Intelligent Octopus Go: your questions answered

Intelligent Octopus Go 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 7p/kWh between 11:30pm and 5:30am. Outside these hours your unit rate will vary by region.

Intelligent Octopus Go 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 Go rates for your area, go to this page. Intelligent Octopus Go rates are changing from 1 October 2024. You can find the new rates by region here.

When we schedule your charging, you’ll always benefit from the low 7p/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 Go rates on our Intelligent Octopus Go Home Page.

Save £100s with Intelligent Octopus Go

Answer a couple of questions about your EV and home and we'll give you an estimate of how much you could save with the Intelligent Octopus Go savings calculator.

With Intelligent Octopus Go 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 October 2024, an EV owner driving 7,000 miles/year could save £410 by switching to Intelligent Octopus Go.

That's based on:

• 2700kWh/year of energy usage for a typical 2-3 bedroom home
• 0.304 kWh/mile (last checked 01.11.24) for a typical EV
• Flexible Octopus rates in October 2024 (priced below the Government price cap)
• The EV is always charged at home
• 13.98% of energy used during off-peak hours. Based on the consumption behaviour of the typical Octopus customer

Intelligent Octopus Go is the UK’s most popular EV tariff

Since we launched the UK’s first EV tariff Octopus Go in 2018, more and more EV drivers have switched to Octopus to charge their car for less.

Between 10th - 14th October 2024, YouGov Plc surveyed a sample of 2009 EV owners online. 39% of owners with an EV-specific tariff, charged with Intelligent Octopus Go. More than with any other supplier.

You’ll save 88% vs public charging

A slow or fast charge (<50 kWh) with one of the UK’s public charging points costs an EV driver 56p/kWh on average (last checked September 24). With Intelligent Octopus Go, you smart charge for only 7p/kWh and save 88%.

1 - 7/56 = 0.875 or 88%

You’ll save 70% smart charging with Intelligent Octopus Go compared to a standard tariff

With Intelligent Octopus Go you’ll charge for only 7p/kWh. The average rate of a standard variable tariff, based on the October 2024 energy price cap, is 24.50p/kWh.

1- 7/24.5 = 0.714 or 71%

The UK's most awarded energy supplier

We've won more awards for customer service than anyone else.

Intelligent Octopus Go is compatible with over 280 cars from top EV brands and selected chargers. You can check on the IO landing page if your EV or charger is supported.

Don't have a home charger yet? Our Octopus engineers can install a charger for you.

Since the start of Intelligent Octopus Go in 2022, we've added more and more devices. Find out more about the journey here.

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

• You don’t have an iPhone (iOS v14.0 or later) or Android (v7 or later)
• You are using a car or charger that we’re not yet compatible with
• You don’t have a smart meter, or you do, but we're not able to connect to your smart meter
• Your smart meter is sending us daily or monthly readings, instead of half-hourly
• You are not on supply with Octopus yet

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

All charges managed by Intelligent Octopus Go are charged at off-peak rates - no matter when.

If you need to overwrite Intelligent Octopus Go settings to manually schedule a charge during peak hours, you'll be charged at peak rate. Any charging scheduled during off-peak hours is charged at the off-peak rate.

Letting Intelligent Octopus Go handle your charging means your car will automatically be charged when the grid is greenest and always at off-peak rates.

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, Outgoing Octopus and Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) are both compatible with Intelligent Octopus Go.

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.

Your monthly statements are the best way to keep track of your charging costs.

We’re also working on adding your charging costs to the Octopus app. In the meantime, you can find this information in third party apps like Octo-Aid.

IHDs don’t always work with our smart tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Go - you can read more about why here.

One of the ways we’re able to offer you a really good rate to charge your EV is because we enrol you in a flexibility service when you join Intelligent Octopus Go. This means you won’t be able to join any other flexibility service whilst on the tariff.

Switch to Intelligent Octopus Go 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

Follow these step-by-step guides to sign up:
- if you have a Tesla
- if you have an Ohme charger
- if you have a Zappi charger

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.

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 Go 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.

Alternatively, if you have a compatible charger, you can connect your charger instead, and we'll be able to smart charge any of your electric cars.

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 Go.
• 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 Go. If your car was not at home during your onboarding, then you will need to disconnect your car in the 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 Go 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 Go 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 Go 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 Go. If your car was not at home during your onboarding, then you will need to log out of your car in the Intelligent Octopus Go app and go through the process again while your car is at home.
4. Intelligent Octopus Go 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 Go 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 Go 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 Go 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.