Octopus and price cap

[carl_w]

Hi all,

Have a BMW i4 on order for Feb/March delivery. My understanding of the price cap is that the difference between the cap and the free market unit rate is financed by the government. So does anyone have a deal that is price cap during the day and cheap overnight?

I'm currently on the Octopus standard variable tariff having been transferred to them when Avro Energy went bust.

[TheDeuce]

Switch to octopus go, you can do it anytime I believe. Then you'll pay about 4p more during the day and just 7-8p during the night.

There's no capped tarriffs that have the cheap night time energy but it's still vastly cheaper overall if you have an EV.

My average per kWh after over a month is a little under 17p.

[tamore]

or intelligent octopus and get an ohme charger. 6 hours of off peak and octopus can randomly lob power into your car at the off peak rate at any time if they need to dump power off the local grid.

[paradigital]

tamore said:

or intelligent octopus and get an ohme charger. 6 hours of off peak and octopus can randomly lob power into your car at the off peak rate at any time if they need to dump power off the local grid.

This. My average p/kwh last month on intelligent was 26.7p. The 6 hours of 7.5p/kwh is useful for more than just charging the car, dishwasher and washing machine tend to run then as well, which helps

[TheDrownedApe]

paradigital said:

This. My average p/kwh last month on intelligent was 26.7p. The 6 hours of 7.5p/kwh is useful for more than just charging the car, dishwasher and washing machine tend to run then as well, which helps

Yet I found that the day rate on intelligent was more than my Go tariff and therfore not as good a deal. Even with the balance extra 2 hrs of 7.5p AND the potential for cheaper charge was still not worth it....for me and my EV mileage.

On the other thread I posted a Sept average of 22.29 but on intelligent it would be, likely, a little more

[carl_w]

tamore said:

or intelligent octopus and get an ohme charger. 6 hours of off peak and octopus can randomly lob power into your car at the off peak rate at any time if they need to dump power off the local grid.

Yes I'm looking at the ohme charger but Octopus suggests that the BMW isn't on their list of load shedding cars.

[Register1]

carl_w said:

tamore said:

or intelligent octopus and get an ohme charger. 6 hours of off peak and octopus can randomly lob power into your car at the off peak rate at any time if they need to dump power off the local grid.

Yes I'm looking at the ohme charger but Octopus suggests that the BMW isn't on their list of load shedding cars.

Octopus prefered EV is Tesla.

[tamore]

carl_w said:

tamore said:

or intelligent octopus and get an ohme charger. 6 hours of off peak and octopus can randomly lob power into your car at the off peak rate at any time if they need to dump power off the local grid.

Yes I'm looking at the ohme charger but Octopus suggests that the BMW isn't on their list of load shedding cars.

any vehicle works with an ohme charger i believe. i bought an ohme cable as my charger was installed in 2014 and is effectively dumb as BP eventually took Polar over and can't be arsed supporting them properly. the ohme interface picks up the 7.5p rate only as that's what i set it to, so would work with agile and should work with the load shedding thing...... i think. they do wall units too.

[PF62]

carl_w said:

My understanding of the price cap is that the difference between the cap and the free market unit rate is financed by the government. So does anyone have a deal that is price cap during the day and cheap overnight?

They won’t because the government discount is only applied if the rate isn’t below the ‘floor’ price of 34p.

With day/night tariffs the ‘rate’ is calculated as an average based on a 58%/42% day/night split, so the rate falls under the ‘floor’ and so no government discount.

[phil4]

TheDrownedApe said:

Yet I found that the day rate on intelligent was more than my Go tariff and therfore not as good a deal. Even with the balance extra 2 hrs of 7.5p AND the potential for cheaper charge was still not worth it....for me and my EV mileage.

On the other thread I posted a Sept average of 22.29 but on intelligent it would be, likely, a little more

Since Go, and Intelligent overlap, logically the only way that can be true is if you fixed on an old Go tarrif, back when they were 13p, 25p, or 32p peak. Then yes, of course that'll be cheaper than signing up now, as both Go and Intelligent are 40p peak.

If you're starting out now, and can get the required charger, Intelligent is the better bet as same price as Go but with at least 2 extra hours off peak.

[carl_w]

PF62 said:

They won’t because the government discount is only applied if the rate isn’t below the ‘floor’ price of 34p.

With day/night tariffs the ‘rate’ is calculated as an average based on a 58%/42% day/night split, so the rate falls under the ‘floor’ and so no government discount.

Thanks, that was my fear.

[TheDeuce]

carl_w said:

PF62 said:

They won’t because the government discount is only applied if the rate isn’t below the ‘floor’ price of 34p.

With day/night tariffs the ‘rate’ is calculated as an average based on a 58%/42% day/night split, so the rate falls under the ‘floor’ and so no government discount.

Thanks, that was my fear.

You need to calculate how much cheap rate power you will likely use, because the fact the daytime rate isn't capped might be more or less irrelevant for you anyway.

What is your current monthly usage without the EV, and how many miles a year so you expect to do in the EV when you have it?

We do about 10k miles a year in ours which represents about 60% of our total electric bill, but in addition to that a big chunk of our none EV electricity usage occurs during cheap hours too, throw in the additional cheap rate hours octopus give us at random throughout the day and over 70% of our electricity is cheap rate.

[PF62]

carl_w said:

PF62 said:

They won’t because the government discount is only applied if the rate isn’t below the ‘floor’ price of 34p.

With day/night tariffs the ‘rate’ is calculated as an average based on a 58%/42% day/night split, so the rate falls under the ‘floor’ and so no government discount.

Thanks, that was my fear.

Just shift your major electricity consumption to the cheap rate, and even without the EV charging the average rate will end up being well under the government cap.

[SWoll]

PF62 said:

carl_w said:

PF62 said:

They won’t because the government discount is only applied if the rate isn’t below the ‘floor’ price of 34p.

With day/night tariffs the ‘rate’ is calculated as an average based on a 58%/42% day/night split, so the rate falls under the ‘floor’ and so no government discount.

Thanks, that was my fear.

Just shift your major electricity consumption to the cheap rate, and even without the EV charging the average rate will end up being well under the government cap.

Easier said than done though. Electic showers, ovens, hobs etc. will always need to be used during peak hours and unless your appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers and dish washers have built in timers you're stuck there also.

[What The Deuces]

SWoll said:

Easier said than done though. Electic showers, ovens, hobs etc. will always need to be used during peak hours and unless your appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers and dish washers have built in timers you're stuck there also.

You could use wireless plugs on a schedule?

[Bannock]

What The Deuces said:

SWoll said:

Easier said than done though. Electic showers, ovens, hobs etc. will always need to be used during peak hours and unless your appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers and dish washers have built in timers you're stuck there also.

You could use wireless plugs on a schedule?

Not sure what you mean by "wireless plugs", but I've tried to do this with my tumble dryer and dishwasher, which don't have built in timers, using the sort of plug-in timers I use to activate lights in the house on a schedule when I'm away on holiday. Sadly it didn't work. Because you have to physically press a start button on the machines to commence a cycle. If you start a cycle, then cut the power using a timer on the plug/socket, the machine loses the initial instruction to start the cycle and only comes "on" ready to have the start button physically pressed again. I am particularly bloody annoyed that I only replaced the dishwasher with a new one a year ago and didn't get one with a timer as the situation hadn't yet arisen where I'd want to go on a tariff like Octopus Go (which I started on this April).

Edited by Bannock on Monday 10th October 13:21

[SWoll]

What The Deuces said:

SWoll said:

Easier said than done though. Electic showers, ovens, hobs etc. will always need to be used during peak hours and unless your appliances like washing machines, tumble dryers and dish washers have built in timers you're stuck there also.

You could use wireless plugs on a schedule?

The devices would still need starting manaually. Just powering them isn't enough, hence the need for a built in timer.

[anonymous-user]

TheDeuce said:

Switch to octopus go, you can do it anytime I believe. Then you'll pay about 4p more during the day and just 7-8p during the night.

There's no capped tarriffs that have the cheap night time energy but it's still vastly cheaper overall if you have an EV.

My average per kWh after over a month is a little under 17p.

20p more during the day (54p per kWh as quoted this am) and 7.5p at night.
Does not work for us.

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 10th October 13:32

[Merry]

Bannock said:

Not sure what you mean by "wireless plugs", but I've tried to do this with my tumble dryer and dishwasher, which don't have built in timers, using the sort of plug-in timers I use to activate lights in the house on a schedule when I'm away on holiday. Sadly it didn't work. Because you have to physically press a start button on the machines to commence a cycle. If you start a cycle, then cut the power using a timer on the plug/socket, the machine loses the initial instruction to start the cycle and only comes "on" ready to have the start button physically pressed again. I am particularly bloody annoyed that I only replaced the dishwasher with a new one a year ago and didn't get one with a timer as the situation hadn't yet arisen where I'd want to go on a tariff like Octopus Go (which I started on this April).

Edited by Bannock on Monday 10th October 13:21

You'd be better on go faster. Gives you 5 hours between 21:30 and 2:30, for an 8.25p rate.

That's early enough to get the dishwasher/dryer/washing machine on manually. We've managed to move half our load into this off peak time (including charging a phev).

[Bannock]

Merry said:

Bannock said:

Not sure what you mean by "wireless plugs", but I've tried to do this with my tumble dryer and dishwasher, which don't have built in timers, using the sort of plug-in timers I use to activate lights in the house on a schedule when I'm away on holiday. Sadly it didn't work. Because you have to physically press a start button on the machines to commence a cycle. If you start a cycle, then cut the power using a timer on the plug/socket, the machine loses the initial instruction to start the cycle and only comes "on" ready to have the start button physically pressed again. I am particularly bloody annoyed that I only replaced the dishwasher with a new one a year ago and didn't get one with a timer as the situation hadn't yet arisen where I'd want to go on a tariff like Octopus Go (which I started on this April).

Edited by Bannock on Monday 10th October 13:21

You'd be better on go faster. Gives you 5 hours between 21:30 and 2:30, for an 8.25p rate.

That's early enough to get the dishwasher/dryer/washing machine on manually. We've managed to move half our load into this off peak time (including charging a phev).

Thanks, I'll look into it.

EDIT: Non-starter. Go Faster is no longer available. Intelligent Octopus is 11.30pm-5.30am only and not compatible with my current vehicle.

Edited by Bannock on Monday 10th October 13:43