Octopus and thinking of moving to OIG. I have solar panels but not batteries. My FIT is with Scottish Power. If I. Move to OIG will I have to move my FIT contract from S/Power to Octopus? If so will I still get the high generation tariff (my panel are 14?yrs old and In on the highest generation rate) Much appreciate your views on this.

[@MikeGleesonazelectrics]

@@Richard-kf7ul no you can keep the FIT with s/power and move your electricity supply to octopus. You can swith the fit if you want to at any time, I did this too, a bit of a faff and no benefit other than you're dealing with just one company.

[@Richard-kf7ul]

@@MikeGleesonazelectrics thanks Mike. So, there’s no option (or benefit) to separate the two parts of the FIT payments i) Generation ii) Export to the Grid?

[@KCTalksEV]

Yes you do not need to move FIT and lose the preferential rate. However you cannot do SEG and FIT at the same time. And frankly any FIT pre 2015 I believe was incredibly lucrative. When you're ready, just tell octopus to only move your import. I know you don't have to but it's definitely worth telling octopus before just to move the import.

[@MikeGleesonazelectrics]

@@Richard-kf7ul yes you have the option of splitting off the FIT deemed export and using the octopus outgoing tariff, I did this recently but was probably a mistake as altho the Outgoing tariff gives me 15p a unit I won't be exporting anything for 6 or 7 months of the year. Depends on your setup really ie how much you export.

[@Richard-kf7ul]

@@KCTalksEV thanks. I’ve a lucrative 2011 FIT tariff, so would it be best to keep things unchanged ? I’m confused where you refer to import - do you mean the generation which I get 71p per kWh, ( or the import by the grid - which I referred to as export from my panels to the Grid) which pays a much smaller 5p per KWH

[@Stiggy767]

You also need to have a reliable smart meter. If your smart meter regularly misses sending half-hourly data, you risk Octopus charging you peak rates.

[@KCTalksEV]

Yes that is correct, although I've had a SMETS1 meter for 7 years with no major issues with readings.

[@oliver90owner]

My smart meter is rubbish, really. Sometimes it reports figures on my home lounge readout that seem to be irrational. It is still operating on the earlier tariff rates for electricity but at up-to-date gas price and standing charge. However, Octopus has been charging at the correct rates (and at the correct times - as far as I know), so my monthly bills have been lower than my readout suggests (at this present time). That may change from October, of course.

[@KCTalksEV]

Ah, that's because the IHD (the home display) will never work displaying the correct rates. The suggestion has always been to unplug and just use the values from the Octopus App

[@craigburgess2237]

I am on OIG, have 3 phase supply, have 4 x 22kWh chargers and 60kWh of batteries. Generally most the year I can get by on off peak only. So OIG is pretty much perfect for me. But… I have not been able to hook up one of the chargers to charge reliably. Every time the car fails to be fully charged by the morning. So I simply use OIG just like any other off peak tariff and up until E-on released its new rates with 7 hours off peak, I was very happy. In mid winter, that extra hour at 6.9p from E-On could be enough to budge me from Octopus which is a shame as they are leagues ahead with customer service and app functionality.

[@KCTalksEV]

Wow, that is amazing! Save some electricity for everybody else ;) Have you tried to ask Octopus to see why the charging is not working?

[@craigburgess2237]

I did but they can’t understand why it’s not working and I know I am an outlier with so many chargers, 3 phase, batteries, solar and it’s just too easy to charge at 22kWh for 6 hours on charger’s schedule - never fails. I try to set it up every month or so to let Octopus control charging and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it partially works. It’s just not reliable.

[@KCTalksEV]

The number of chargers just seems a bit of a cop out though, I really hope Octopus get this working for you as you could also stand to do pretty well with the battery storage as well!

[@wobby1516]

For the extra hour and slightly lower price I wouldn’t bother moving. Octopus is such a great company to deal with, but then I’m in a different league to you and 6 hours of off peak is plenty for all my needs.. We now have an Octopus heatpump installation and so far 🤞it’s been great.

[@EverydayLife621]

... checkout Tomato energy, about 25% cheaper than IOG (5p off-peak, 40p standing charge)

[@KCTalksEV]

I have seen that tariff before but I'm also part of the END group and comments say the CS is abysmal, trustpilot included. Until they settle I would rather not check it out. May be the reintroduction of the really cheap fixed tariffs again (I used to be with IRESA and Eversmart - dirt cheap but lasted about 1-2 years before going bust) 🧐

[@EverydayLife621]

@@KCTalksEV Thanks for the heads up! : I'll give it a few months to see what the feedback is like (currently on IOG), having said that EoN (my previous supplier) were a nightmare - still not received a final bill or my £51 overpayment credit (which is now £81), as the regulator has fined them 😢

[@KCTalksEV]

I've had very mixed reviews from E:On, from my perspective it's been okay but I know of people with awful experiences Such a shame as their END tariff is perfect if you can load shift almost all your usage!

[@afegargergegerg]

What does it mean if Octopus don't support your EV charger but do support your EV? Can you still get Octopus Intelligent Go? Only asking as most of the chargers are pretty ugly, but the charger I do like the look of isn't supported! Not sure what that would mean.

[@KCTalksEV]

That should work absolutely fine - Basically it's either controlling charging through the car OR controlling through the charger. All you need to do is set your charger to dumb mode in most cases and let the car control charging. It should be explained during the first charge that you have to go through using IOG. And for what it's worth, personally I think the Zappi looks like toilet seat in my opinion! Great charger, but looks is not the strong point.

[@afegargergegerg]

Thank you for clarifying! I agree with the Zappi.. it’s also humongous but it’s the one I’ve booked for (5 week lead time with octopus right now). But from what you say is true… I may cancel to get a charger I do like the look of. When the options available look horrendous I’m unfortunately going to go with form over function at this point 😅 I was just worried that if Octopus can’t support the charger I wouldn’t be able to finalise/switch to that tariff! Appreciate the help! Subbed 😊

[@KCTalksEV]

No problem! I've got a few videos in the pipeline so thanks for subscribing!

[@charliehynd8027]

I use a granny cable and allow octopus to set schedule and control charging . I had to have a smart home meter installed and also set up an app for car then obtain a pairing code to link car to octopus. It was challenging to do this , octopus was easy too set up. Car , Nissan ariya, not so as lengthy instructions from Nissan service support had omissions ......took a lot of head scratching but got there. I am now very happy to get 13 Kwh for only 91 p overnight

[@80y3r9]

I am standard octopus

[@johnb80]

Dont bother with Intelligent Octopus Go, use Tomato Energy instead. 6 hrs at 5p, 4 hrs at 13.17p, 14 hrs at 23p, standing charge 43p, loads cheaper than octopus. No compatibility hoops to jump through either.

[@KCTalksEV]

I have questions as to how on earth they're pulling a lower standing charge and also a lower peak and off peak rate, worries me to recommend them

[@deansh8506]

@@johnb80 expect them to go bust like many others. Also I have heard when people switch it takes a long time to get off their standard tariff to their 5p/kwh tariff. I will avoid until I know they are a reputable and quick to act company.

[@johnb80]

@@KCTalksEV where do you think the excessive profits of the others come from? A good chunk of it is from OTT standing charge. I changed to them and got the 5p rate from day 1 so now you’ve ‘heard’ different !

[@KCTalksEV]

@@johnb80 If it's working for you that's great!

[@jayshah8455]

@@deansh8506 what is the tariff name at Tomato please?