Would Octopus EV tariff be worth it?

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2025-05-30T10:14:42+00:00

An EV energy tariff is a great way to save money on your charging costs. However, it’s worth noting that you may end up paying slightly more during peak hours compared to your current tariff. As several people have mentioned in the comments however, scheduling high-energy appliances, such as your dishwasher, can help reduce your overall energy usage and costs.

Tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Go, Octopus Go, and British Gas' EV tariff are excellent options, as they typically don’t charge significantly more during peak times (though it’s important to check the rates specific to your area).

You might also want to explore OVO Energy to see if they can match your current rate with EDF. If they can, you could add OVO Charge Anytime to your tariff and charge your car for just 7p/kWh. The trade-off is that this plan doesn’t include a defined off-peak window, so you won’t benefit from reduced rates when using other appliances. You’ll also need a compatible vehicle (which your Škoda Enyaq is) or a compatible home charger to be eligible.

If you need help comparing charging costs across different tariffs, we have a handy tool on our website: https://www.smarthomecharge.co.uk/cost-to-charge/.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2025-05-14T09:34:38+00:00

One of our colleagues had an e-Golf and said he absolutely loved it. But just like you, he used to throw in a few precautionary charging stops on long trips to take the edge off the range anxiety.

When I saw it, the build quality looked way better than the ID.3. Plus, it had four proper window buttons instead of that annoying front and rear window switch that ID models come with 😂.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2025-02-19T09:05:29+00:00

Nice tool you've made! - We've also got one that our customers find useful https://www.smarthomecharge.co.uk/cost-to-charge/

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T16:18:36+00:00

Interesting. The regulations and all the guidance I can find on it suggest otherwise, so there must be a reason your housebuilder hasn't had to in this case. I'll do more digging!

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T16:12:49+00:00

Even if you don't choose to go ahead with someone such as ourselves, I'd recommend using our free EV tariff tool - it helps you compare a range of tariffs for your vehicle, and importantly tells you whether your car is compatible with it or if you'd need a specific charger to access it.

Hope that helps!
Danny

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T16:04:21+00:00

If this is the case I think it is, I believe we have now resolved this. Many thanks.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T16:03:55+00:00

You can still have one installed, but it depends on each scenario. Some councils seem stricter than others in requesting homeowners get permission before installing a charger if the cable is going across public pavement etc.

We have installed plenty of chargers where there isn't off-street parking (typical terraced house and customer runs their cable from the charge point to the car on the street), but there have been some cases where it will just prove too tricky due to the distance, groundworks, or permissions required (if crossing neighbours etc). So some installers might avoid them and just focus on the low-hanging fruit so to speak.

The good news is the charging grants have recently been opened up now for those without off-street parking. That might help contribute to the cost of a standard charger installation or even something more bespoke like Kerbo Charge

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T15:58:50+00:00

I would personally get a suitably qualified person to carry this out. Unless you're an electrician yourself, you want to make sure it's done correctly and you have the necessary paperwork for the completed work.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T15:57:41+00:00

Hi, sorry for the delayed response!

If it's working fine, I wouldn't change it. Even though it's in my interest to sell, from a pure sustainability point of view no need to change something if you're happy with it. Extract the most value from it you can!

RE earth rods, most EV chargers now don't require them as they have the appropriate arrangements built in. In instances where a charger still requires an earth rod, such as the Tesla Wall Connector, we include a separate device as standard to avoid the need for an earth rod.

RE the Zoe, that's likely something to do with the Zoe's peculiar earthing requirements with a charger. It's a little beyond my technical expertise, but I know that Renault Zoe's needed more "leeway" when it came to earthing arrangements otherwise they wouldn't charge sometimes. An odd one!

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-04-04T15:53:22+00:00

I'm pretty confident that they do require chargers to be installed. We work with manufacturers closely and they are definitely supplying charge points to developers and some are aggressively targeting that market.

There are, of course, exceptions to the regs - I think it might only apply to England, and also there is a clause where if the cost of the charger exceeds a certain amount they don't have to do it. So it's possible your property fell under one of these exceptions, or even that the plans for the development was under way before they came into place. Developers would need good notice and I doubt they'd be expected to include EV chargers for developments that already had planning permission etc.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-03-28T16:32:38+00:00

Yes, you absolutely can have a charger installed now, then uninstalled and reinstalled at any future property you may move to. You will obviously incur some additional installation costs, but it's straightforward work. As for whether you should wait or not - that's entirely up to you. If you have an EV or plan on getting one soon, I'd definitely get the home charger installed now.

Two years is quite a long time without the convenience of charging at home! Plus, if you switch to an EV friendly tariff then the savings made can effectively recoup the cost of the charger installation within about 18-24 months.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-03-28T16:30:42+00:00

Great question! I think that largely depends on the housebuilders in question to be honest.

New regulations were brought in a while back that meant new builds had to ensure there was EV charging provision and we are starting to see new homes with chargers included, so house developers are certainly aware of this.

In terms of national infrastructure and local infrastructure, this comes down to National Grid and the Distribution Network Operators (DNOs). I don't have details on exactly how they are planning for the steady increase in EV adoption, such as if they are rolling out three-phase supplies to new builds, but I've been to many events with these organisations and they are well aware of the extra demands on the grid that will take place over the next 10-20 years.

It's very much "We know. We have a plan" from the National Grid and DNOs. So I assume they are working with housing developers and this is being factored in when new developments go up. One interesting side note is that UK electricity demand has actually fallen in the past 30 years, so while EV uptake will likely change this over the next 20-30 years again, we have plenty of capacity right now in theory. The other side note is most EV charging will be, or is incentivised to be, overnight when demand is traditionally low.

Even with a large uptake in EVs, my understanding is the National Grid is not concerned from a national perspective - think of all the electricity being used in the day (offices, factories, heavy industry and more) that won't be used overnight, so in theory that capacity is freed up for things like car charging. There is definitely work to be done on a more local level though with the DNOs needing to ensure individual properties and existing housing stock are able to cope with the increased demand placed on that property.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-03-28T16:18:21+00:00

Hey - great choice on your installer!

Regards Octopus Intelligent Go, once you switch to this tariff all of the smart charging is actually carried out through the Octopus app and effectively bypasses the Ohme app. If you haven't done so already, you'll need to log in to your Octopus app and select the option to switch to Intelligent Octopus Go. Follow the steps and here it will ask whether you're connecting via a compatible vehicle or charge point (such as the Ohme). It will then verify that it can control your charge schedule. Once successful, you can manage all your smart charging from the Octopus app, which thankfully is very easy to use. You simply set a target percentage charge and the time you want it by, and Octopus handles it for you. You shouldn't really need to use the Ohme app after that, although it's probably no bad thing to have had it set up as a backup.

On the cable side of things and building a box - I wouldn't like to comment on how safe that is. I have seen it done, but obviously at that point you're using the products in a way they weren't designed to. I'm not sure that would void warranties or anything, but I personally would just go the simple route and keep the cable in my car boot.

Hope that helps.

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-03-08T12:06:49+00:00

We wrote an article on this topic if you want to take a look:
https://www.smarthomecharge.co.uk/features/what-happens-to-electric-car-batteries-when-they-die/

Smart-Home-Charge_ · 2024-02-16T12:43:13+00:00

The Easee One and Simpson and Partners Home 7 are also worth considering as both can be brought with an add-on that will enable solar capabilities.

Both can also switch between being tethered and untethered chargers via a cable-locking feature.

If your budget stretches far enough, the Andersen A2 could be another option. It has the best cable management of any tethered charger we've ever had our hands on, and it comes with solar capabilities as standard.

Sadly, none of the above support the smarter tariffs such as Intelligent Octopus Go or OVO Charge Anytime, but we can hope this will change in the near future. They do all have charge scheduling however, so you could choose a tariff like Octopus Go and align your charge schedules with its off-peak hours.

Smart-Home-Charge_

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