I find Octopussy dear compared to others, especially if you don’t shift energy use, because the day rate is based on the SVR and goes up or down every 3 months, compared to other EV tariffs with a couple of pence dearer fixed day rate.
Can’t let that stand like that.
I just compared our tariff to the cheapest tariff OVO offered us (rolling contract) – and it would be more expensive for us. I’ll get to fixed tariffs in a second.
Just the unit rates: 26.32p for OVO, 29.19 for Octopus. So at peak price, 2.87p dearer.
Here’s the funky part. At night, we’re using 0.3-0.4kwh per hour. With nothing running, other than whatever runs generally anyway (door light, ceiling fan, freezers, standby electronics, charging phones/watches, sometimes AC etc). That’s our consumption from yesterday (we didn’t charge nor do laundry).
That means, over the 6 reduced price hours, without our doing, we consume around 2.5kwh. Lets, for arguments sake, say 2kwh.
That’s 52.64 with OVO, 14p with Octopus. That’s 38.64p difference. So in “peak time”, with Octopus, i’d need to use 13.5kwh from 5:30 to 11:30, just to break even. Everything below that is cheaper. That’s completely without shifting any habits or anything, the difference just gets more severe. Also not included is the higher standing charge with OVO, which amounts to a free kwh every two days.
All fixed tariffs would be even more expensive, and potentially would stay so even in winter, assuming price forecasts (falling prices) are true. Unless of course another war starts, but that’s another story.
I’m not saying that OVO is expensive, they’re actually what i’d consider reasonable, but if you consider Octopus (not Octopussy) to be “dear”, then OVO is dearer. Yes, the day rate with Octopus might go up by a couple of pence, but if you look at the rate for a fixed OVO tariff, it still is beaten (especially with an almost 60p standing charge for a fixed 24.97p/kwh). Even compared to the rolling tariff it’s not great, considering that you pay 13p standing charge extra, to save 1.35p per kwh.
I also hate misleading advertising, the name “Charge Anytime” rubs me wrong, but that’s just a footnote.
I think that both tariffs are fine, but Octopus has a much higher potential to be cheap. Also, compatibility with EVs/Chargers is better – and of course, you forgot something: you get 8% off of basically any public charger (except Tesla, but including Ionity/Gridserve).
Sorry, had to get that off the chest. It’s moot anyway since LordMucs Boss doesn’t want to change supplier and for some reason is “anti-EV” in the first place, but alas.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.