Best EV Tarrif without smart meter

[fat69bob]

Hi all,

I've been a lurker on this forum for quite some time. I picked up my 2021 LRM3 from Leeds just before Christmas and absolutely love the car.

I've been trying to get on the Octopus Go 5p tarrif and started the process back in September but we have run into a few issues with my signal.
Octopus have finally confirmed that I am unable to have a smart meter fitted due to my proximity to Fylingdales RAF base, which is over 50km away, until the smart hub is certified for use, but they don't yet have a timeline for this.

Whilst I am waiting for the smart hub to be certified, I'm looking for advice to which is the best Electric tarrif for me?
I'm currently on the Octopus Tracker, which last month average cost was 16.82p/Kwh and the month before 13.4p/Kwh.

Obviously I'm not driving too much at the moment and I've got a free pod point 2 miles from my house, but I got the car so I could charge for little cost at home.

Your help is really appreciated!

 

[Cnixon]

Assuming you are not on economy 7. The Symbio tariff is probably cheapest but beware of stupid billing and poor estimates each month (we pay in advance). If you give me your pre tesla bill kwh and an idea of mileage/driving style I can give you a few ideas.

 

[Jason71]

It does vary by area using Uswitch putting in your expected usage and telling it to include in the results companies that you cannot be directed to automatically i,e. the ones not giving cashback will give you the cheapest results for you. ( there is a check box for that in the filters but its off by default )
Also ask for quotes for just electricity. duel fuel discounts are a joke. The best deals are always 2 separate suppliers one for gas and one for electric

 

[Mr Miserable]

Take a look at my spreadsheet that shows all the EV tariffs I could find.
You just enter your consumption and see what level of monthly bill you will receive from each EV tariff.
The only thing to bear in mind is that the length off-peak periods does vary with suppliers and to generate a fair figure you will need to adjust your peak/off-peak figures in order to get a realistic estimate of their bill.
So it isn't a comparison on a page - you'll need to take note of the figures produced to get a fair comparison.
It's easy to adjust the consumption figures to put you in the parish and you can easily compare it with the tariff you are on.
Tweak away!

 

[btc1k]

Take a look at my spreadsheet that shows all the EV tariffs I could find.
You just enter your consumption and see what level of monthly bill you will receive from each EV tariff.
The only thing to bear in mind is that the length off-peak periods does vary with suppliers and to generate a fair figure you will need to adjust your peak/off-peak figures in order to get a realistic estimate of their bill.
So it isn't a comparison on a page - you'll need to take note of the figures produced to get a fair comparison.
It's easy to adjust the consumption figures to put you in the parish and you can easily compare it with the tariff you are on.
Tweak away!

Great sheet Sir! Thanks

 

[Cnixon]

... include in the results companies that you cannot be directed to automatically i,e. the ones not giving cashback will give you the cheapest results for you. ( there is a check box for that in the filters but its off by default )
Also ask for quotes for just electricity. duel fuel discounts are a joke. The best deals are always 2 separate suppliers one for gas and one for electric

Absolutely, these guys legally have to include all suppliers but they don't have to show them to you!!!!!.... I use www.energyhelpline.com I think there is only 2 companies who provide ALL the comparison sites with data and this is one and I think Moneysupermarket is the other. Also the sneeky sometimes ignore your current tariff for comparison because Ofcom appear to have agreed that you wouldn't be looking unless it was coming to an end...so they automatically stick you on your suppliers standard tariff for the comparison. It makes you more likely to swap (your savings will look great) and increases their commission if you transfer. The best thing to do is tell the site you don't know your current tariff and go in understanding the savings are dubious...get your useage in kwh (day/night if E7). DO NOT LET THE SITE ESTIMATE. Your cheapest company will be at the top (again ..don't forget to go into 'filters' and include all those companies they cannot swap you to).

Good luck

 

[Cnixon]

Take a look at my spreadsheet that shows all the EV tariffs I could find.
You just enter your consumption and see what level of monthly bill you will receive from each EV tariff.

Why peak, standard & off-peak do you have 3 rates

 

[Mr Miserable]

Why peak, standard & off-peak do you have 3 rates

Because if you look at Green Energy TIDE tariff for example there are 3 rates, Peak, Standard & Off Peak. Those suplliers who have just the one fixed rate have the same figure for each period, etc. Simples!

 

[Mr Miserable]

The key point to take home, which the spreadsheet does illustrate, is that just because the tariff being offerred has 'EV' in it's name, does not make it a competitive tariff or one which you should automatically switch to. Some of these tariffs come with other benefits that you may or may not want, so take them into consideration too.
'Green' tariffs, and the shades of green are arguable, are generally more expensive. Do not rule out Economy 7 tariffs - some of them could work out favourably depending on your circumstances.
Like the comparison sites, you should use the spreadsheet to whittle down the contenders, particularly because of the varying lengths of the off-peak periods from different suppliers.
Your house may be empty during the day M-F and so the EDF tariff with longer off-peak rates may suit you better than others. Choose for your circumstances rather than a headline price.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

As above, use care when making comparisons, as the devil is REALLY in the detail. For example, if I just take an average of all tariffs on offer here, then Octopus Agile is the cheapest with Octopus Go as second cheapest. In reality, neither Agile nor Go are the cheapest at all for us, a good Economy 7 tariff beats both of them, primarily because most of our consumption is off peak (between about 00:00 and 07:00) and also because most of our peak consumption is when Agile tends to be very expensive (between about 16:00 and 20:00). Everyone's usage pattern is likely to be different, so it helps a lot to understand not only how much electricity you use, but exactly when in the day you use it,

 

[Jason71]

As above, use care when making comparisons, as the devil is REALLY in the detail. For example, if I just take an average of all tariffs on offer here, then Octopus Agile is the cheapest with Octopus Go as second cheapest. In reality, neither Agile nor Go are the cheapest at all for us, a good Economy 7 tariff beats both of them, primarily because most of our consumption is off peak (between about 00:00 and 07:00) and also because most of our peak consumption is when Agile tends to be very expensive (between about 16:00 and 20:00). Everyone's usage pattern is likely to be different, so it helps a lot to understand not only how much electricity you use, but exactly when in the day you use it,

True, but not if you don't have a smart/E7 meter which was the original premise of this thread.

 

[fat69bob]

Thanks for all the replies.

For the time pre-lockdown that I used the car - I used 225kw/h of electricity, for which I paid £41 for.
Had I been on Symbio that cost would have been £34 or frustratingly only £19 on Octopus Go!

We have a young family, big house, working from home etc.. so our peak electricity usage is in the daytime/ evenings, so it purely needs to come down to the cheapest kw/h & standing charge costs. Obviously the octopus tracker is variable (and I'm in the most expensive months), but I can't see it dropping to below 13p for a sustained amount of time to average out anywhere near the Symbio tarrif.

It looks as though Symbio tarrif is the winner for now, or have I missed anything fundamental!?

 

[Neilda]

I have an Economy 7 meter - but am told the radio signal that controls it is going to be turned off soon. I live in the middle of absolutely nowhere and there is no mobile signal at all... nothing, not even a faint whiff. A smart meter is never going to work. So I will be in the same boat as the OP in 12 months or so - looking for a cheaper flat rate.

 

[Mr Miserable]

It's rather telling that 2 players who always featured well in the price comparisons went belly up last week (Green Network Energy and Simplicity). It suggests that Symbio's pricing is not sustainable. If you do move to Symbio, the advice would be to find their cheapest 1 year fixed price tariff rather than one that could/will be 'brought into line' in a month or so, which seems to be their practice.

 

[browellm]

We have a young family, big house, working from home etc.. so our peak electricity usage is in the daytime/ evenings, so it purely needs to come down to the cheapest kw/h & standing charge costs

I would have a look at solar PV if you have the roof area and orientation for it. With E.On doing interest free credit over 3 years, it makes the man maths a lot easier.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I have an Economy 7 meter - but am told the radio signal that controls it is going to be turned off soon. I live in the middle of absolutely nowhere and there is no mobile signal at all... nothing, not even a faint whiff. A smart meter is never going to work. So I will be in the same boat as the OP in 12 months or so - looking for a cheaper flat rate.

Not a problem, I'm in the same position and they just fitted (for free) a timer controlled E7 meter, that doesn't rely on the Radio 4 long wave time code. It has fixed on and off times, controlled by a internal clock.

All I did was call my supplier (at that time SSE) and ask for an E7 meter. They gave me the hard sell on having a smart meter instead, even when I explained that there's no radio signal here so a smart meter won't be able to connect to the LAN. After a bit of a debate with a script-reading person that hadn't got a clue about this issue, they eventually sent a chap around within a couple of days to fit the new meter. When he turned up his first words were "glad they didn't try and get you to have a smart meter, they don't work around here". Did make me wonder about communications within the company.

 

[Neilda]

Another helpful post GG - thanks. I am with SSE - so I will wait until their pressure to have a smart meter becomes intolerable!

 

[kuruma]

we're also screwed because of a 25 mile 'proximity' to 'an RAF base' (Fylingdales is 24 miles away). I use inverted commas because it can be anywhere military planes fly from. For example, we're pretty close to Teesside Airport who have MoD planes flying out regularly. I'm pretty sure that's what is causing many in the TS postcode area to have to wait until the estimated June 2021 date for the smart meter tech to be readied which will not interfere with their signals. I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we were already on Octopus because we had wanted to switch to Go (which we now can't do). We have a powerwall and are on their Flexibile Octopus tariff with a SC of 23.42p a day and an E7 rate of 10.8p. As we hardly ever use peak rate electricity and between March and October hardly ever use any grid electricity, this is the best rate I can find without a smart meter.

I am chuffed however that an email to Greg's personal email address got them to finally listen to my please to change the wording on their site saying that anyone could have a smart meter. It now says you "almost certainly" can have one!

 

[Mr Miserable]

we're also screwed because of a 25 mile 'proximity' to 'an RAF base' (Fylingdales is 24 miles away). I use inverted commas because it can be anywhere military planes fly from. For example, we're pretty close to Teesside Airport who have MoD planes flying out regularly. I'm pretty sure that's what is causing many in the TS postcode area to have to wait until the estimated June 2021 date for the smart meter tech to be readied which will not interfere with their signals. I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we were already on Octopus because we had wanted to switch to Go (which we now can't do). We have a powerwall and are on their Flexibile Octopus tariff with a SC of 23.42p a day and an E7 rate of 10.8p. As we hardly ever use peak rate electricity and between March and October hardly ever use any grid electricity, this is the best rate I can find without a smart meter.

I am chuffed however that an email to Greg's personal email address got them to finally listen to my please to change the wording on their site saying that anyone could have a smart meter. It now says you "almost certainly" can have one!

I've just read your post.
Proximity to an RAF airbase is not an issue, proximity to RAF Fylingdales is. It's not an airfield.
Proximity to an airport is not an issue whether MoD planes use it or not.
Teesside Airport, and the aircraft that use it, is not an issue either.

 

[exlatccatsa]

My mum is in the most expensive electricity area and whilst she doesn't have an EV or smart meter, she's on the tracker tariff from octopus. Over the past year the cheapest she's paid in a month is 7.8p and in January it was 16.5 p/kWh. 21.7p per day. This rate isn't advertised so you won't see it on comparison websites. The rates work out slightly more expensive than Agile, but a lot less expensive than some of the majors abd if course you're not tied in and can leave any time.
Hope this helps