[kebl2555]

Hi all, I am currently on a standard variable plan with British Gas. With my iX3 due to arrive in July, I've had a Pod Point (was the cheapest but realise not the smartest) already installed and am now starting to review what energy plans will be available and sensible to move to.

Please can you let me know if you've recently had to go through the same decision process and what you ended up doing?

[ggla]

Went on to Octopus go at 7.5p between 00:30 and 04:30 then 30p or so outside those times.

Now making me think I should get a home battery to charge during those times to power the house during those times.

[edwardgb1111]

I’ve ordered an Easee One smart charger. I don’t want a smart meter so will have to stick to our current tariff which is closer to 30ppkw

[adam.b]

At the moment any current ev tariffs are rubbish! Save you about 22 pence over 4 hrs for every 24hrs, then remaining 20 hours on standard tariff are more expensive than normal standard (not ev) tariff.
When I calculated for my self available ev tariffs in best scenario sticking to 4hrs cheap electricity I will gain no more than £8 a month, not worth the hustle at the moment.

[R_Soul]

As others have mentioned Octopus Go seems to be working OK for us. We run everything possible (dishwasher, washer and charging two EV’s) during the cheap rate.

The biggest drawback is that you would not be able to fully charge your iX3 (flat to full) in one cheap rate window. 4 hours will add about 40% to the battery. So to get a full charge at cheap rate you will need to do it over 2 or 3 days.

This is OK for us as we mostly WFH, so might not suit all.

[The shadow]

With eon on a fixed tariff for the next 18 months 24p/kwh & crucially 12p/kwh for 7hours at night

[Imspartacus123]

Originally Posted by R_Soul

As others have mentioned Octopus Go seems to be working OK for us. We run everything possible (dishwasher, washer and charging two EV’s) during the cheap rate.

The biggest drawback is that you would not be able to fully charge your iX3 (flat to full) in one cheap rate window. 4 hours will add about 40% to the battery. So to get a full charge at cheap rate you will need to do it over 2 or 3 days.

This is OK for us as we mostly WFH, so might not suit all.

I have yet to get my EV, but already thinking about tariffs, I'm currently on the Octopus variable after being moved there when AVRO energy went bust

I am thinking about the Octopus Go, as 4 hours would probably be enough for us each night (28KWh'ish). It would be nice if they gave an hour mid afternoon as a little booster too.

Like you we would then try and get other stuff using that cheaper energy too, dishwasher, dryer, washing machine, hot tub (max out at 40 so during the day it should stay >35)

[hollpe]

I'm on OVO Drive anytime and have been really pleased with it (5p per kWh for EV charging). The only downside is that only a few smart chargers are supported. I started a thread on it if you want some more details on who it works:

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1901574

[R_Soul]

Originally Posted by The shadow

With eon on a fixed tariff for the next 18 months 24p/kwh & crucially 12p/kwh for 7hours at night

That’s a good tariff, is it dual fuel? We don’t have gas round our way so can’t get some tariffs.

[The shadow]

Originally Posted by R_Soul

That’s a good tariff, is it dual fuel? We don’t have gas round our way so can’t get some tariffs.

Yes dual fuel, unfortunately they pulled the tariff just after I signed up last September.

[FMIB]

I only do a limited mileage, so checking my post code for the current Octopus Go rates, the rates are not viable as the peak rate will kill me. Until energy prices reduce I will be better off on the Government capped rate as I use far more peak electricity than for the car.

Unit rate (04:30 - 00:30):
35.66p/ kWh
Unit rate (00:30 - 04:30):
7.50p/ kWh
Standing Charge:
41.39p/ day

British Gas, who I am currently with, where my fixed contract ends in 2 months is even more of a joke for EV rates:
Peak unit rate
43.455p / kWh
Off Peak unit rate
21.000p / kWh
Standing charge
49.969p / day*

[The shadow]

Originally Posted by FMIB

I only do a limited mileage, so checking my post code for the current Octopus Go rates, the rates are not viable as the peak rate will kill me. Until energy prices reduce I will be better off on the Government capped rate as I use far more peak electricity than for the car.

Unit rate (04:30 - 00:30):
35.66p/ kWh
Unit rate (00:30 - 04:30):
7.50p/ kWh
Standing Charge:
41.39p/ day

British Gas, who I am currently with, where my fixed contract ends in 2 months is even more of a joke for EV rates:
Peak unit rate
43.455p / kWh
Off Peak unit rate
21.000p / kWh
Standing charge
49.969p / day*

Blimey is this the norm now?

[the_ape]

I lucked out and got on the September 2021 octopus go faster 5H plan. 5.5p for 5 hours between 21:30 and 02:30. 23p outside of that. Kinda hoping that I can keep something similar after my 18 months 😂

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by The shadow

Blimey is this the norm now?

That's the numbers that Octopus Go are showing for my area as a new customer and the British Gas EV plan that is listed as recommended for me when my contract ends.
People who are already on long term, pre increased fixed rates will be saving a lot of money.

Based on my average monthly car electricity usage, any of these plans will cost me hundreds more per year than moving to the Government capped rate and charging on the full rate.

[R_Soul]

It’s very much an individual thing. I was sad enough to create a spreadsheet to work out what we were using and how much each tariff would cost us.

My charger app can give me a breakdown of kWh used and when for charging our EV’s and then our smart meter gives us the total kWh used for the last 6 weeks.

We now exclusively charge our EV’s on the cheap rate and during the day we use very little even though we WFH.

[EVFan]

I am another on Octopus Go and pleased with it.
Due to my daily mileage I need to charge to 100% every night so I am hoping that by the time my current contract expires there will be options available in the market (hopefully still with Octopus)

[verysideways]

I've just moved from the standard capped tariff to Octopus Go.

This means that my price per kwh for 20 hours a day is 35p instead of 28p, but my price for that 4 hour window (00:30 to 04:30) is 7.5p per kwh.

Assuming i charge the car in that 4 hour window, and typically charge about 80kwh (248 miles) per week, that's a significant saving over the capped rate.
When i say significant, i mean £1.50 a day on average compared to staying on the capped rate at 28p/kwh.


The more i use the car, the more i save compared to the capped rate - up until the point i am charging at 7kw for the full 4 hours. That would be roughly 87 miles per day, or a weekly average of 609 miles.
if i was doing that the saving would be £4.97 per day (!) compared to the capped rate.

Calculations based on my household consumption, without EV charging, of approx 11kw per day on average. That's mixed load. If i shift some of my washing, drying, and dishwashing load to that overnight cheap window i can save a bit there too.

[Lazy Lee]

Wow guys! You are (relatively) so lucky with this. Current rates in NL (unless fixed in time last year for a longer term contract) are at over €0,50 per kWh peak and around €0,45 off peak (night 23-7 and weekends)...

Extremely happy with my solar panels at this moment, I can tell you...

[R_Soul]

I think the thing to also remember is how this compares to dinosaur juice.

On my Octopus Go tariff and with my wonky maths (80 x 7p) I could get 200 miles (again very generalised) for £5.60.

Diesel/petrol would currently work out 5,6 or maybe more times that amount.

[Imspartacus123]

I'm currently on Octopus Variable, after being moved there when my supplier went bust, currently my tariff is;

45.06p per day standing charge
28.17p kWh

I do not have my EV as yet, and already on average we use on average 25kWh per day. I reckon we will do on average 33 miles per day, so 12,000 over the year, so around an extra 10kWh.

So one option is to switch to Octopus Go which would be

47.31p per day standing charge
37.00p kWh peak (04:30 - 00:30)
7.5p kWh off peak (00:30 - 04:30)


I haven''t sat down and worked out the maths yet but I reckon this would only be worth it if I were doing more miles and needed to use the full 4 hours every night, which would be over 25,000 miles per year (I'm using 3 miles per kWh and 25 kWh charge over the cheap 4 hours here for this example) and probably moving as much as I could to those cheaper 4 hours too.

It could all be very different when my EV arrives, and probably not for the better

[GDEvans]

Originally Posted by R_Soul

Diesel/petrol would currently work out 5,6 or maybe more times that amount.

And there would be a long line of dead polar bears and penguins along your route...

[FMIB]

Originally Posted by R_Soul

I think the thing to also remember is how this compares to dinosaur juice.

On my Octopus Go tariff and with my wonky maths (80 x 7p) I could get 200 miles (again very generalised) for £5.60.

Diesel/petrol would currently work out 5,6 or maybe more times that amount.

Unless you were unfortunate to have to charge at the Ionity fast charger full price of 69p per Kwh
Without some sort of public charging cost regulation and many people unable to have home chargers, the days of cheaper running costs compared to ICE's will soon be over(in my opinion)