Hi! As promised here is the Google Sheet for the calculator, as well as the compatible cars docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16hax8dS8WUpQBshHZGpmGjOPPKCG7JGwCA1EPzk4z-E/edit?gid=695653755#gid=695653755 FYI: You will have to download it to use the calculator, but not to view the vehicles / chargers If you have used this please let me know in the comments below!
Thank you. Your well informed and balanced review should be seen by a wider audience. I am a big fan of Octopus who have broken the utility culture and expect to return to them in the near future. However, for our use case with EV, five adult household and PV/Home battery, that extra hour in the morning using EON Drive and their current export rate (SEG) of £0.165kWh for excess PV generation makes perfect sense, even (if not more so) during significant periods of the winter when peak time consumption remains under control without too much day-to-day geeky management behaviour on my part. To your views who read the comments, beware other TH-camrs who seem to be increasingly reliant on the commission paid by Octopus. Mike.
Thank you for your kind words! I'll be completely honest though, I do also have a code but I don't tend to publicise it anymore because of the reasons you gave. If it has helped you then I would love for people to use it, but apart from that I'm happy to help!
I'm on and sticking with IO Go works very well when you have home storage batteries with saving sessions and now power up sessions you can save a shed load of money. One tip, get a compatible charger works better if you have more than one EV
I'm on OIG to charge my Tesla using the Tesla (dumb) charger. As you know in this case the car connects to Octopus, not the charger. My house is entirely electric so the random slots outside the fixed 2330 to 0530 are very useful (when the car is home) as my total load in the fixed slot can get near the 100A limit! Good explanation as many people seem not to understand hiw it all works!
Thanks! Yes with the car API it also allows the control of the charge rate. For example using the 3 pin plug means it takes longer and therefore increases the time of the slot. I'm not advocating it because I think they consider it playing the system! When I was on Agile I used to play the limit a lot. I used to love baths and I would use my 10.8kW shower to heat the water!
I'm in the process of switching from Octopus to Eon. I have a home storage battery and I found that my battery going drained when additional hours were needed (outside the 6 hour window). The benefit of the additional hour and the fixed tariff with Eon made the move a no brainer for me.
Agreed - END is a very good tariff. In your position as well, you are certainly more likely to use more than the 33-35% off peak to make it worthwhile compared to SVT. To put in perspective when I was on E:On I used 90-95% of my electricity off peak, so both IOG and END was a great choice! Do you have an EV too? I don't know whether this is true, but I've been told that END doesn't even require an EV anymore, either battery storage OR EV!
I’m on IOG with a Zappi 2 and I’m very happy with Octopus. I’ve been offered a 4.5KWH for a LFP battery system for £2850 and may well go for it. My EV; MG4 Trophy for twenty months - has proven to be entirely reliable.
Excellent stuff! IIRC I think £2850 for the LFP might be a bit pricey. For context I got a 8.2 kWh GivEnergy pack for £3120 and I had to pay 20% VAT. This was in 2023 as well.
A very honest comparison between Eon ND & OI. True you pay more for Eon ND's Peak rate so not quite as cheap as OI, but you may need a £1,000 specific charger to qualify for OI, which would take quite a number of years to recoup from savings on OI (around 7 to 10 years depending annual savings on OI vs Eon ND) But if you already got a compatible/smart vehicle/charger then you won't have this possible outlay - so Octopus it is... If you have Solar, you wouldn't be using much peak rate electricity anyway, so the high Eon rate during the won't really be an issue, plus they'll give you 16.5p vs Octopus 15p per kW you export So EV owners with Solar may be better off on Eon ND ??? In the end it is horses for courses, depending on your own personal usage/situation There isn't much in it imho, pro's n con's for both perhaps but it is great for EV owners that Eon is a very close second to Octopus Intelligent, keeping competition & Octopus on their toes... Remember that Eon ND is fixed, so it will be interesting to see when the price rises come into effect in October & more rises expected maybe in January 2025 - which could narrow the gap between Octopus Intelligent & Eon ND v3 Eon could slightly raise these prices soon for ND v4 for October 1st & maybe January 1st 2025, so if anybody is looking to switch tariffs, do their homework very quickly & if needed, jump on Eon ND v3 whilst it is still available or stick/switch to Octopus Intelligent Good video sir
Completely agree with your points! It's such a close competitor and I can't say that either one is better for everyone. For me at least the small amount of peak electricity I use makes IOG a better deal even with the small decrease in solar export
I’ve 27kwh of battery storage as we as an EV so all my energy usage is off peak 7p per kWh. I don’t tend to bother with plugging the car in until overnight and always use the programme to set chargers times to off peak periods.
Hi I am on Octopus intelligent go using an Ohme EVSE, have solar and a house battery and had a few times when the house battery was drained when octopus gave an extra slot of off peak rate I solved this by enabling the price cap in the Ohme which ensured that it would only charge in the off peak window. Now Ohme have disabled the price cap in the EVSE which may cause the house battery to be discharged again so have also enabled the cars inbuilt timer to stop it charging apart from in the 6 hour off peak window. This will stop my house battery from being discharged when I don't want it happen.
The battery draining issue is an issue if you need to charge outside the 23:30 - 05:00 hours. Within those hours you can set your battery to charge from the grid and not discharge.
Sorry? I don't follow. Yes you can set your battery to charge using that time as I do. I also have automations that will charge whenever there are intelligent Go slots outside the time as well
On Intelligent Go here and just got a notification that if I charge the car Mon 26th August after 23:30 , any units used to charge will be at half price ..ie 3.5 p a unit , but only what the car uses. Cant complain . plus we have had 3 days this month with an hour free midday, all because of all that green energy
Yes it is very good, although I'm a bit torn about the intentions of the 26th August. On one hand this is probably so they can track ONLY EV charging and have home at the higher rate in the future. But I know they can already to this through the API. However, Given the overnight wholesale rates, it would be in Octopus' best interest to have cheap off-peak because the actual wholesale rate is even cheaper. Also, it avoids any peak use (in the case of batteries). Personally something like Octopus Intelligent Go Flux where they can have access to my charger and battery, where I can export at favourable rates would be the holy grail, and once V2G is a thing...
Thanks for this video. I am currently on a fixed deal with EDF which ends at the end of September. Been looking at tariffs for EVs and like the eon drive offer. I also have 10.5kWh of battery storage (no solar) hoping my usage outside the tou will be minimal. My question is how did you find eon service and app?
From my perspective they never did anything wrong, import was very quick onto (IIRC about 7 days) and export was a bit longer (2-3 weeks) Customer service has been fine too, but definitely longer wait times for someone to get back to you, maybe 2-3 days Never messed about with my payments. I did have one issue when submitting an export reading, Apparently I didn't use the right reading but I took another one a day after and it was fine. No idea!
I am on OIG, have 3 phase supply, have 4 x 22kWh chargers and 60kWh of batteries. Generally most the year I can get by on off peak only. So OIG is pretty much perfect for me. But… I have not been able to hook up one of the chargers to charge reliably. Every time the car fails to be fully charged by the morning. So I simply use OIG just like any other off peak tariff and up until E-on released its new rates with 7 hours off peak, I was very happy. In mid winter, that extra hour at 6.9p from E-On could be enough to budge me from Octopus which is a shame as they are leagues ahead with customer service and app functionality.
I did but they can’t understand why it’s not working and I know I am an outlier with so many chargers, 3 phase, batteries, solar and it’s just too easy to charge at 22kWh for 6 hours on charger’s schedule - never fails. I try to set it up every month or so to let Octopus control charging and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it partially works. It’s just not reliable.
The number of chargers just seems a bit of a cop out though, I really hope Octopus get this working for you as you could also stand to do pretty well with the battery storage as well!
For the extra hour and slightly lower price I wouldn’t bother moving. Octopus is such a great company to deal with, but then I’m in a different league to you and 6 hours of off peak is plenty for all my needs.. We now have an Octopus heatpump installation and so far 🤞it’s been great.
I have seen that tariff before but I'm also part of the END group and comments say the CS is abysmal, trustpilot included. Until they settle I would rather not check it out. May be the reintroduction of the really cheap fixed tariffs again (I used to be with IRESA and Eversmart - dirt cheap but lasted about 1-2 years before going bust) 🧐
@@KCTalksEV Thanks for the heads up! : I'll give it a few months to see what the feedback is like (currently on IOG), having said that EoN (my previous supplier) were a nightmare - still not received a final bill or my £51 overpayment credit (which is now £81), as the regulator has fined them 😢
I've had very mixed reviews from E:On, from my perspective it's been okay but I know of people with awful experiences Such a shame as their END tariff is perfect if you can load shift almost all your usage!
My smart meter is rubbish, really. Sometimes it reports figures on my home lounge readout that seem to be irrational. It is still operating on the earlier tariff rates for electricity but at up-to-date gas price and standing charge. However, Octopus has been charging at the correct rates (and at the correct times - as far as I know), so my monthly bills have been lower than my readout suggests (at this present time). That may change from October, of course.
Ah, that's because the IHD (the home display) will never work displaying the correct rates. The suggestion has always been to unplug and just use the values from the Octopus App
I’m on IOG using Zappi 2 with my MG4. Does the Octopus app tell you when there’s an excess of renewables, so that you could benefit in what would normally be a peak time?
Unfortunately, it doesn't give you the ability to see or pick high renewable grid mix times. It is an automatic process and it's been built to have no input from the person. You can get a higher likelihood of more daytime slots by plugging in later and requesting the latest time (11am). I have also seen others plug in at 2pm and get more slots too so it's a mysterious art!
It's not on the octo app but online there's something called Greener Days forecast which shows the relative green Ness of the next 5 days, very useful. Its difficult to find so I suggest asking octopus support about this..
Dont bother with Intelligent Octopus Go, use Tomato Energy instead. 6 hrs at 5p, 4 hrs at 13.17p, 14 hrs at 23p, standing charge 43p, loads cheaper than octopus. No compatibility hoops to jump through either.
Hello, I’m with Octopus and thinking of moving to OIG. I have solar panels but not batteries. My FIT is with Scottish Power. If I. Move to OIG will I have to move my FIT contract from S/Power to Octopus? If so will I still get the high generation tariff (my panel are 14?yrs old and In on the highest generation rate) Much appreciate your views on this.
@@Richard-kf7ul no you can keep the FIT with s/power and move your electricity supply to octopus. You can swith the fit if you want to at any time, I did this too, a bit of a faff and no benefit other than you're dealing with just one company.
@@MikeGleesonazelectrics thanks Mike. So, there’s no option (or benefit) to separate the two parts of the FIT payments i) Generation ii) Export to the Grid?
Yes you do not need to move FIT and lose the preferential rate. However you cannot do SEG and FIT at the same time. And frankly any FIT pre 2015 I believe was incredibly lucrative. When you're ready, just tell octopus to only move your import. I know you don't have to but it's definitely worth telling octopus before just to move the import.
@@Richard-kf7ul yes you have the option of splitting off the FIT deemed export and using the octopus outgoing tariff, I did this recently but was probably a mistake as altho the Outgoing tariff gives me 15p a unit I won't be exporting anything for 6 or 7 months of the year. Depends on your setup really ie how much you export.
@@KCTalksEV thanks. I’ve a lucrative 2011 FIT tariff, so would it be best to keep things unchanged ? I’m confused where you refer to import - do you mean the generation which I get 71p per kWh, ( or the import by the grid - which I referred to as export from my panels to the Grid) which pays a much smaller 5p per KWH
Hi! As promised here is the Google Sheet for the calculator, as well as the compatible cars
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16hax8dS8WUpQBshHZGpmGjOPPKCG7JGwCA1EPzk4z-E/edit?gid=695653755#gid=695653755
FYI: You will have to download it to use the calculator, but not to view the vehicles / chargers
If you have used this please let me know in the comments below!
Thank you.
Your well informed and balanced review should be seen by a wider audience.
I am a big fan of Octopus who have broken the utility culture and expect to return to them in the near future.
However, for our use case with EV, five adult household and PV/Home battery, that extra hour in the morning using EON Drive and their current export rate (SEG) of £0.165kWh for excess PV generation makes perfect sense, even (if not more so) during significant periods of the winter when peak time consumption remains under control without too much day-to-day geeky management behaviour on my part.
To your views who read the comments, beware other TH-camrs who seem to be increasingly reliant on the commission paid by Octopus. Mike.
Thank you for your kind words!
I'll be completely honest though, I do also have a code but I don't tend to publicise it anymore because of the reasons you gave. If it has helped you then I would love for people to use it, but apart from that I'm happy to help!
I'm on and sticking with IO Go works very well when you have home storage batteries with saving sessions and now power up sessions you can save a shed load of money. One tip, get a compatible charger works better if you have more than one EV
I'm on OIG to charge my Tesla using the Tesla (dumb) charger. As you know in this case the car connects to Octopus, not the charger. My house is entirely electric so the random slots outside the fixed 2330 to 0530 are very useful (when the car is home) as my total load in the fixed slot can get near the 100A limit! Good explanation as many people seem not to understand hiw it all works!
Thanks! Yes with the car API it also allows the control of the charge rate. For example using the 3 pin plug means it takes longer and therefore increases the time of the slot. I'm not advocating it because I think they consider it playing the system!
When I was on Agile I used to play the limit a lot. I used to love baths and I would use my 10.8kW shower to heat the water!
I'm in the process of switching from Octopus to Eon. I have a home storage battery and I found that my battery going drained when additional hours were needed (outside the 6 hour window). The benefit of the additional hour and the fixed tariff with Eon made the move a no brainer for me.
Agreed - END is a very good tariff. In your position as well, you are certainly more likely to use more than the 33-35% off peak to make it worthwhile compared to SVT.
To put in perspective when I was on E:On I used 90-95% of my electricity off peak, so both IOG and END was a great choice!
Do you have an EV too? I don't know whether this is true, but I've been told that END doesn't even require an EV anymore, either battery storage OR EV!
I’m on IOG with a Zappi 2 and I’m very happy with Octopus. I’ve been offered a 4.5KWH for a LFP battery system for £2850 and may well go for it. My EV; MG4 Trophy for twenty months - has proven to be entirely reliable.
Excellent stuff! IIRC I think £2850 for the LFP might be a bit pricey. For context I got a 8.2 kWh GivEnergy pack for £3120 and I had to pay 20% VAT. This was in 2023 as well.
Yep, 4.5 for that price is too much. I just got quoted £6.5k for a 16kwh sigenergy system
That is a really good deal, please don't tempt me ;)
@@thabo5799 interesting and good to know. Thanks.
A very honest comparison between Eon ND & OI.
True you pay more for Eon ND's Peak rate so not quite as cheap as OI, but you may need a £1,000 specific charger to qualify for OI, which would take quite a number of years to recoup from savings on OI
(around 7 to 10 years depending annual savings on OI vs Eon ND)
But if you already got a compatible/smart vehicle/charger then you won't have this possible outlay - so Octopus it is...
If you have Solar, you wouldn't be using much peak rate electricity anyway, so the high Eon rate during the won't really be an issue, plus they'll give you 16.5p vs Octopus 15p per kW you export
So EV owners with Solar may be better off on Eon ND ???
In the end it is horses for courses, depending on your own personal usage/situation
There isn't much in it imho, pro's n con's for both perhaps
but it is great for EV owners that Eon is a very close second to Octopus Intelligent, keeping competition & Octopus on their toes...
Remember that Eon ND is fixed, so it will be interesting to see when the price rises come into effect in October & more rises expected maybe in January 2025 - which could narrow the gap between Octopus Intelligent & Eon ND v3
Eon could slightly raise these prices soon for ND v4 for October 1st & maybe January 1st 2025, so if anybody is looking to switch tariffs, do their homework very quickly & if needed, jump on Eon ND v3 whilst it is still available or stick/switch to Octopus Intelligent
Good video sir
Completely agree with your points!
It's such a close competitor and I can't say that either one is better for everyone. For me at least the small amount of peak electricity I use makes IOG a better deal even with the small decrease in solar export
I’ve 27kwh of battery storage as we as an EV so all my energy usage is off peak 7p per kWh. I don’t tend to bother with plugging the car in until overnight and always use the programme to set chargers times to off peak periods.
27kWh is a massive battery!
Hi I am on Octopus intelligent go using an Ohme EVSE, have solar and a house battery and had a few times when the house battery was drained when octopus gave an extra slot of off peak rate I solved this by enabling the price cap in the Ohme which ensured that it would only charge in the off peak window. Now Ohme have disabled the price cap in the EVSE which may cause the house battery to be discharged again so have also enabled the cars inbuilt timer to stop it charging apart from in the 6 hour off peak window. This will stop my house battery from being discharged when I don't want it happen.
Yes - I've set my Givenergy system to do the same
However there are a couple things I need to fix on it!
The battery draining issue is an issue if you need to charge outside the 23:30 - 05:00 hours. Within those hours you can set your battery to charge from the grid and not discharge.
Sorry? I don't follow.
Yes you can set your battery to charge using that time as I do. I also have automations that will charge whenever there are intelligent Go slots outside the time as well
On Intelligent Go here and just got a notification that if I charge the car Mon 26th August after 23:30 , any units used to charge will be at half price ..ie 3.5 p a unit , but only what the car uses. Cant complain . plus we have had 3 days this month with an hour free midday, all because of all that green energy
Yes it is very good, although I'm a bit torn about the intentions of the 26th August.
On one hand this is probably so they can track ONLY EV charging and have home at the higher rate in the future. But I know they can already to this through the API.
However, Given the overnight wholesale rates, it would be in Octopus' best interest to have cheap off-peak because the actual wholesale rate is even cheaper. Also, it avoids any peak use (in the case of batteries).
Personally something like Octopus Intelligent Go Flux where they can have access to my charger and battery, where I can export at favourable rates would be the holy grail, and once V2G is a thing...
Thanks for this video. I am currently on a fixed deal with EDF which ends at the end of September. Been looking at tariffs for EVs and like the eon drive offer. I also have 10.5kWh of battery storage (no solar) hoping my usage outside the tou will be minimal. My question is how did you find eon service and app?
From my perspective they never did anything wrong, import was very quick onto (IIRC about 7 days) and export was a bit longer (2-3 weeks)
Customer service has been fine too, but definitely longer wait times for someone to get back to you, maybe 2-3 days
Never messed about with my payments. I did have one issue when submitting an export reading, Apparently I didn't use the right reading but I took another one a day after and it was fine. No idea!
I am on OIG, have 3 phase supply, have 4 x 22kWh chargers and 60kWh of batteries. Generally most the year I can get by on off peak only. So OIG is pretty much perfect for me. But… I have not been able to hook up one of the chargers to charge reliably. Every time the car fails to be fully charged by the morning. So I simply use OIG just like any other off peak tariff and up until E-on released its new rates with 7 hours off peak, I was very happy. In mid winter, that extra hour at 6.9p from E-On could be enough to budge me from Octopus which is a shame as they are leagues ahead with customer service and app functionality.
Wow, that is amazing! Save some electricity for everybody else ;)
Have you tried to ask Octopus to see why the charging is not working?
I did but they can’t understand why it’s not working and I know I am an outlier with so many chargers, 3 phase, batteries, solar and it’s just too easy to charge at 22kWh for 6 hours on charger’s schedule - never fails. I try to set it up every month or so to let Octopus control charging and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it partially works. It’s just not reliable.
The number of chargers just seems a bit of a cop out though, I really hope Octopus get this working for you as you could also stand to do pretty well with the battery storage as well!
For the extra hour and slightly lower price I wouldn’t bother moving. Octopus is such a great company to deal with, but then I’m in a different league to you and 6 hours of off peak is plenty for all my needs.. We now have an Octopus heatpump installation and so far 🤞it’s been great.
It's Intelligent Octopus Go 😮
Just pedance 😉
... checkout Tomato energy, about 25% cheaper than IOG (5p off-peak, 40p standing charge)
I have seen that tariff before but I'm also part of the END group and comments say the CS is abysmal, trustpilot included. Until they settle I would rather not check it out.
May be the reintroduction of the really cheap fixed tariffs again (I used to be with IRESA and Eversmart - dirt cheap but lasted about 1-2 years before going bust) 🧐
@@KCTalksEV Thanks for the heads up! : I'll give it a few months to see what the feedback is like (currently on IOG), having said that EoN (my previous supplier) were a nightmare - still not received a final bill or my £51 overpayment credit (which is now £81), as the regulator has fined them 😢
I've had very mixed reviews from E:On, from my perspective it's been okay but I know of people with awful experiences
Such a shame as their END tariff is perfect if you can load shift almost all your usage!
You also need to have a reliable smart meter. If your smart meter regularly misses sending half-hourly data, you risk Octopus charging you peak rates.
Yes that is correct, although I've had a SMETS1 meter for 7 years with no major issues with readings.
My smart meter is rubbish, really. Sometimes it reports figures on my home lounge readout that seem to be irrational. It is still operating on the earlier tariff rates for electricity but at up-to-date gas price and standing charge.
However, Octopus has been charging at the correct rates (and at the correct times - as far as I know), so my monthly bills have been lower than my readout suggests (at this present time). That may change from October, of course.
Ah, that's because the IHD (the home display) will never work displaying the correct rates.
The suggestion has always been to unplug and just use the values from the Octopus App
I’m on IOG using Zappi 2 with my MG4. Does the Octopus app tell you when there’s an excess of renewables, so that you could benefit in what would normally be a peak time?
Unfortunately, it doesn't give you the ability to see or pick high renewable grid mix times. It is an automatic process and it's been built to have no input from the person.
You can get a higher likelihood of more daytime slots by plugging in later and requesting the latest time (11am). I have also seen others plug in at 2pm and get more slots too so it's a mysterious art!
It's not on the octo app but online there's something called Greener Days forecast which shows the relative green Ness of the next 5 days, very useful. Its difficult to find so I suggest asking octopus support about this..
Dont bother with Intelligent Octopus Go, use Tomato Energy instead. 6 hrs at 5p, 4 hrs at 13.17p, 14 hrs at 23p, standing charge 43p, loads cheaper than octopus. No compatibility hoops to jump through either.
I have questions as to how on earth they're pulling a lower standing charge and also a lower peak and off peak rate, worries me to recommend them
Hello,
I’m with Octopus and thinking of moving to OIG. I have solar panels but not batteries.
My FIT is with Scottish Power. If I. Move to OIG will I have to move my FIT contract from S/Power to Octopus?
If so will I still get the high generation tariff (my panel are 14?yrs old and In on the highest generation rate)
Much appreciate your views on this.
@@Richard-kf7ul no you can keep the FIT with s/power and move your electricity supply to octopus. You can swith the fit if you want to at any time, I did this too, a bit of a faff and no benefit other than you're dealing with just one company.
@@MikeGleesonazelectrics thanks Mike. So, there’s no option (or benefit) to separate the two parts of the FIT payments i) Generation ii) Export to the Grid?
Yes you do not need to move FIT and lose the preferential rate. However you cannot do SEG and FIT at the same time.
And frankly any FIT pre 2015 I believe was incredibly lucrative.
When you're ready, just tell octopus to only move your import. I know you don't have to but it's definitely worth telling octopus before just to move the import.
@@Richard-kf7ul yes you have the option of splitting off the FIT deemed export and using the octopus outgoing tariff, I did this recently but was probably a mistake as altho the Outgoing tariff gives me 15p a unit I won't be exporting anything for 6 or 7 months of the year. Depends on your setup really ie how much you export.
@@KCTalksEV thanks.
I’ve a lucrative 2011 FIT tariff, so would it be best to keep things unchanged ? I’m confused where you refer to import - do you mean the generation which I get 71p per kWh, ( or the import by the grid - which I referred to as export from my panels to the Grid) which pays a much smaller 5p per KWH