EV Tariff on Octopus Energy

JST_1

Octopus Energy offer a very competitive EV tariff (Intelligent Octopus) with 6 hours nocturnal off peak cheap rate of 7.5p per kWh. I transferred to Octopus Energy with a view to going on the IO tariff - only to discover on speaking to their customer support team that it will only be compatible with one EV that it links to and you can't mix and match. Unfortunately we have 2 EV's so this tariff cannot work for us. The alternative tariff of Octopus Go can only offer 4 hours nocturnal off peak electricity at a rate only marginally lower than our previous supplier (Br Gas).
The disappointing thing is that nowhere on their website is it explicit that IO tariff will only work for a single EV (not multiple). If I had known this, I wouldn't have transferred. 
I think it is otherwise a good company and supplier and their customer support team were very helpful.
Unfortunately, I am enacting cool off and going to revert to my previous supplier.

Keep_pedalling

Although compatible for one car you can still charge the other one on the cheap night rate. What you won’t be able to do with that one is use the cheap day time day time charging that occurs at random times. 

daveaspy

is that because you don't have a IO compatible charger? (If its the charger that is compatible rather than the car then it wouldn't know which car was attached to the charger)

QrizB

JST_1 said:

I transferred to Octopus Energy with a view to going on the IO tariff - only to discover on speaking to their customer support team that it will only be compatible with one EV that it links to and you can't mix and match.

But if you have one compatible car, you can join the tariff then use it to charge the other one.

JST_1 said:

Unfortunately, I am enacting cool off and going to revert to my previous supplier.

That's a shame.

Reed_Richards

QrizB said:

That's a shame.

Maybe.  This forum is rather in love with Octopus, by and large.  Octopus offer some very good tariffs for both buying electricity or for selling it back if you have solar panels.  But from my perspective their range of tariffs is bewilderingly large, these tariffs can be quite complicated and you may have to work quite hard to fir your usage around the tariff.  They're not for everybody, I think.  

la531983

Reed_Richards said:

QrizB said:

That's a shame.

Maybe.  This forum is rather in love with Octopus, by and large.  Octopus offer some very good tariffs for both buying electricity or for selling it back if you have solar panels.  But from my perspective their range of tariffs is bewilderingly large, these tariffs can be quite complicated and you may have to work quite hard to fir your usage around the tariff.  They're not for everybody, I think.  

Aye, much better to be paying 27p a unit all day elsewhere. 

Reed_Richards

Nay, but other EV tariffs are available with other suppliers.

Keep_pedalling

Reed_Richards said:

QrizB said:

That's a shame.

Maybe.  This forum is rather in love with Octopus, by and large.  Octopus offer some very good tariffs for both buying electricity or for selling it back if you have solar panels.  But from my perspective their range of tariffs is bewilderingly large, these tariffs can be quite complicated and you may have to work quite hard to fir your usage around the tariff.  They're not for everybody, I think.  

In this case the OP has misunderstood the issue and hopefully have not already undone the switch There are plenty of people with two EVs using IO and I don’t think there is a better EV tariff elsewhere. 

Reed_Richards

I think the intelligent Octopus Go tariff gives you 6 hours of electricity at 7.5p per kWh.  The hours are 11:30 to 5:30. 

My EV tariff gives me 7 hours of electricity at 9p per kWh.  The hours are 00:00 to 07:00.

Since I also use the cheap electricity to heat my house and my hot water, it is useful that it lasts until around the time I get up, the later the better.  And since I am charging my EV slowly at present, the extra hour is useful.  I would have to sit down with some numbers and a spreadsheet to work out which tariff would be better for me; it's by no means obvious.    

peter3hg

Reed_Richards said:

I think the intelligent Octopus Go tariff gives you 6 hours of electricity at 7.5p per kWh.  The hours are 11:30 to 5:30. 

My EV tariff gives me 7 hours of electricity at 9p per kWh.  The hours are 00:00 to 07:00.

Since I also use the cheap electricity to heat my house and my hot water, it is useful that it lasts until around the time I get up, the later the better.  And since I am charging my EV slowly at present, the extra hour is useful.  I would have to sit down with some numbers and a spreadsheet to work out which tariff would be better for me; it's by no means obvious.    

Assuming you're talking about Eon Next Drive then it is about 2p more expensive on the day rate compared to Intelligent Octopus and Octopus Go. It also seems to be 9.5p at the night rate for new customers now.
Intelligent Octopus will work out better for most who are eligible but as always some people's particular circumstances make other tariffs a better choice.

At least there is now a better choice of these tariffs available, I suspect in large part caused by Octopus seizing a big chunk of that market in the last couple of years when nobody else offered a competitive tariff for EVs.

Reed_Richards

Yes, I am on Eon Next Drive.  And I might be better off on one of the Octopus tariffs - but it's quite a complicated calculation to work it out.  Octopus have done a great job of shaking up the market but it's not a given that they will offer the best tariff for every particular circumstance.