Octopus energy query.

[remarkable1967]

Hi all,
17 weeks and counting hopefully for my MG4. I am currently with Octopus so have been in discussions about fitting a wall charger. I've had a quote to supply and install an Ohme home pro at £999 which is £80 dearer than the Podpoint fitted price I also got from Podpoint themselves. The guy that then called me from Octopus said that MG were now recognised on their system so that I could get Octopus Intelligent (6 hrs at 10p) rather than Octopus Go (4 hrs at 12p) so swings and roundabouts on the tariff/charges install cost. As I wasn't completely convinced by what the guy said, can anyone confirm that MG does now qualify for Octopus Intelligent. Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the difference and benefits between Intelligent and Go and also, if I go ahead and get the Podpoint installed independently, will Octopus still offer me an EV tariff. Oh and also, the guy wouldn't or couldn't give me an idea of cost to install a smart meter. I had heard these might be free. Sorry to go on a bit but any help would be appreciated.
Ta.... Mark

 

[russlp]

As I understand it, if you have the Ohme charger then Intelligent will work with any car. If you have a non-ohm charger than at present it won't support the MG.

 

[Alb]

As above, the Octopus rep was probably saying that the Ohme Charge Point was recognised, not MG cars.

 

[kelloggs]

I’ll second that. I’ve had an ohme charger for over 2 years on octopus go Which runs out in a few weeks. I was lucky to fix at 5p 4hr slot for 2 years. I’m changing to intelligent as I have storage batteries and move dishwasher, washing machine, battery recharge and car recharge to the cheaper slots. The ohme charger works with intelligent but at present they don’t integrate MG.

 

[Gomev]

If you do go with the Podpoint or even the Ohme, changing to Go as you are a customer already is done online in the app or website. I don't think you have to ask permission, but you will need meters that they can take readings from.

 

[Cocijo]

Ohme certainly seems to be the more advanced of the two, with greater functionality to take advantage of fluctuations in rates. It’s more set and forget than most.

 

[Alb]

The cost of installing a smart meter BTW should be zero

 

[remarkable1967]

Thanks all. Will be calling Octopus on Friday to find out lead times for smart meter and charger so that we don't get caught out. Can't imagine the car delivery will be within 17 weeks so hopefully should have time.
Cheers..... Mark

 

[securespark]

I'm with Octopus.

I came into the whole EV business knowing nothing about chargers and charging.

Well, that's not quite true. I had heard from various folk that it can be a nightmare using public chargers, finding one that worked, having the right app in order to use it etc....

We took delivery of our car well before the charger installer could get their act in gear. Therein lies a story, but maybe for another time.

The crux of it was, we didn't realise that all chargers are NOT born equal. The first one we ordered was not compatible with MG or Octopus, so would not utilise the cheap rate.

We did order an Electroverse card each, which means we can use a good deal of the public chargers out there using just one card. We can also opt to put the charges onto our electricity bill. We also used the granny lead.

We had our smart meter installed a couple of weeks ago and had the Home Pro charger fitted yesterday.

The installer raced through the set-up process like Mo Farah, leaving my head spinning.

I had to download the Ohme app, then set up an account, scan the code on the charger and choose various options.

Then I had to download the Octopus app and sign in to my electricity account, run through some set up, then it asked me to plug the car in.

Cue a pause of a few hours as the car was not at home. It said it would recognise the car, do a test charge, then, if all was well, it would swap us to the cheap EV rate.

It told me the test charge process was all good, so I went into the Octopus app to see if the tariff had been swapped.

This is where it got a bit odd because the tariff showing in the Octopus app is our old one, Flexible Octopus.

And apparently, you can't set up charging from the Octopus app, you need to use the Ohme one.

So I go to the Ohme app and discover that we have been swapped to a cheap rate.

It's odd that Ohme can tell me my current tariff, but Octopus can't.

For me, there are too many processes, too many apps.

I just want to set the app to charge the motor at the cheapest rate, tap yes to charge and get a cost per "tankful" when it's done.

Something very simple.

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi, if you are on IO then check out the FB group. Trust the process.
What EVSE was not compatible with your MG and Octopus?

 

[securespark]

Easee. I was told I could not have the cheap Octopus rate with an Easee charger and MG told me it would not have "full functionality".

 

[Jomarkh]

You can get Octopus Go with a 'granny' EVSE unit and MG won't release any API information for 'full functionality'

 

[securespark]

Used the Home Pro for the first time last night. It did the job but I felt the app wasn't intuitive.

When the Ohme app showed the charge, it was not a percentage but the number of miles it was adding.

To see the battery percentage, I had to switch to the MG app.

Fiddly.

 

[mg4mc]

MG do not allow anyone else to read the battery SoC

 

[GaryMG4]

MG do not allow anyone else to read the battery SoC

Odd I'm pretty sure the Zest rapid charger I used recently showed my SoC while I was charging.

 

[mj224]

MG do not allow anyone else to read the battery SoC

Every time I use a Greidserve Charger, it tells me the State of Charge as it charges....

 

[Gomev]

SOC available when DC charging, not on AC charging.

 

[mg4mc]

Yep, AC charging uses a different data exchange from DC rapid charging. Aiui SoC was never included in the AC data, so the charger/supplier has to use the car manufacturers API to read it over the air from the car. Unlike some other makes, MG do not allow this.