Octopus Fixed and Intelligent drive pack

F430124175

ASB1960 said:

Looks like I am stuck with email and slow turnaround.

Give the proper EV charging team a call on 0808 196 6842 or email: charging@octopus.energy

QrizB

F430124175 said:

WIth IOG variable (cheaper than Fixed 12mo), the tariffs are 29.14 p/kWh and 43.82 p/day for electricty plus 6.36 p/kWh and 35.62 p/day for gas, making the annual cost for same usage excluding EV £3090, which is £350 more.

It seems that you've overlooked that on IOG, unlike Drive, *all* you household electricity is charged at 7p/kWh during the 6 overnight hours and at other times while the car is smart charging.

As a result, youve assumed all your non-EV electricity is used at the daytime tariff of 29.14p/kWh in that calculation. I don't know how your energy use is spead through the day, but most people find that their composite taiff on IOG is lower than the day rate would suggest.

You're using around 16kWh/day (which I note is more than double the "average", suggesting a much larger household or scope to reduce it). If for example you use 2kWh/day between 2330 and 0530 (730kWh/yr) at 7p/kWh, and your other 14kWh/day at 29.14p/kWh, your composite tariff will be ~26.4p/kWh, similar to your fixed deal.

F430124175 said:

Assuming EV charging uses 8000 kWh for a year, that's £560.  Adding on the £350 extra for the more expensive nornal electricity (£228) and gas (£122) ...

As above, your electricity will be somewhat cheaper than that. Also, on the tariffs you've quoted, gas is ~£48/yr cheaper on variable IOG.

F430124175 said:

When you bring an EV into the picture, the headline-grabbing 7 p/kWh (or sometimes better: e.g. So Glenmore EV is 6.06 p/kWh!) hides the fact that you're paying more for your standard electricity (and gas - even though an EV consumes no gas) so that the effective rate is nowhere near as good.

Using your numbers and your tariffs, and assuming that you can use 2kWh/day of your household electricity on the IOG cheap rate, I get:

• Fixed+Drive: £1709.40/yr for home electricity, £1259.39/yr for gas, £360/yr for Drive = £3328.79/yr total.
• IOG: £1719.26/yr for home electricity, £1211.21/yr for gas, £560/yr for EV = £3490.47/yr total.

That's a difference of £161.68 per year.

Qyburn

Do you have to change gas tariff, or can that remain on the fix?

born_again

Qyburn said:

Do you have to change gas tariff, or can that remain on the fix?

I'm on IOG & my gas is on 12 month fix.

Electric

Dynamic unit rate

27.88p Peak

7p off peak (or whole usage when charging car in peak period)

57.16p/day

(All rates inc. VAT)

Gas

Octopus 12M Fixed

Octopus 12M Fixed August 2025 v6

Ending 21/10/2026

5.77p/kWh

28.93p/day

(All rates inc. VAT)

The_Hawk

I've just done a quick analysis of my last 6 months on Intelligent Octopus Go:

Over that period I've used 2,250 kWh of electricity.

Summer is the quiet time of year for driving, for me, and in those 6 months I have covered just 2,000 miles, so my car charging requirements are low (c.450 KWh).

Nevertheless, I have noted the following:
 - most of the charging initiated by Octopus occurred outside of 23:30 to 05:30 slot, i.e during the day, thus benefitting the rest of the house;
 - including car charging, my average price per kWh worked out at just over 19p per kWh; and
 - excluding the car charging (at 7p per kWH), the average price paid for the rest of the house was 22.5p per kWh.

During the winter months I expect my mileage, and therefore, car charging to go up, which should further reduce the average price paid per kWh.

So, as stated by @QrizB above, with Intelligent Octopus Go, you should see a significant reduction in your non-EV kWh rate. It should be a win-win for you @F430124175, once you factor in your non-EV savings.