Intelligent Octopus Go limiting cheap charging.

chrisw

Octopus are limiting their off peak charging rates on Intelligent Go to 6 hours a day from January 2026.

This will effectively be 42kwh max per day but Ohme chargers often lower the charge rate according to the grid thereby going over the 6 hours. Octopus are blaming Ohme, hopefully it will be resolved before the limit is applied.

https://octopus.energy/blog/intelligent-octopus-go-charge-limit/

QrizB

That's disappointing.

Reading the blog post, you will still get the 6 hours a night for the whole house but only 6 hours per day total of cheap-rate smart EV charging, including any charging that takes place during the six nighttime hours.

It seems a bit of a step backwards, and I can see people choosing to use their granny chargers through the six "whole house" hours then plugging in the wallbox at 0530!

I don't think it's going to affect me personally but I can imagine that some folk will be inconvenienced.

tim_p

QrizB said:

I can see people choosing to use their granny chargers through the six "whole house" hours then plugging in the wallbox at 0530!

I like the lateral thinking in this!

MWT

It isn't a new limit though, the 6 hours restriction has been in the contracts from the start, they just have not enforced it before now.

Also keep in mind that is 6 hours of actual charging, not just 12 HH slots during which charging takes place.

So a short charging dispatch from IOG might only consume a few mins of your 6 hour total, but still give you a full half-hour of cheap home use.

The Ohme restricted charging rate problem needs to be fixed by Ohme though.

born_again

It has always been a fair use of 6 hours a day in peak period. Do people never read T/C?

The fundamental benefits of Intelligent Octopus Go remain the same:

• Intelligent Octopus Go customers will continue to receive 6 hours of off-peak electricity for your whole home between 11:30pm and 5:30am. Guaranteed, reliable, schedule-friendly off-peak savings.

• Plus up to 6 hours of super-cheap smart charging every 24 hours – these may be during your home’s off-peak hours (11:30pm - 05:30am), outside those times, or a mix of both.

• Whenever the 6 hours smart charging is scheduled outside your off-peak window, the electricity for your whole home will also be at the discounted rates.

• If we need to schedule more than 6 hours to reach your target charge, only the first 6 hours of charging will be at the discounted rate – extra half-hours will be charged at your Bump rate (even if they’re scheduled during the off-peak window).

That is exactly the same as old T/C. Only now they are going to enforce it.

Always plug mine in the daytime (OHME will only let you set 04:00 or 11:00 as ready by time). I set mine to  11:00 plug in before 09:00 & make sure that the charge is for less than 6 hours. Which is more than enough time to run  house heaver use.
Might even just ask to add 10% which is just a hours use when tumble dryer is required. 

If I require a 100% charge, will do it over several days in small %.

MWT

born_again said:

Always plug mine in the daytime (OHME will only let you set 04:00 or 11:00 as ready by time). I set mine to  11:00 plug in before 09:00 & make sure that the charge is for less than 6 hours. Which is more than enough time to run  house heaver use.
Might even just ask to add 10% which is just a hours use when tumble dryer is required. 

Sadly that puts you in the category of users who are exploiting the system, even if unintentionally...

Nothing wrong with selecting 11:00 as your departure time when you plug-in the night before, as that lets IOG decide when the best time to charge will be.

When you do not plug-in until the morning you are forcing IOG to charge between that point and 11:00 even if it is not the best time to do that...

If you can guaranty when you'll get  day-time slots allocated then you are not letting IOG work as intended...

Also, the day runs from midday - midday, so factor that in when working out how the 6 hours will be counted...

born_again

MWT said:

born_again said:

Always plug mine in the daytime (OHME will only let you set 04:00 or 11:00 as ready by time). I set mine to  11:00 plug in before 09:00 & make sure that the charge is for less than 6 hours. Which is more than enough time to run  house heaver use.
Might even just ask to add 10% which is just a hours use when tumble dryer is required. 

Sadly that puts you in the category of users who are exploiting the system, even if unintentionally...

Nothing wrong with selecting 11:00 as your departure time when you plug-in the night before, as that lets IOG decide when the best time to charge will be.

When you do not plug-in until the morning you are forcing IOG to charge between that point and 11:00 even if it is not the best time to do that...

If you can guaranty when you'll get  day-time slots allocated then you are not letting IOG work as intended...

Also, the day runs from midday - midday, so factor that in when working out how the 6 hours will be counted...

Totally within their T/C & always has been. No exploiting the system, or they would not allow it.

Why charge overnight, when I can do it within T/C @ a time that suits me.
This is MSE & about saving money, might only be a £1 s time, but better for my pocket. 👍

MWT

born_again said:

MWT said:

born_again said:

Always plug mine in the daytime (OHME will only let you set 04:00 or 11:00 as ready by time). I set mine to  11:00 plug in before 09:00 & make sure that the charge is for less than 6 hours. Which is more than enough time to run  house heaver use.
Might even just ask to add 10% which is just a hours use when tumble dryer is required. 

Sadly that puts you in the category of users who are exploiting the system, even if unintentionally...

Nothing wrong with selecting 11:00 as your departure time when you plug-in the night before, as that lets IOG decide when the best time to charge will be.

When you do not plug-in until the morning you are forcing IOG to charge between that point and 11:00 even if it is not the best time to do that...

If you can guaranty when you'll get  day-time slots allocated then you are not letting IOG work as intended...

Also, the day runs from midday - midday, so factor that in when working out how the 6 hours will be counted...

Totally within their T/C & always has been. No exploiting the system, or they would not allow it.

Why charge overnight, when I can do it within T/C @ a time that suits me.
This is MSE & about saving money, might only be a £1 s time, but better for my pocket. 👍

There is much that they have been allowing that is now being addressed, so that is not a basis for anything.

The tariff is designed to function by plugging in during the afternoon/evening thus allowing IOG to pick the best times to charge.

Yes, you have been able to frustrate that level of optimisation by only plugging in in the last few hours before 11:00 but it is certainly not using it as designed.

There is a lot of discussion going on about this aspect so I wouldn't be surprised if there were additional controls added to eliminate this problem eventually.

  

MattMattMattUK

This is a little frustrating for me because I am limited to a granny charger at home, so 13.8kWh a night maximum, if I could install a 7kW charger it would not present an issue. I plug in when I get home, I leave my car plugged in overnight and my ready time is set for 05:30 so all charging it up to Octopus, on weekdays they have eleven hours most days and on weekends if I am home the car is plugged in, so in some cases a whole day. I rarely need that more in a day, but on the occasions I now do it will result in a much higher charge.

I also totally understand why Octopus are doing it though, too many people using chargers rather than cars are programming the charger to require more charge than actually needed so the charger draws power outside the normal window then uses little or nothing overnight. They have been using it to game the system and extend their cheap rate time and have ruined it for everyone. As usual, selfish people have harmed everyone else. 

born_again

Many people also have batteries which will charge overnight in the cheap period & they will also charge car in the period as well as daytime.
So these will be the people this is more aimed at.
As they might well be going over the 6 hours (in 24 hours) cheap rate for including home use as well.

matt_drummer

born_again said:

Many people also have batteries which will charge overnight in the cheap period & they will also charge car in the period as well as daytime.
So these will be the people this is more aimed at.
As they might well be going over the 6 hours (in 24 hours) cheap rate for including home use as well.

Do you ever charge your car between 23.30 and 05.30 or is it always outside of these times?