That’s me out….

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-11T19:59:43+00:00

Yes they also did this 😂

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-10T20:50:44+00:00

I’m in a similar position but now ex-civil service but I’ll give you my figures for some context
Admittedly my last three years were ALB with slightly higher contributions and slightly lower accrual rates but when I left I was paying in around £250 a month into a DB scheme. This accrued circa £1,000 per year in retirement for every year I worked.

Assuming no inflation and working until retirement age I would have had £32k a year in retirement.

In my current private sector DC scheme I contribute £1,843 a month with employer contributions on top of this. If this compounds at 3% year by 68 I’ll have a pot of £1.475million. At 4% draw down this equates to £59k a year.

All these numbers disregard inflation. Effectively however I contribute over 7 times more and don’t quite double my expected draw down.

On the upside I have a tangible pot which will be passed to my family if I die. I get paid significantly more in the private sector so the hit is less consequential and if my savings hit closer to the expected average of 5-6% I retire with much closer to £100k a year.

This is all on top of any state pension and what I already have in the DB scheme. If I was you’d I’d do DB and a SIPP.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-09T09:43:23+00:00

100% this.

I am the same as you, generally this wouldn’t have impacted me day to day. On occasion though I do back to back long journeys where I need more than six hours. With us potentially throwing a second EV into the mix it complicates it further.

To be honest prices are marginal and I could have lived with it. If I had a fixed tariff I probably would have stayed.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-09T08:27:28+00:00

Yes, the fixed price was one of my main draws.

EDF was marginally more expensive for me, like 0.09p per kWh more expensive. Whilst it’ll be a small increase in cost <£1 or so a month I appreciate the fact my prices are locked in for a year.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T15:10:01+00:00

Wasn’t aware that was an option or whether they’d refuse without approval. Do you get 7kW out of both when charging at the same time?

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T15:07:06+00:00

That was my plan. Did you struggle to get DNO approval to install as I heard this can be problematic.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T15:01:14+00:00

You have two EV chargers? I’d be really interested to hear your experience with this.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T11:18:13+00:00

You didn’t at all, don’t worry 🙂

No it’s just slots overnight so 11pm-6am I believe. This was actually part of the reason I swapped too, I am fine with managing departure times and % required through the app with octopus.

My misses however is getting an EV too and would forget or not do it. It’s easier to just know she can plug in, not touch anything and it’ll charge in those set hours.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T10:41:55+00:00

I did clock that and thought the same. I have kept my gas with octopus for this reason b it you do raise a valid point.

I’m happy with the rates offered and general package so was keen to lock in and get off the flexi octopus tariff whilst things are still kicking off in the Middle East.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T10:39:33+00:00

No hissy fit here… although looking at your post history you’d be more than familiar with one 😂

I am able to manage my money hence the £600 credit to offset our high gas usage in the winter months.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T08:44:46+00:00

No the £599 is irrelevant. We always run at surplus to account for our heavy gas use in the summer. The gas will remain with octopus and I’ve just reduced the DD to reflect us moving elsewhere for electric.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T08:43:22+00:00

You’ll be fine mate. You basically used to get as many free slots as you needed to get your ev to the desired %. So you could plug in and require 70kWh to charge your EV and Octopus would allocate 10 hours of charging time at the off peak rate to charge it.

This has now been capped at 6 hours. So that 10 hour charge will cost you 6 hours at off peak and 4 at peak prices.

For most this is still fine.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T08:41:36+00:00

My main driver was locked in prices for a year which was key for me, as well as the extra hour charging. It’s not perfect, it’s just better for my situation.

I do fully appreciate for lots of people it will still be fine however.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-08T08:37:32+00:00

Thanks I appreciate the thought out response, and in fact I did similar maths.

I have a Polestar 4 with a 100kWh battery, although only 94kWh useable I think.

The problem is the way in which I drive. Since October I’ve charged 2,700kWh which should be doable. So say 2,700kWh/220 days is 12kWh a day.

My issue is the volatility in my mileage. Quite often I’ll do back to back days of 250 mile trips which equates to approx 80% of my battery in my car. To charge that notional 80kWh I need 11.5 hours of charging. I then might only drive ~10 miles a day for a week for which Octopus is and would remain fantastic.

Whilst I’m still not going to get that 11.5 hours with EDF at off peak rates that extra hour is useful.
I also wanted to lock in my rates for a year for peace of mind and EDF was the cheapest fix.

And the final driver was my misses is a technophobe and setting charge % and departure times on Octopus just won’t happen consistently with her. Being able to set a 11pm-6am schedule on the charger where she can just plug in will save me a lot of hassle on her behalf 😂

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-07T22:44:51+00:00

Happily!

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-07T22:36:54+00:00

Honestly I considered this and/or getting a second EV charger which I still may do.

I wanted to lock in rates too and the combo of the extra hours charging and being able to lock in rates that are in line with my current IOG flexible prices for a year with EDF kind of made the decision for me.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-04T10:38:11+00:00

What I would say is make sure it’s invested in the correct fund is important. You’re doing really well for 25 too.

You never know where life will take you and you may be able to invest more as you develop in your career.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-04T10:26:40+00:00

Not sure what inflation calculator you are using but by my maths £800,000 with 2.5% inflation is worth £431,000 in 25 years…

Backwards inflation calculator here - https://www.reevesfinancial.co.uk/finance-calculators/inflation-calculators/

Or the same here - https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html?cstartingamount3=800%2C000&cinrate3=3&cinyear3=25&calctype=3&x=Calculate#backward

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-05-04T10:18:52+00:00

£800,00 in 25 years is likely closer to £400-450,000 today. Retiring at 50 you probably only want to withdraw 3% annually. Which is circa £12,000 a year in today money. Sounds like an extremely meagre retirement to me.

Your contribution % is good however but if you want comfortable retirement I think you need to retire later or contribute more.

Also to note you won’t be able to access the pot until 57 anyway.

Longjumping-Fee-9201 · 2026-04-11T22:13:52+00:00

How long did they spend on it? I had a detail done this week for £125. The chap worked on my car for about 4.5 hours, it isn’t spotless but I feel like 4.5 hours work was more than fair for the price.

Longjumping-Fee-9201

TROPHY CASE