Category Archives: Octopus

Octopus Energy to double the export rate of its EV tariff

October 9, 2023At Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OctopusRepost

Octopus Energy has confirmed that it will almost double the export rate of its electric vehicle (EV) tariff ‘Octopus Go’ to 8p/kWh.

The export rate for Octopus Go, which provides cost-effective overnight charging for EVs, was previously priced at 4.1p/kWh for exported electricity via the company’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff.

But through the introduction of the new export tariff ‘Outgoing Fixed Lite’, those customers with solar panels and an EV will now receive 8p for each kWh exported back to the grid via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. Octopus stated that the use of this tariff could see an average household make an additional £66 a year.

“Octopus Energy is the number one EV tariff provider for a reason. Thanks to our customers and their EVs helping balance the grid at night, we’ve continued to unlock savings to pass on to our greenest customers. Octopus Go customers with solar panels will now earn twice as much money for the energy they export back to the grid – it certainly pays to be green,” said Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy.

Last week, Octopus Energy announced a number of initiatives to support EV drivers, including a new 15p per kWh export tariff, and a community energy EV charging partnership with Co Charger.

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Octopus Energy launches new combined solar, battery and EV tariff

March 10, 2023Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Octopus, OpinionRepost

Octopus Energy has launched a brand new tariff for customers with solar, a battery and an electric vehicle at home.

Octopus Flux will be able to save customers more than £326 a year compared to the suppliers next more appropriate tariff, it noted.

“We’re delighted to launch our next generation import/export tariff, ‘Octopus Flux’, for those with solar panels and a battery at their home,” an Octopus spokesperson said.

“Octopus Flux customers will receive the best rates for both the power they use and the power they sell back, benefiting from three hours of cheap rates overnight and generous peak export rates.”

It builds on the company’s previous export tariff options, which include;

Agile Outgoing – Export rates are linked to wholesale pricing, changing daily to reflect the wider energy market. Over the last six months, Octopus has paid customers an average of 32.05p/kWh during peak times. In December, customers were paid up to £1.48/kWh for electricity exported back to the grid amid the wider high power prices.
Fixed Outgoing – This tariff offers customers a fixed 15p/kWh for electricity exported back to the grid, this is three times more than any other supplier in the UK, according to Octopus.
Octopus Energy’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff is set at 4.1p/kWh for every unit of power customers export.

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Electric vehicle drivers got paid to fill up this weekend

June 11, 2020Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Octopus, OhmeRepost

Electricity prices went negative for long periods on Octopus Energy’s Agile tariff on the bank holiday weekend
Drivers with the Ohme charger automatically charged their cars when prices were cheap/negative
Ohme drivers got paid around £5 as they charged over 600 miles worth of electricity, enough to drive London to County Durham and back, and would typically cost around £100 in petrol

UK, Thursday 28th May 2020: Over the bank holiday weekend, there were long periods during the day and the night where electric vehicle drivers, using Octopus Agile’s green electricity tariff and an Ohme cable or home charger, were actually paid to charge their car.

One driver, for instance, was paid £4.51 to charge up his Tesla Model 3 with enough electricity to drive over 650 miles – which would have cost over £100 in an equivalent petrol car, a BMW 3 series. That is enough energy to drive from London to County Durham and back.

Another driver, on Twitter, quipped “I drive from Bath to Edinburgh…and Octopus PAY ME enough to buy 2 pints of cask ale and a bag of crisps”, as other drivers were posting energy prices and declaring what they were planning to do, as you can see here.

Wholesale electricity prices were negative because of lower electricity demand, coupled with the weather which was both windy and sunny causing there to be lots of renewable energy available. Octopus Agile charges customers based on wholesale prices which allows people on this tariff to benefit from lower prices when excess power is available. Periods of negative prices are occurring more frequently. For example, on Saturday 23rd May, prices were negative for more than 12 hrs, from early morning to the middle of the day, and drivers were paid up to 11p per kWh used.

Ohme’s smart charging technology enables drivers to optimise each charge according to what they want and what the predicted power prices will be over the next 24 hours. Ohme will turn the charging on-and-off throughout the day-or-night to minimise the costs and take advantage of the lower energy prices. Ohme does all the hard work. This also uses surplus renewable energy which could, otherwise, be wasted if wind turbines are curtailed to balance supply and demand.

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Electric vehicle drivers paid to charge their cars using wind power

January 8, 2020Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OctopusRepost

Drivers of electric vehicles will increasingly be able, not only to charge their cars for free, but will be paid for doing so because of the UK’s increasing reliance on wind power, according to Ohme, a pioneering electric vehicle charging manufacturer.

Windy weather conditions meant that the UK’s windfarms generated a record 16GW or 45% of the UK’s electricity on Sunday 8th December, at times this was more renewable electricity than the electricity grid needed.

This meant that for the first time, drivers who have an Ohme charger and are signed up to supplier Octopus Energy’s Agile time-of-use tariff were actually paid to charge their vehicles. Ohme’s app alerted their customers to the opportunity in advance to encourage them to plug in. This also helped to balance the load on the electricity system.

This news comes on top of Ohme’s proven ability, when combined with a time-of-use energy tariff, to deliver savings of up to 75% of fuel costs to EV drivers versus a petrol or diesel vehicle. In comparison to charging with a standard variable tariff, Ohme can save drivers £250 – £400 per annum.

Consumers who benefitted from the surge in wind power were informed that they would receive up to 5.6p for every kilowatt-hour of electricity used which equates to 1.8p per mile. A Nissan Leaf driver charging the battery from empty to achieve its maximum range of 168 miles would have been paid up to £3.02. The owner of a Jaguar i-Pace would have received £5.25 to charge their battery to max.

It’s Time to Go Green!

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Octopus Energy and Ohme launch smart EV charging cable

July 20, 2019Charging, Electric Cars, OctopusRepost

Octopus Energy and Ohme have collaborated to offer smart EV charging to customers, with the energy company’s time-of-use tariff and the new Ohme cable reducing charging costs.

The cable will manage a customer’s charging depending on requirements, and optimising the process to make the most of the Agile Octopus tariff. Customer’s open Octopus’ app, set their requirements – such as ‘On weekdays, charge my car battery to 100% by 7am’ – and Ohme then uses the energy company’s API to automatically draw the right amount of electricity when it is cheapest.

Estimated cost savings could see those using the Ohme cable and Agile Octopus tariff reduced by £300 per year, compared to charging on a typical standard energy tariff. This not only reduces costs for customers on the smart time-of-use tariff, but also reduces load on the grid.

The cable manages to turn any home or public untethered EV charge point effectively into a smart unit, and costs £399. The first 1,000 Octopus Energy customers will get a special launch price of £199.

The cable can feed back a Green Score to drivers, calculating CO2 consumption per mile, and also a cost per mile summary. It can manage an EV driver’s energy usage and sets charging preferences such as daily commutes or regular trips.

V2G potential ripe to ‘smooth out’ UK renewables intermittency, Octopus EV chief says

April 24, 2019Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OctopusRepost

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology could “smooth out” the intermittency issues of renewables within the next ten years, says Octopus Electric Vehicles CEO Fiona Howarth.

With a new partnership between Octopus Energy, Octopus Electric Vehicles, Engenie and Marston’s, Octopus Electric Vehicles has expanded its EV portfolio. Eight charge points at Marston’s pubs will be powered with renewable energy from Octopus Energy, with 400 charge points to be installed by the end of 2020.

Last year, Octopus Electric Vehicles solidified its commitment to V2G technology through the launch of the Octopus ‘Powerloop’, a bundled service offering consumers a new Nissan Leaf with V2G charging capabilities, among other benefits, and is created by a consortium led by Octopus Energy.

At the time of launch, Octopus Energy suggested that 38GW of flexible capacity could be added to the grid by 2030 through V2G. Now, Fiona Howarth, CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles, says that within that same time frame V2G could be used to “smooth out all of the demand and supply and have a really smooth consumption profile” that matches intermittent renewable energy.

“[Renewable energy] is intermittent; the sun shines at certain times of the day, the wind blows when it blows. So actually with things like V2G we can totally smooth that out now and move to a much more renewable environment.”

In its Future Energy Scenarios published in July 2018, National Grid predicted that as many as 11 million EVs could be on the road by 2030 and 36 million by 2040. Howarth says that these numbers are an example of why both smart charging and V2G technologies are important to the transition to green energy.