Intelligent Octopus

[Zero Fuchs]

I'm thinking of switching to Intelligent Octopus as my current cheap rate is coming to an end. Has anyone made the switch and had any issues or is it all plain sailing?

I've an Andersen A2 second gen and while I love it, it's not the most reliable and can drop off the WiFi. I'm wondering if this might leave me high and dry on occasion. Not a huge issue at the moment as I've a REx but may change in the future. TIA.

[gmaz]

I've switched from Octopus Go to IO. Seems to work OK even though my Zappi charger is not fully supported, but the Tesla is.

At first there were issues trying to understand what device should be set to what mode and what schedule, but then I just started using it like Go, where I set a schedule on the Zappi and get 6 hours of 7.5p/kWh

[Zero Fuchs]

Thanks. I'm reading on some other forums that people are disconnecting the app and just charging during the 11:30 to 5:30 window due to some billing issues, but this was back in 2022 so might be sorted now.

Seems like a no brainer as the window is larger and the rate in my area still 7.5p/kWh.

[R32]

Officially speaking you are supposed to do at least 1 "intelligent" charge per month (not just using 11:30-05:30) according to the t&c's. Whether they will actually enforce that is another question though.

I've been using IO for a few months with my Ohme charger and it works really well. Regularly get slots between 5pm - 11:30 when it charges and means all of my house electricity is also at 7.5p during those periods too.

[blueacid]

Zero Fuchs said:

Thanks. I'm reading on some other forums that people are disconnecting the app and just charging during the 11:30 to 5:30 window due to some billing issues, but this was back in 2022 so might be sorted now.

Seems like a no brainer as the window is larger and the rate in my area still 7.5p/kWh.

If you have a supported charging setup (either a car, charger, or ohme cable which is on the supported list) then it makes the most sense as a cheap charging tariff, given it's cheaper than Go.

However, it's not an automatic "yes!" - if you aren't using enough cheap overnight power due to low mileage, then the day rate being higher than the standard tariff might be a consideration, especially if you work from home, or can't/won't run larger appliances such as the dishwasher / washing machine in the night. If you're smashing out the miles and are happy with delay timer, fill 'yer boots!

[gmaz]

R32 said:

Officially speaking you are supposed to do at least 1 "intelligent" charge per month (not just using 11:30-05:30) according to the t&c's. Whether they will actually enforce that is another question though.

I've been using IO for a few months with my Ohme charger and it works really well. Regularly get slots between 5pm - 11:30 when it charges and means all of my house electricity is also at 7.5p during those periods too.

As soon as the Zappi is fully supported I will use it as designed, but at the moment I can't 100% trust it (or rather my configuration of it) to always add the charge I need for the next day.

[theboss]

I started with the Ohme granny charger just to get on the scheme originally when prices were going sky high, but the integration with Ohme is really poor, you're forced to use the Ohme app to control, and you can't tell anything about the allotted charge schedule.

I now integrate with one of our cars which is supported (Mini SE) and this works perfectly via the Octopus app. I too get plenty of off-peak charging windows outside the main 2330-0530. I've also switched to heating water electrically on a night-time schedule.

I have 2 x Zappis now so hopefully they'll integrate natively with those in the future.

[Zero Fuchs]

blueacid said:

Zero Fuchs said:

Thanks. I'm reading on some other forums that people are disconnecting the app and just charging during the 11:30 to 5:30 window due to some billing issues, but this was back in 2022 so might be sorted now.

Seems like a no brainer as the window is larger and the rate in my area still 7.5p/kWh.

If you have a supported charging setup (either a car, charger, or ohme cable which is on the supported list) then it makes the most sense as a cheap charging tariff, given it's cheaper than Go.

However, it's not an automatic "yes!" - if you aren't using enough cheap overnight power due to low mileage, then the day rate being higher than the standard tariff might be a consideration, especially if you work from home, or can't/won't run larger appliances such as the dishwasher / washing machine in the night. If you're smashing out the miles and are happy with delay timer, fill 'yer boots!

That's a good point. I do make the most of the cheap rate and schedule as much as I can. I'd also like to invest in some battery storage but is difficult when electricity costs seem to be coming down slightly.

As always, a spreadsheet needs to be generated!

[R32]

theboss said:

I started with the Ohme granny charger just to get on the scheme originally when prices were going sky high, but the integration with Ohme is really poor, you're forced to use the Ohme app to control, and you can't tell anything about the allotted charge schedule.

I now integrate with one of our cars which is supported (Mini SE) and this works perfectly via the Octopus app. I too get plenty of off-peak charging windows outside the main 2330-0530. I've also switched to heating water electrically on a night-time schedule.

I have 2 x Zappis now so hopefully they'll integrate natively with those in the future.

No use to you now you've moved away from the Ohme, but they have finally introduced a list of the allocated slots which gets shown in the app when you plugin.

[theboss]

R32 said:

theboss said:

I started with the Ohme granny charger just to get on the scheme originally when prices were going sky high, but the integration with Ohme is really poor, you're forced to use the Ohme app to control, and you can't tell anything about the allotted charge schedule.

I now integrate with one of our cars which is supported (Mini SE) and this works perfectly via the Octopus app. I too get plenty of off-peak charging windows outside the main 2330-0530. I've also switched to heating water electrically on a night-time schedule.

I have 2 x Zappis now so hopefully they'll integrate natively with those in the future.

No use to you now you've moved away from the Ohme, but they have finally introduced a list of the allocated slots which gets shown in the app when you plugin.

When did that happen? I tried the Ohme integration last week to see if it had improved but found it no different.

There is an advantage of using Ohme because I have two EVs and its obviously vehicle agnostic.

[TheDeuce]

R32 said:

Officially speaking you are supposed to do at least 1 "intelligent" charge per month (not just using 11:30-05:30) according to the t&c's. Whether they will actually enforce that is another question though.

I've been using IO for a few months with my Ohme charger and it works really well. Regularly get slots between 5pm - 11:30 when it charges and means all of my house electricity is also at 7.5p during those periods too.

Same, I don't think I've ever had just the guaranteed six hours if i've needed more. If I plug in at 2% and ask for 100% IO finds the cheap hours whilst I sleep and job done.

Crazy cheap so far - at least compared to any other way of fuelling a car these days..

[Zero Fuchs]

The spreadsheet said yes (no man maths involved!) so took the plunge and switched over last night. It seemed a no brainer as Octopus Go is now 9.5p/kWh and the standing charge more too. My fix is up in a month or so.

It all went pretty smoothly bar an initial failed attempt to connect but was all fine afterwards. It charged my i3s in two sessions with 30 mins between 03:00 and 03:30. So far so good and hopefully will work more than not.

[R32]

theboss said:

R32 said:

theboss said:

I started with the Ohme granny charger just to get on the scheme originally when prices were going sky high, but the integration with Ohme is really poor, you're forced to use the Ohme app to control, and you can't tell anything about the allotted charge schedule.

I now integrate with one of our cars which is supported (Mini SE) and this works perfectly via the Octopus app. I too get plenty of off-peak charging windows outside the main 2330-0530. I've also switched to heating water electrically on a night-time schedule.

I have 2 x Zappis now so hopefully they'll integrate natively with those in the future.

No use to you now you've moved away from the Ohme, but they have finally introduced a list of the allocated slots which gets shown in the app when you plugin.

When did that happen? I tried the Ohme integration last week to see if it had improved but found it no different.

There is an advantage of using Ohme because I have two EVs and its obviously vehicle agnostic.

It was added to the app in the last couple of weeks. When you first plug in, it pops up a notification with the allocated slots. If you dismiss that notification you are back to trying to work out the slots from the graph, which seems a bit daft. But you can leave the notification there to remind you.

[Zero Fuchs]

Thanks and will do. As a Beta product I expect some hiccups but will just switch to either the car or charger settings if it starts playing up.

I do hope it all works out though as I think it's a great concept but probably needs time to iron things out.

I'm getting a quote for solar and battery storage next. I expect it'll be cost prohibitive but will be interesting what it comes out like. In many way I wish cost wasn't a factor as it'd be great to be less reliant (my hot water solar is brilliant). But hey ho.

[theboss]

R32 said:

theboss said:

R32 said:

theboss said:

I started with the Ohme granny charger just to get on the scheme originally when prices were going sky high, but the integration with Ohme is really poor, you're forced to use the Ohme app to control, and you can't tell anything about the allotted charge schedule.

I now integrate with one of our cars which is supported (Mini SE) and this works perfectly via the Octopus app. I too get plenty of off-peak charging windows outside the main 2330-0530. I've also switched to heating water electrically on a night-time schedule.

I have 2 x Zappis now so hopefully they'll integrate natively with those in the future.

No use to you now you've moved away from the Ohme, but they have finally introduced a list of the allocated slots which gets shown in the app when you plugin.

When did that happen? I tried the Ohme integration last week to see if it had improved but found it no different.

There is an advantage of using Ohme because I have two EVs and its obviously vehicle agnostic.

It was added to the app in the last couple of weeks. When you first plug in, it pops up a notification with the allocated slots. If you dismiss that notification you are back to trying to work out the slots from the graph, which seems a bit daft. But you can leave the notification there to remind you.

I'll give it a go for curiosity's sake, although really I'm planning to move away from Ohme now I have 2xZappi's and will either await the native Zappi integration or alternatively am close to swapping the Audi (which isn't supported for IO as it won't take the current firmware) for something more modern which will be supported.

It will be interesting to see what Octopus do in the future to enable more than one car to be associated with the account.

[Knock_knock]

theboss said:

I'll give it a go for curiosity's sake, although really I'm planning to move away from Ohme now I have 2xZappi's and will either await the native Zappi integration or alternatively am close to swapping the Audi (which isn't supported for IO as it won't take the current firmware) for something more modern which will be supported.

It will be interesting to see what Octopus do in the future to enable more than one car to be associated with the account.

We run two EV's on one Intelligent account, as the Ohme charger is agnostic to what vehicle is plugged in. I created a profile for the larger battery capacity vehicle, and a couple of different charging profiles (Small top-up [30%], Day-to-day [55%], Full charge [80%]) and choose a profile depending on which car is charging that evening.

[TheDeuce]

Plugged my car in with 1% charge, octopus gives me 14 hours of very cheap (7.4p) power

[Zero Fuchs]

Wow that's impressive.

Obviously that 14 hours didn't apply to the rest of the household (wishful thinking!) but it seems that the 6 hour window isn't fixed.

Maybe I misread the small print though.

[theboss]

It would apply to your entire household usage providing you allowed the car to go ahead with the charge

[Zero Fuchs]

When we schedule your charging, you’ll always benefit from the low 7.5p/kWh for both EV and home, even if we ask your car to charge outside of the standard night hours

Ah yes, read the FAQing FAQ!

Time to buy an iX with the unfeasibly large battery

Edited by Zero Fuchs on Monday 19th June 08:14