EV Tariff Compared

Gezmonder

Hi All,

I've had an EV for about a month now and am keen to switch to an EV tariff for obvious reasons. I'm currently with Bulb and stuck with them due to the current energy switching crisis, but I just looked and they do actually run an EV tariff in beta. Everyone always harps on about Octopus Go so I was interested to compare them, this is the summary:

Octopus Go
Standard rate            30.83p / kWh
Off peak (EV) rate     7.5p / kWh    (12:30-04:30am)

Bulb EV
Standard rate            24.57p / kWh
Off peak (EV) rate     5.71p / kWh    (2-6am)

So why is it that everyone is always going on about Octopus as they don't look that cheap to me, even if I could switch?

I do actually have a bugbear with Bulb EV as my standard current rate is 20.86 and that would be going up by 5p so it kind of offsets the savings, but seeing as my car can take 50-60 kWhs in a decent charging session which is about the same as the house uses on a high usage day I guess this seems like a good deal.

The only issue is I would need to leave my car plugged in more often as it would take 2 x 4 hour sessions to get 50-60 kWhs into the battery, my charger supports this though, and I can also schedule the washing machine to run at these times.

Has anyone else looked into or used these?

MWT

Octopus Go is a 12 month fixed tariff, Bulb do not have fixed tariffs as far as I know...?

The prices you see for 'Go' at the moment reflect the recent price changes and the fact it is fixed so still represent good value against other current fixed tariffs.

Petriix

Octopus also do Go Faster which moves the cheap window earlier or later. Mine starts at 9:30pm which makes it easier to shift other usage into the off-peak period.

Obviously the Bulb tariff looks slightly better on current prices but it's apparently not available for new customers.

We're still trialling our EV Tariff, and you can’t join Bulb on the EV Tariff right now.

MWT

Petriix said:

Octopus also do Go Faster which moves the cheap window earlier or later. Mine starts at 9:30pm which makes it easier to shift other usage into the off-peak period.

Obviously the Bulb tariff looks slightly better on current prices but it's apparently not available for new customers.

We're still trialling our EV Tariff, and you can’t join Bulb on the EV Tariff right now.

Need to see the whole of that statement though...

The OP is already with Bulb so they may have the option to transfer to it, but I would worry about what the cost will be after April 1st...

Gezmonder

I've just switched, I can switch back at any time and they don't require proof of EV ownership. So I'll also be scheduling my washing machine and tumbler in the small hours too.

Gezmonder

@ MWT it will go up from April 1st regardless as I can't move to a fixed tariff now anyway, I either move to this EV tariff with Bulb or I don't - Options are very limited.

MWT

Gezmonder said:

@ MWT it will go up from April 1st regardless as I can't move to a fixed tariff now anyway, I either move to this EV tariff with Bulb or I don't - Options are very limited.

Understood, but the comment was in the context of 'why is Go talked about more'...

Keep_pedalling

Gezmonder said:

The only issue is I would need to leave my car plugged in more often as it would take 2 x 4 hour sessions to get 50-60 kWhs into the battery, my charger supports this though, and I can also schedule the washing machine to run at these times.

Not really an issue unless you are regularly running your battery down from 100% to 0%.

Unless you have a long journey starting in the morning then you should normally only be charging to 80%.