Intelligent Octopus Q's

[mg4mc]

Hmm, that's what they say. But I just looked at my bills where they allocated charge slots outside the off-peak hours, and for each half slot the bill says the rate is 6.67p, and the total kWh * 6.67 approx. = the amount charged. Indeed, in some slots that are allocated but not used for charging then the relatively small amount used by the house was charged at 6.67p.

Maybe check you bills and see what the reality is?

 

[DK1083]

Hmm, that's what they say. But I just looked at my bills where they allocated charge slots outside the off-peak hours, and for each half slot the bill says the rate is 6.67p, and the total kWh * 6.67 approx. = the amount charged. Indeed, in some slots that are allocated but not used for charging then the relatively small amount used by the house was charged at 6.67p.

Maybe check you bills and see what the reality is?

Thank you. I will check the next bill. I told Octopus there’s a bit of confusion out there but I doubt it will get to those who can do anything about it..!

 

[mg4mc]

It may well be their intent, and who knows the billing system may be able to split the charge in the future, but at present it does not seem to. However, my house usage outside car charging is very low, it would be interesting to see the bill from someone who say charged a house battery during one of the "extra" slots.

 

[Akleman]

It may well be their intent, and who knows the billing system may be able to split the charge in the future, but at present it does not seem to. However, my house usage outside car charging is very low, it would be interesting to see the bill from someone who say charged a house battery during one of the "extra" slots.

We run an MG4 with a Zappi charger (from myenergi) with Octopus, home battery storage (and solar but let’s keep that out of it for simplicity’s sake!). I can confirm the following:
1 - If Octopus decides to charge the car outside the standard off peak hours then all electricity used at that time is at the cheap rate - the screenshot from a recent bill shows this
2 - It is well worth leaving the car plugged in if you are in during the day as it may well get charged and therefore all your electricity for those periods will also be cheap rate (it essentially works in 30 minute slots - the app will give you a charging plan - although it can change)
3 - We have home battery storage and the system is “taught” to charge the batteries when the rate is cheap - so on very windy days or other circumstances when the energy grids average CO2 per unit elec generated is low we get the batteries charged as well.

This setup works well although it takes a bit of setting up.

 

[DK1083]

Not sure what to say. I can only go by what Octopus have told me. I will see what my next bill tells me!

 

[Rolfe]

Octopus don't know whether they're coming or going. I was thrown when the times I was notified for my charging slots kept changing and I wondered if it was a fault, and it took a stupid number of emails for them to admit that was normal. Even Greg said once notified the slots should stay, then rowed back on it. Then they added a comment to the app saying they might change. I mean don't they know their own policy? They could just have given me a straight answer the first time.

I also had someone from Octopus tell me that only the car's electricity was 7p outwith the normal off-peak period, although everyone else who uses Octopus says it's the whole house. (That was one of my issues - what use is an extra slot of cheap-rate power if you can't rely on it happening?)

Now I mostly just use the Zappi's schedule to charge in the off-peak period and just ask for an Octopus scheduled charge every now and again to keep them happy.

 

[BROC]

Getting nowhere fast trying to get Intelligent Octopus Go to play nice.....

I have a Hypervolt 3 Pro, Mg5 Trophy LR and have signed up for IGO.

I am stuck trying to add the car/charger to the iOS 18 version Octopus APP. It hangs while trying to locate the vehicle and says the test charge has failed. I know I can charge the car using the Hypervolt charger stand-alone. I have tried deleting & reinstalling all the APPs without success, doing a hard reset of the Hypervolt unit doesn't help either. Can anyone offer any advice please?

 

[Grith]

I also contacted Octopus with similar enquiry and was told more or less the same;
“To clarify, you will still be on the Intelligent Octopu Go tariff, which means you can continue to charge your EV and solar battery overnight at the fantastic rate of 7p per kWh”
This was in response to a query about solar export/import and how it would affect IOG tariff.
Their website does mention being able to charge EV’s at cheap rate during the day and they will set the charge time/tariff but I do not yet know how this works. If anyone knows how this works I would love to know.

P.S.
If you open your Hypervolt app. Under energy usage it will tell you how much you put into the car, not managed to get the rate section to play ball though!

 

[DK1083]

I switched to Intelligent a few weeks ago but can’t for the life of me work out how “charging” is shown on my bill.
What I can see is that from 00:00-00:30 I’m being charged at 24.5p per kWh and from 00:30-05:30 it’s 8.10p per kWh. Neither of which seem right - what happened to 6.67p?
I have emailed them for an explanation and await their reply.
I’m starting to think they’ve over complicated things with Intelligent and don’t really understand it themselves.
I’m considering switching…

 

[Grith]

Sorry , Ivwas out by 1 hour, charging is only up to 5:30
I’ve attached the tariff from my app. if it helps in any way.

 

[DK1083]

But I don’t understand why I’m being charged full price from midnight to 00:30hrs and why my “cheap” rate period from 00:30hrs on the graph at the bottom of the bill is showing at 8.10p.

 

[JohnV6]

Because you are on Octopus Go not the Intelligent Octopus Go.
This tarrif rates are
Night rate (00:30 - 05:30):

8.5p​

Day rate (05:30 - 00:30):

27.1p​

Standing charge:

48.79p​

To use intelligent go you need an "intelligent charger" & to let Octopus via that charger decide when to charge. You then get the lower rate.

 

[DK1083]

Because you are on Octopus Go not the Intelligent Octopus Go.
This tarrif rates are
Night rate (00:30 - 05:30):

8.5p​

Day rate (05:30 - 00:30):

27.1p​

Standing charge:

48.79p​

To use intelligent go you need an "intelligent charger" & to let Octopus via that charger decide when to charge. You then get the lower rate.

I was assured that both my charger and car were compatible with Intelligent.
This is what my Octopus app shows:

 

[rcworcs]

Ok.. Thanks all for your advice! I bit the bullet yesterday and switched from Go to Intelligent. Plugged the car in and it seems to have charged as hoped for BUT... When on the Go tariff I could see, though a 3rd party app, the amount of kWh used to charge, and the cost and the time it took.
(I keep a record of my charging history!).
There doesn't seem to be a way of separating this information for the car from general household usage, from the Octopus app?
I have raised the query with Octopus but they didn't know if it was possible and have promised to get back to me.
Anyone know if it's possible?

I have a Hypervolt charger and use the charger app to monitor total charging units used.
Octopus won’t separate between the EV charging and normal household use.

 

[rcworcs]

I was assured that both my charger and car were compatible with Intelligent.
This is what my Octopus app shows:
View attachment 34797

That’s just the tariff across the time of day.

 

[Tig170]

I've just had notification of changes ahead, basically to stop people gaming the system, in getting early slots to charge up their home batteries / car during the peak evening period (I guess)

We're making some changes to your 'ready by' time options.​

You'll notice this change from 27th February.​

Here's what you need to know:​

You’ll now only be able to choose a ‘ready by’ time between 4am and 11am This is to ensure you have a smooth charging experience If you need to charge during the daytime, you’ll need to Max Charge instead​

 

[DK1083]

I've just had notification of changes ahead, basically to stop people gaming the system, in getting early slots to charge up their home batteries / car during the peak evening period (I guess)

We're making some changes to your 'ready by' time options.​

You'll notice this change from 27th February.​

Here's what you need to know:​

You’ll now only be able to choose a ‘ready by’ time between 4am and 11am This is to ensure you have a smooth charging experience If you need to charge during the daytime, you’ll need to Max Charge instead​

Nothing received here - yet!

 

[Rolfe]

Seems fair enough to me.

 

[Tig170]

Nothing received here - yet!

It came from Ohme direct, I believe that each charger is set up differently with IOG.

Seems fair enough to me.

I agree, I always thought it was crazy that you were allowed to plug in when I got home, and the MG4 would start charging straight away over the peak energy period & and also allowed you to top up your home batteries at the same time, whilst being charged 7p / unit

@Rolfe : "Home Battery Discharging - when not wanted": I forgot to say, I accidently discovered that if you set a charging schedule on the MG4 between 23:30 - 05:30 (it remembers this every time, so you only need to do this once), then it will force IOG to only work during these periods. I discoverd this a few weeks ago, when couldn't get IOG to initiate during the day. I dont know if this affects DC charging when away from home though!

 

[Tig170]

just set a 01:00am to 04:00am (on the MG4) to see what happens - so far (plugged in), its awaiting power