BG/Hive/EO Charger/FreeCharge troubles

Laurence1982

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Colchester
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MG4 SE SR
Hi all,

Currently on BG fixed one v32, but looking at switching to the electric driver v5 tariff (looks like it'll be much cheaper to charge overnight). The other option is the Price Promise but by my calculations it'll be more expensive overall.

Hive/Freecharge so far is a joke - 50/50 as to whether it charges overnight. We have an eo mini pro 3 (had to get through BG/Hive to get the Freecharge). No credit showing on account yet (though I've been assured by other users that might just be delayed as they've had similar issues). I'd move to octopus but our car isn't supported yet and the BG electric driver v5 tariff is comparable.

So my question is whether anyone has any advice based on all that!

I think what I want/have to do is stick with BG for better rates, ignore Freecharge, and change the charger (hopefully they'll refund) to an ohme (highly recommended). Then rely on the ohme scheduling to only charge overnight (at the cheap EV rates) rather than the hive "scheduling". (Also the eo mini pro only has GPRS which may be partly/completely causing issues, whereas the ohme is 3/4G).

Any experience/advice appreciated!

Laurence
 
Hi, there is a thread about BG try the search bar.
MG won't release API to Octopus so you will be better off getting the Ohme as you say and switch to IOG
 
I'd stop with BGas for the years FreeCharge. Ive been with them since June last year, and boy what a fight it has been every step of the way!
But for now we have started to get the credits though, now to date with January's landing 29th February.

Once the year is up we may be off to Octopus, but for now enjoying the FreeCharging and doing the washing at 9p/kWh overnight !

If you don't use FreeCharge you WON'T get any credits.
 
considering Hive charger, not my ideal choice but there is £100 sale and offer of 1 year free charging + credit of 4p per kW afterwards when charged off-peak (if I got that right?) how is everyone's experience with them? I'm with British Gas for the time being, using 3-pin charger which was fine so far but ...

Can you add solar or home battery and use it with Hive charger afterwards, any idea? Also, another option to buy separate EV charger for £350 or so and have local electrician install it ...
 
We got the hive charger (older model -not sure if it's the same one) with a year's free charging as we were with BG. Total failure. Kept disconnecting network or from car or just wouldn't start charging. App unreliable. They kept telling us it was our fault with bad reception (not true at all). Eventually left BG to go to octopus with an ohme charger installed privately. Had to complain to the ombudsman to get BG to waive exit fees. I really do not recommend being with BG or using the hive charger. As one person said back when we were deciding, you've got to wonder why they're offering you a year of free charging.... Oh and the free charging is repaid, not free initially, so you still have to pay then wait to get it back, and then they can disagree about how much you used, etc... Just don't bother.
 
We got the hive charger (older model -not sure if it's the same one) with a year's free charging as we were with BG. Total failure. Kept disconnecting network or from car or just wouldn't start charging. App unreliable. They kept telling us it was our fault with bad reception (not true at all). Eventually left BG to go to octopus with an ohme charger installed privately. Had to complain to the ombudsman to get BG to waive exit fees. I really do not recommend being with BG or using the hive charger. As one person said back when we were deciding, you've got to wonder why they're offering you a year of free charging.... Oh and the free charging is repaid, not free initially, so you still have to pay then wait to get it back, and then they can disagree about how much you used, etc... Just don't bother.
Yes, just got an initial quote of £1,200 for Hive mini pro 3 with installation by ChargedEV.... Even with 1 year free charging, for my use it would equal to around £200 credit so overall not much incentive. Thanks for sharing your experience!

There are other chargers for about £350 + installation or so not sure Hive is such a great deal. British Gas was OK for my modest charging needs but I'll move to whoever offers cheapest gas and electricity... I don't have solar and home battery but one day maybe...
How much was charger installation roughly?
 
I think we paid about £900 all in for the charger and installation. (Our installation involved holes/cabling from middle of house to external, then under garden slabs to rear wall of garden).
 
We don't have solar and battery (would do if we happened to have many thousand pounds just lying around!). Octopus are great. Better value (IMO), great customer service and you can add in battery/solar if you want. BG also wouldn't even install at ours (because of various issues) so we still had to have private ev installer anyway
 
Octopus still have a low rate even if you don't have an intelligent charger. We have Octopus IGO & a Ohme Home Pro. It works well & if you do a big charge it gets scheduled across the day so you get more cheap power.
 
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