EV owner? Octopus “Go” & “Intelligent” (Switch and Save thousands!) 7.5p/kWh

JKenH

[Deleted User] said:

To digress, for EV owners with solar PV and a battery then Octopus Flux offers a more complicated mathematical challenge. For EV owners that need a daily charge, then Intelligent followed by Go are the cheapest Octopus tariffs. Occasional EV chargers may save more money on Flux with its 25 and 40p/kWh export rates.

Yesterday, my array exported £6.09’s worth of electricity. It would have only been worth £0.98 if I was on Go with fixed SEG.

Yes, if you are currently on Go or IO then it is comforting to be able to charge at 12p (current rate for Go) or 10p/kWh but you have to bear in mind the opportunity cost. 

You could be on a higher export tariff with Flux that pays you around 22/35p at daytime/peak rates. It all depends how much you can use overnight and how much you export. For a high mileage EV driver IO may still be the best option but if you are a low mileage EV driver then you are giving up a lot of export income. I don’t have an EV anymore but for 6k miles I could charge on IO at 10p/kWh - that’s £150 and earn £100 on my export (say, half of typical 4000kWh generation @5p/kWh) or I could pay to charge at 19p costing me £285 and earn £400 (2000 kWh @22p) on my export. That’s a net cost of £50 on IO or a net income of £115 on Flux. 

Of course there are a lot of other factors to take into account. 

For instance if you have batteries you could cover most of your domestic consumption on IO - say 3000kW at 10p = £300. On Flux with a battery you would pay £570 (3000kWh @19p.) You could then though export all your PV generation at 22/35p as opposed to 5p. If you generate 4kW pa that would earn you  a minimum £880 compared to around £200 on SEG rates. Overall you pay £100 pa on IO or earn £310 on Flux. Your household consumption (less export earnings) is therefore costing £410 more on IO while saving £135 (£285 - £150) on charging your car. 

IO used to be a no brainer for EV/battery owners but dependent on mileage it might be worth taking a look at Flux.

I hope I got those figures right. 

Edit: if you are only getting 5p export you will use more of your pv and import less at 10p but I had to work on 100% export to keep the figures simple. This was just an example: you can work the figures to suit your own circumstances. 

JohnPo

My current Octopus GO tariff ends in early April. I have an EV do about 10K miles a year mostly home charging, but looking at my bills even with shifting other usage approx 50% is peak and 50% at the cheap rate, although this varies slightly from month to month. I worked out that my average would move from 18p to approx 27p per KWhr based on the renewal rates , so have decided to try Octopus Agile for a few months - will let folk know whether this works out - might well do until end July when the EPG stops, will update here.

WBCPB

My Octopus Go will no longer be fixed, my renewal email states:

Your fixed term on Octopus Go is coming to an end on April 2023. This email outlines your options.

Important: Octopus Go and the Energy Price Guarantee The government's Energy Price Guarantee discount does not apply to new fixed term tariffs agreed after October 1, for new customers or existing customers renewing. And while the Energy Price Guarantee is a hugely welcome programme, it's primarily aimed at helping customers on standard tariffs who could otherwise face unpayable bills. We've worked hard within the rules of the scheme to develop new versions of Go and Intelligent Octopus that offer the best possible value to EV drivers and still make the most of cheap, green, abundant electrons. In short: No more annual renewals: Fixed-term contracts aren't eligible for the Energy Price Guarantee, so our smart tariffs will now technically be "variable" products, without an end date. Whilst we don't currently have any plans to change prices (either up or down), prices will eventually change — but we'll always give plenty of notice. If government rules change, or we get to the end of the Energy Price Guarantee, we may reintroduce fixed terms, if it means we can make EV charging cheaper.