Intelligent Octopus and Ohme

[Rudesing]

Does anybody on the forum have the Intelligent Octopus tariff and use it in conjunction with an Ohme charger? I've recently switched to it, essentially because it was the same unit prices as Octopus Go but with an extra two hours of cheaper rate over night. Most of the time, the Ohme app seems to schedule charging just in those cheaper rate hours, but every so often it will give me some charging outside of those hours. Supposedly this is meant to be at the cheaper rate, along with the whole household, but has anybody got any experience of this and able to confirm that the correct rate is charged? Without being able to see the actual unit cost in the app at the time, I can't see a way of checking that I have been correctly charged, and I don't really want to be charging at 7kWh at a unit rate of 40ppkWh. If it does work accurately, then the next question is whether reducing the charging current through the MySkoda app (when it works) in order to extend the charging time, then means that you would spend more time outside the normal overnight tariff times, charging at the cheaper rate, and therefore also having the whole property also benefitting from that rate?

[Stripy]

Nope, and I’m a little annoyed about the Ohme charger on offer, for two reasons - it runs on a SIM card, and it doesn’t support solar.

They used to have the wallbox as well, but that has stopped.

We all need to add the Enyaq and what ever model charger one has to this form:
https://octopus.typeform.com/to/W6nUqhd ... nt_number=

[Goaty]

/ \ Thanks for the link. Just done it

Octopus told me that I can’t go onto Intelligent Octopus (IO), as Skoda’s aren’t currently included. I didn’t realise that IO is potentially available if you have an Ohme charger, irrespective of EV model.

[Rudesing]

Yes, if you have an Ohme charger (wallbox or cable) then you can go to Intelligent Octopus as it sends the charge schedule to Ohme rather than the car. Its then agnostic as to what car you have, although you do need to set up your target charge in the Ohme app itself. It's not quite as intuitive though.

I think the issue is with the VW / Skoda software rather than Octopus right now. No doubt that the link to Octopus will be fixed at the same time as the mythical scheduled charging.

[DazAutomatic]

Most of the time, the Ohme app seems to schedule charging just in those cheaper rate hours, but every so often it will give me some charging outside of those hours. Supposedly this is meant to be at the cheaper rate, along with the whole household, but has anybody got any experience of this and able to confirm that the correct rate is charged? Without being able to see the actual unit cost in the app at the time, I can't see a way of checking that I have been correctly charged, and I don't really want to be charging at 7kWh at a unit rate of 40ppkWh. If it does work accurately, then the next question is whether reducing the charging current through the MySkoda app (when it works) in order to extend the charging time, then means that you would spend more time outside the normal overnight tariff times, charging at the cheaper rate, and therefore also having the whole property also benefitting from that rate?

Your Octopus bill will itemise the charges at the half-hourly intervals. It can run to many pages! If you want to check the rates really do remain off-peak beyond your 6 hours on the occasions when Intelligent Octopus chooses to charge your car outside the 6 hours, and can't wait for the next bill, I think you can trigger a bill being generated by returning a manual meter reading through the standard Octopus app or website. Or just email them - they're very good. I've got a Zappi charger, and I'm hoping they'll be one of the next in line to qualify after Ohme. The most recent software updates seem to be laying the groundwork for this, so maybe in the next 12 months. Those extra couple of hours could be handy, especially if you're storing heat etc overnight too.

[eddieed]

Hello all - I have just registered and came on here to see if I could find an issue to my problem:

I have an Enyaq and an Ohme Home Charger and I am on the Intelligent Octopus Tariff - however it is causing a few issues as there seems to be too much intelligence in both the car and the charger and they are confusing each other.

The other problem I have is that when Ohme sets the charging schedule it only charges at half rates (3.5kwh) and not the 7.2 the charger is capable of - unless I stay up until 11:30 and switch to max charging - and then let the car turn off the charging at 5:30 (otherwise the car will continue to charge on peak rate electricity). I have raised a complaint to Octopus a week ago but haven't heard anything yet. I have chased today.

[Rudesing]

Hi Eddie,

I've managed to get my Enyaq and the Ohme charger working quite happily together. You need to let Octopus / Ohme do all the work, so should remove any charging schedules from the car itself. Within the Ohme app, there should only be a single active schedule. I have mine to default to charge by 46% and to be ready by 5.30am. I can then change individual charging sessions once the Ohme cable is plugged in if I need a different charge target or ready time. You also need to check that the Ohme app is set to Intelligent Charging which it should have done automatically when you set it up, and also you should ensure that the Price Cap is disabled to ensure that Octopus is able to charge outside of the overnight hours if necessary. Where I have had a problem initially was that I have two electric cars, so I do need to make sure that the correct car is set up in the app. It can also take up to 5 minuytes of being connected before Ohme successfully schedules the charge and stops charging immediately.

Part of the smart charging capability is that Octopus will determine what charging rate to use (3.5kWh or 7kWh) according to demand, but they will still ensure that you hit the target charge state by your required time wherever possible (as long as you are not demanding too much of a charge in too short a period of time).

One thing I can say is that the billing by Octopus now appears to be spot on, and accurately reflects the cheaper tariff if they choose to charge the car outside of the normal overnight hours.

[eddieed]

Thanks for that Advice. Seems I am not set up correctly...I will work through your suggestions to set it up and see how we go.

My issue has been that I have requested it to charge to 80% and there has been enough time if it charges at 7kWh but it then says there isn't enough time and when I then check the charging its been charging at 3.5kWh!!
I'll change my settings as you have said

[Rudesing]

One of the things I have noticed is that the Ohme app slightly underestimates how much can be charged in the overnight 6 hour window. It thinks that only 46% would be possible, when in reality I manage to charge well over 50%. I think the app works on an assumed charge rate of 6.5kWh even though it can deliver 7kWh. That does mean though that sometimes it thinks it is not possible to meet the target charge and so it changes the target automatically. This is happening more in winter (presumably due to lower spare capacity) than in summer, when it was often giving me additional charging slots in order to hit the target charge.

[eddieed]

Rudesing - I am ultimately confused with this tarrif and despite contacting Octopus twice I have still had no response.

So we got home last night with almost zero range in the car and I plugged in. I set the Ohme app to +65% by 5:30am (roughly about 37kWh) (I have a 60). I got the standard message saying range increase had been reduced. I made all the setting changes that you suggested above. Had the car charged at 7kWh then there would have been enough time to add approx 42kWh in the 6 hours. I have just checked the App and the car is still charging at 3.5kWh and won't finish until 10.20am. Where do I check I am not paying peak rate for this electricity. Thankfully I didn't need the car this morning otherwise this would be proving unreliable and I would have had to go the the local Rapid charger for a top up.

Octopus' usual good customer services is not working this time.