We have our daughter visiting for 10 days over Christmas, she's on Octopus Go at home and has a VW ID3. She will be bringing a Granny Charger, I'm on Agile tariff. There’s a few local charge points but I was thinking it would be good to use the Granny charger when Agile rates are low overnight, or could I switch temporarily to the Go tariff ?
Check the impact of switching on your standing charge, if you have been on Agile you may be as low as 45p but it is now 64p. (Ask me how I know!)
If I were you I would just plug it in when the rates are ok. A timer of some sort would be useful but some of them may not be up to the power draw. Be careful.
Also, might it be worth you staying on Go after she has Gone from a financial pov?
Watcher
Ah! Yes, I am on the 45p standing charge until January when the tariff renewal will up it to the higher rate. The charger is rated at 10 amps 2.2 kW so a decent Smart Plug should handle it. I have a couple of Givenergy plugs but despite best efforts ( switching off 5g etc etc ) could never get them to register )
I'll dig a little deeper into the relative costs of Go Vs Agile ( I have an AIO so that could get filled nightly)
Thanks for the input 👍
I believe you can only switch tariffs every 30 days so if you do switch to Go you will have to stay on it for 30 days before moving back to Agile. Not that it will make much difference at the moment but on Go you can only use the Outgoing Lite export tariff at 8p/kwh but Agile you can be on the normal Outgoing at 15p/kwh.
I normally go on Agile over the autumn/winter but its not been great this year so switched to Go and it has been cheaper. I only have 8.2kwh battery which doesnt last the between cheap rates but still been cheaper than Agile for me.
Zaz but on Go you can only use the Outgoing Lite export tariff at 8p/kwh but Agile you can be on the normal Outgoing at 15p/kwh.
Not the case anymore. You get the 15p tariff on Go. It was updated a while ago.
https://octopus.energy/smart/outgoing/
Just two types of outgoing now...
Was the original reason I switched off Octopus Go to Agile to get the better export rate.
Just switched back to Go due to the awful Agile rates.
I will switch back to Agile in the New Year as it did actually work out cheaper than Go.
Ultimately when we get a second EV I will pay for an EV charger that can use Intelligent Octopus To get longer and slightly cheaper rates as with two cars I won't be able to wait for Agile rates to drop...
Octopus might not apply their tariff combinations as rigidly as you might expect. For example I switched from Flux to Intelligent Octopus Go and was expecting to have to switch the Flux Export to Fixed Outgoing but I have stayed on Flux Export and have an email from them stating that it’s ok and I can switch if I wanted to.
SteveClubley They'll catch up with you and take the cash back - ask @geoffreycoan as it happened to him six months later 🙂
Whoever sent the email is clueless, which is the normal state of affairs with Octopus support these days....
I thought I’d read that before in this forum. I will try to use the email as mitigation but if that doesn’t work it won’t amount to much as hardly exported anything since switching to IOG. Not that they know right now because metering isn’t working properly e.g. there was intermittent export readings getting to them so they swapped the meter and now there is none and the gas meter readings that were 100% are now 0%. Not good.
SteveClubley The email won't work as "mitigation", Octopus are well known for denying communications from staff are "official" until it gets to formal complaint stage. The ombudsman takes a different view but currently that'll take the best part of a year for you to get a decision.
Edit - I sympathise regarding the metering, they've broken ours again for the 7th time in 18 months. Exactly one year ago they did the same thing so we'll be off to the ombudsman again when they deny its them (again). They are total crap.
I emailed support before switching to Go mid November and they told me I'd have to switch to Outgoing lite if I moved to Go. So far I'm still on the normal Outgoing but I'm fully expecting to suddenly move to lite and backdate the change when they realise. Fortuantely I'm not exporting much at the moment and I've not setup any automation to export the battery excess at 15p before 00:30 then import at 8.5p during cheap period just in case they backdate the rates.
When I moved from Flux to Agile earlier in the year I stayed on Flux Outgoing for a couple of weeks before they changed me but that time they didnt backdate the change.
A consistent approach from Octopus with regards to communications and the actual switching would be very helpful!
Tenkaykev The charger is rated at 10 amps 2.2 kW so a decent Smart Plug should handle it. I
I've heard it's best not to use a smart switch for car charging... apparently abruptly removing power while car is charging can cause arcing within the car (reactive load). Better to use the car's API if you can.
(Okay to start the charge with a smart plug since the charging starts more gently.)
Vestas is absolutely right, Flux is a paired tariff, import and export together, you can’t swap the import to another tariff and keep the export the same - despite Octopus systems allowing this to happen.
I moved from Flux to Agile in October 2023, then in February 2024 received the following email from Octopus:
“ Hello Geoffrey,
We’re reaching out to you today regarding your export tariff with Octopus.
You are currently on our Octopus Flux Export tariff, but have switched your import to one of our other tariffs. Octopus Flux is a dual import/export tariff and you need to have both Flux Import and Flux Export to be able to be eligible for these tariffs.
For this reason, from the date you switched your import tariff, we've replaced your Octopus Flux Export tariff with Octopus Outgoing 12M Fixed. This is our best-value fixed export tariff, with a unit rate of 15p/kWh.
You'll notice these changes on your next energy statement, with the Flux export credits being reversed and replaced with the new Outgoing export credits.
If you wish to go back onto Octopus Flux for your import and export, you can sign-up online here: https://octopus.energy/smart/flux/
Many thanks,
Smart Product Team @ Octopus Energy”
Several emails later including me complaining that this was their fault not mine and I had been undertaking export to gain the best benefits of the Flux tariff, and so moving me onto 15p fixed was unfair, I got the following reply:
“ Hi Geoffrey,
I'm sorry for the delay in recognising the issue but as the Flux tariff is a combined import and export tariff it isn't compatible with the Agile tariff and whilst I can recognise the inconvenience of being credited on Flux and it being reversed we aren't able to place you back on Flux for that period. Whilst we might not have explicitly stated when you switched your import to Agile, it is stated on our website when you signed up to Flux that it is a combined tariff. It is also stated in our terms and conditions which you have to accept in order to move onto the Flux tariff, "2.8.1 The Octopus Flux tariff is a combined import and export tariff, and you therefore cannot be on any other tariffs whilst on the Octopus Flux tariff, with the exception of Octopus Power Pack export". I have added a link below to our smart tariff terms and conditions:
https://octopus.energy/policies/smart-tariffs-terms-and-condition/#octopusflux
I have registered your complaint but we will be marking it as closed as we have acted in line with our terms and conditions which you accepted when you moved to Flux.
Kind Regards,
Calum
Octopus Energy
Team Manager”
Thanks for the info.
DD I've heard it's best not to use a smart switch for car charging... apparently abruptly removing power while car is charging can cause arcing within the car (reactive load). Better to use the car's API if you can.
That's right. Arc can happen, but it will be in the socket, not the car. Car is safe. I damaged a household socket like that, by using a switch on it to stop the charge when I wanted. Had to replace the socket, because switch would not flip any more, probably melted inside.
Best is to stop the charge using car app, by opening the car, and unplugging car-end of the charger first. The switch on the socket is the last to flip, both smart and traditional physical one.
Proper EV charger solves this, as it's always connected and no risk of arc.
geoffreycoan
@Vestas
I won’t be getting into a debate with Octopus after all as I have noticed that they changed my tariff from Flux Export to Outgoing Fixed without any warning on Dec 1st.
UPDATE:
Daughter drove down from Leeds yesterday, just one stop for recharging ( Leeds - Poole ). Connected the Masterplug Granny charger I purchased from Screwfix ( good job I opted for the 10metre one, by the time the cable had been routed out of the kitchen window and on to the drive anything shorter would.t have reached without some juggling ). Impressed with the Masterplug. Lots of relevant info displayed on the charger box itself, Temperature, Voltage, Current, charge rate, charge so far and time connected. Theres a moving green stripe that shows connection at a glance. A little under 30kWh has gone in so far, We're on Agile so what with charging the AIO there's been quite a bit of import. ( When we plugged it in the car was drawing from the AIO, I let it drain it completely as I could then check the 4% - 100% capacity calibration, The AIO shows it charged 13.8kWh overnight.)
We're having a new kitchen in February, I might ask the sparky to fit an outside socket at the same time.
