Intelligent Octopus: your questions answered

Intelligent Octopus is a smart tariff with peak and off-peak pricing. Customers benefit from a low price night rate for their EV and home energy use of 7.5p/kWh between 11:30pm and 5:30am. Outside these hours your unit rate will vary by region.

Intelligent Octopus is a variable tariff, which means that the price you pay can rise and fall with the cost of wholesale energy. We'll always give you reasonable notice of any changes to the pricing of flexible tariffs.

To find Intelligent Octopus rates for your area, go to this page.

When we schedule your charging, you’ll always benefit from the low 7.5p/kWh for both EV and home, even if we ask your car to charge outside of the standard night hours. If you need to charge more urgently you can trigger a bump charge, which is billed at your normal unit rate.

You can find out more about Intelligent Octopus rates on our Intelligent Octopus Home Page.

Yes. In August 2023 charging your car with an EV tariff of other big suppliers cost between 8.0 p/kWh and 10.0 p/kWh. With Intelligent Octopus you smart charge your EV for 7.5p/kWh any time of the day.

With Intelligent Octopus you'll save when charging your EV and on the energy use of your whole home with

• all smart charging at off-peak rates - no matter when
• 6 hours of cheap, green energy for your whole home every night

How much you'll save depends on how often you smart charge your EV and how much of your home's electricity you use during off-peak hours.

For example, considering energy prices in July 2023, the average EV owner driving around 10,000 miles/year and living in a typical medium-sized home could save £802 by switching to Intelligent Octopus.

That's based on:

• The average EV using 0.315 kWh/mile
• An average medium-sized home using 2,900 kWh/year
• 13.98% of energy used during off-peak hours. Based on the consumption behaviour of the typical Octopus customer

If you were not eligible for Intelligent Octopus, this may be because:

• You don’t have an iPhone (iOS v14.0 or later) or Android (v7 or later)
• You have multiple properties linked to one Octopus Energy account
• You are using a car or charger that we’re not yet compatible with (Link to eligibility)
• You don’t have a smart meter
• You are not on supply with Octopus yet

Octopus customers can download our mobile app without being eligible for Intelligent Octopus.

When the Octopus app actively manages your charging schedule you will receive the off-peak rate. If you control the charge of your car outside of the Octopus app during peak hours you’ll be charged at peak rate. Any charging during off-peak hours is charged at the off-peak rate. Using the Octopus app means that you are getting the cheapest and greenest energy available.

Unit rates vary by region. You can find your rates here

Any usage during a bump period will be charged at whatever rate is active during that time, i.e. off-peak between 11.30pm - 5.30am, and your peak rate for any charging outside those hours.

Don’t worry, you’ll always get the off-peak rate no matter when the smart charging happens.

Of course, Octopus Outgoing (Fixed or Agile) and Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) are both compatible with Intelligent Octopus.

You’ll receive a payment for your export (price is dependent on the tariff you choose) and will still be able to benefit from our smart charging schedules.

We assumed 7,000 miles driven per year with 100% of charging in the Intelligent Octopus window vs. 80% of charging in the Go window. This also includes savings in underlying household consumption for a longer night window vs. Go.

Switch to Intelligent Octopus from an existing Octopus tariff here and connect your EV to complete your signup in our mobile app

1. Confirm your car and charger are eligible
2. Accept our T&Cs
3. Authorise the Octopus app to control your car or charger
4. Complete a test charge
5. You’re good to go

You can check eligibility on the IO signup page. We’re always working on adding more to this list. If eligible, head to our app to complete the signup journey for IO by completing a test charge.

Some brand models can be integrated using a 3rd party, and some brand models won't be eligible if you do not have access to their smart control apps. their smart control apps.

Yes, we need access to half-hourly meter readings to bill you correctly.

Currently iPhones (iOS v14.0 or later) and Android (v7 or later) or tablets.

No, you can only have one car connected to Intelligent Octopus’ smart charging at a time. If you have a second electric vehicle, then you can charge during this 6-hour off-peak window by manually setting it to charge at these times.

No, the tariff is linked to a single property.

If you have successfully authenticated your car, and not switched tariff, there might a number of reasons:

1. Be sure you’ve completed all of the steps in the onboarding process
2. Double-check that you’ve successfully completed your test charge via the Octopus Mobile App - this can take several minutes to complete
3. Your switch from your other tariff is still pending, this can take up to 24hrs

If in doubt, please contact us at smart@octopus.energy and we can help.

The app will display reasons for a failed test charge. Check out this guide with tips on how to get set up for a successful charge.

• Your car battery might be full. We need to be able to charge your car for around 5 minutes to successfully complete a Test charge.
• We may have lost connection with your car during the test.
• Your car may not have been properly plugged in.
• We think your car is not at home (it has been registered to the wrong location)
• Your car or charger is stopping us from adding charge to your battery

Register your interest for a smart meter here.

Once you've registered your interest, our team will be in contact when we have an appointment in your area.

We connect to your car or charging equipment through the Octopus app. You tell us what time you need your car by and how much charge you need. Then, across all the hours you’re plugged in we’ll charge your car when it’s cheapest for you, and greenest for the grid.

Use the “bump charge” button, which will start a charge immediately. If you bump charge, or charge your car without smart charging, during peak hours, then you will be charged the peak rate.

You can stop this charge from the app at any time.

Please check the following:

• Check the charge cable is properly connected to both car and charger - unplug at each end and try plugging in again.
• Check the car and charger used are the ones you’ve registered for Intelligent Octopus.
• Make sure any other charging services aren’t controlling your car.
• We might think your car isn’t at home. We currently identify ‘home’ as your car’s location when you signed up to Intelligent Octopus. If your car was not at home during your onboarding, then you will need to log out of your car in the Intelligent Octopus app and reconnect it while your car is at home.

The 11.30pm-5.30am window is the time that we can aim to smart charge your car within. Smart charging schedules can be made up of multiple shorter charges between 11:30p - 5:30am, with some charges happening outside this off-peak window (don’t worry, as long as you don’t bump charge you’ll always be on the off-peak rate).

When Intelligent Octopus smart charges your car you will always receive the off-peak rate. If you Bump charge, or charge your car without smart charging, during peak hours, then you will be charged the peak rate.

After plugging in your EV, it will charge for a short period before the Intelligent Octopus smart charging schedule takes over.

There are a few reasons why your car might continue to charge for longer after plugging it in:

1. The charging plan has started when you plug in, so all is according to plan! You can check the charging schedule in the app to check if this is supposed to happen.
2. Something else is causing the car to charge, such as a charging schedule in the car, or smart charging features on the charger. You should turn these off in order to guarantee smart charging.
3. Intelligent Octopus may not be stopping your charge because it believes your car isn’t at home. We currently identify ‘home’ as your car’s location when you signed up to Intelligent Octopus. If your car was not at home during your onboarding, then you will need to log out of your car in the Intelligent Octopus app and go through the process again while your car is at home.
4. Intelligent Octopus checks in on your car at regular intervals to monitor your charging status. If the car is plugged in just after one of these checks, it could mean up to 30-minute delay in us stopping the charge.

Intelligent Octopus only works for home charging. If you charge your car away from home, then you will pay for charging like you normally would. With Intelligent Octopus you get 8% off charging on the go when charging on the Electroverse network.

You can turn off smart charging from the app from the settings page. This means Intelligent Octopus won’t wake up your car, or create smart charging schedules. Remember to switch smart charging back on when you’re using your car again.

Our charging plan won’t impact your battery any more than regular charging. Car batteries are designed to handle this pattern of charging, and should also be covered by your car's battery/warranty.

To smart charge your car we’ll need to wake it up. We let your car go back to sleep (to avoid battery drain) as often as possible. We recommend keeping your car plugged in at home to help it go to sleep more often and for longer periods.