EV Tariffs?

Minerva77

I purchased an electric car last autumn but was in the final months of my previous fixed rate electric tariff so couldn't move to an EV tariff at the time. My fix came to an end in December so I'm now on standard tariff with OVO. Seeing the recent news about the price cap going up again significantly this coming autumn I'm wondering if it would now been worth exploring trying to find an EV tariff to move to. I can't move onto OVO's because we don't have gas and OVO drive is duel fuel only. Does anyone know if there are any others available that would be worth checking out before I start calling around? 

MWT

Octopus is the usual one that will be mentioned, if your car is compatible then consider 'Intelligent', if not then 'Go' or 'Go Faster'

QrizB

Octopus and EDF both have competitive EV tariffs. Octopus definitely don't need you to be dual-fuel.

https://octopus.energy/go/

You won't be able to get a quote from Octopus on-line, you'll have to phone or email them.

Bibou22

Octopus have been great for me, make sure, if you do switch you get a referral code.

JamesN

MWT said:

Octopus is the usual one that will be mentioned, if your car is compatible then consider 'Intelligent', if not then 'Go' or 'Go Faster'

I’m on a standard octopus tariff having been moved there from avro going bust (ironically I was with avro for about 2 weeks having left octopus!). I’m due to get a defender phev next week so was going to look at tariffs. I’m not sure what your comment means. Could you elaborate a bit please? Assume it’s to do with the car controlling the charging rather than the wall box?

thanks 

rjmachin

You need a compatible vehicle or charger.

https://octopus.energy/intelligent-octopus/

JohnPo

The 'Intelligent Octopus' product is specific to certain cars / wallboxes -  this will work well for high mileage EV users.

My guess is with a PHEV you need to think about your usage.  I used to run an Outlander PHEV and it worked for me as lots of short trips and charging back at home through both day and night - that was only 18 months ago when Symbio were charging me sub 12p Kwh (Oh happy days)!

Last year I got rid of the PHEV and am now running a pure EV, so charging now is only at nighttime and because of my usage not every day - hence the Octopus GO tariff is great.  I have also learnt to shift some usage to nighttime - dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc.

As you are already with Octopus,  assuming you have a smart meter, why try out the 'GO;'tariff, but actually try out the 'Go Faster' tariff the a 9.30pm start, fiddle around with usage i.e washer / dryer etc. and if you sign up the current day rate is lower than the expected October price cap - so should save whichever way you work the figures out.

JamesN

rjmachin said:

You need a compatible vehicle or charger.

https://octopus.energy/intelligent-octopus/

I’m getting a Land Rover defender phev so assume/hope it’s compatible given Land Rover is on the list. 

JohnPo said:

The 'Intelligent Octopus' product is specific to certain cars / wallboxes -  this will work well for high mileage EV users.

My guess is with a PHEV you need to think about your usage.  I used to run an Outlander PHEV and it worked for me as lots of short trips and charging back at home through both day and night - that was only 18 months ago when Symbio were charging me sub 12p Kwh (Oh happy days)!

Last year I got rid of the PHEV and am now running a pure EV, so charging now is only at nighttime and because of my usage not every day - hence the Octopus GO tariff is great.  I have also learnt to shift some usage to nighttime - dishwasher, washing machine, dryer etc.

As you are already with Octopus,  assuming you have a smart meter, why try out the 'GO;'tariff, but actually try out the 'Go Faster' tariff the a 9.30pm start, fiddle around with usage i.e washer / dryer etc. and if you sign up the current day rate is lower than the expected October price cap - so should save whichever way you work the figures out.

Thanks, that’s really useful. It’s quite a difference especially if you can shift everything big to later usage. Not an issue doing dishwasher and tumble dryer then. 

I don’t think it’ll need charging in the day. At least not regularly. So night charging should be plenty. 

The only thing I’m trying to work out is whether to get a charge point installed. Now that the grant has gone it’s a bit pricey and we are looking at moving house soon. So I don’t want to have to pay for one now and another at the next house! I know some don’t like the granny socket charging because of safety.  I think it takes 9 hours to charge the phev from a standard socket so not quite enough time in the specific tariff. Any thoughts on the above?

pochase

If you want to get onto Octopus go you will have to install one it seems

1. Have an electric car and a home EV charger

   Our Octopus Go Tariff is designed for customers who either own or long-term lease a battery electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle that they'll be charging at home, so you need one to join. If you're in the process of getting one and have an order number to hand, we can switch you so that you're ready to charge once your vehicle arrives.

JamesN

pochase said:

If you want to get onto Octopus go you will have to install one it seems

1. Have an electric car and a home EV charger

   Our Octopus Go Tariff is designed for customers who either own or long-term lease a battery electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid vehicle that they'll be charging at home, so you need one to join. If you're in the process of getting one and have an order number to hand, we can switch you so that you're ready to charge once your vehicle arrives.

I’ve read conflicting things about it. Seems some have got round that. Maybe because the car has intelligent charging?

QrizB

There's a school of thought that a "granny charger" counts for Go and that Octopus aren't likely to ask ask specifically what sort of charger you have.

For Intelligent, Octopus say they will ask questions about your vehicle and charger so a granny charger might not be sufficient.