Octopus Intelligent Go Query

Pete05uk

HI All - Apologies if this has been answered decisively before but having searched the forums, I am not entirely sure and pretty sure I understand the position but looking for confirmation that my understanding is correct :)

I moved to Octopus Intelligent Go last week and I understand that my whole home gets the off-peak rate of 8p between 23:30 and 05:30 each day.

Just looking for clarity on the "smart charging", my car has been configured in the Octopus App (BMW so a bit of a faff with the changes back in March!)

Usually a schedule is created which results in a few hours of "smart" charging during peak times (05:30 - 23:30) with the remaining, depending on the charge level occurring during the whole-home off-peak times (I also know that the whole home is at off-peak rates when smart charging throughout the day)

Most days 3 - 4 hours of charging is enough but if I needed a longer charging period (lets pretend 8 hours) and 4 hours occurs during the day, whilst I have a full six hours during the standard whole-home off-peak hours (23:30 - 05:30), I guess that only two of these would be charged at 8p with the final 2 being charged at the boost rate?

MWT

As it stands right now the 6 hour limit is not being enforced, but once it is enforced then if the last 2 hours of smart charging took place during the overnight low-rate period then the charging for your EV would not be at the low rate, but the rest of your house use would still be at 8p.

Pete05uk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028530#Comment_82028530

Ok thank you - I thought that was the case.

Budf0x

I too am on the Octopus Intelligent Go. When the charge cap comes in charging will be limited to 6 hours charging in a 24 hour period. That will be fine for those with a 7kw charge point, they will get 42kw of electricity at the cheap rate irrelevant of when the car actually gets charged. If you only have a 3.pin plug at 2kw, your only going to get 12kw of cheap electricity per 24 hour so when you've done a particularly long drive and arrive home with near zero battery it would take you over 3 days to get the same amount of charge at the cheap rate as those customers with a proper charging point. Where's the fairness in that

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028569#Comment_82028569

You get exactly the same duration of free charging as anyone else, how you use it is up to you. Seems fair to me.

The whole point of these tariffs is to allow the supplier to schedule the charging based on demand in the grid. That's easy enough with 6/24 hours, but using a granny charger to get 42kw youd need to charge for 21/24 hours, giving them very little flexibility.

You could always switch to e.g. Ovo where all your charging is at the lower rate as long as its scheduled by the app.

MWT

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82028569#Comment_82028569

The tariff always had a 6 hour limit right from the start, they just didn't enforce it.

The tariff is based on giving low-rates at times during the day when it is best for Octopus/the grid, long slow granny charger sessions do not fit that profile unfortunately. This isn't about the total amount you can charge, it is about charging at the best time of day.

Also, sadly, and I am not suggesting you were doing this, there are a significant number of people using a granny charger to ensure they get low-rate electricity for the longest possible period by setting slow charge rates on what is already a slow charger. Many even boast about it on FB groups …