Wiki Everything you wanted to know about Intelligent Octopus But Were Afraid To Ask

Why write this post?
A lot of people are starting to get interested in IO. I don't think Octopus do a very good job of spelling out the benefits in their website. They have some FAQs, but the same questions keep coming up over and over on the forums.

What is it?
In a nutshell, IO is a split tariff that gives you a cheap off-peak rate for charging your EV and other electrical items in the household, including home batteries.

Isn’t that the same as Octopus Go or Go Faster?
The principle is the same, but in exchange for some benefits which we’ll explain, you allow Octopus to control the timing of your EV charge, so they can choose low carbon intensity and/or cheap wholesale priced time slots.

So I’m not in control of my charge? I don’t like the sound of that!
Well yes…and no. You’re in control of how much to charge and when you want the car to be ready, just like you would be normally. Within those parameters, you’re allowing Octopus to control which half-hour slots the car chooses to get to that target % charge. And you can always override IO if you want to “bump charge” through the day.

OK, but what are the benefits you mentioned for this trade off?
First of all, you get a larger guaranteed off-peak window for using household appliances and charging home batteries, etc. It’s six hours between 23:30-05:30. Go, for example, is a fixed 4 hour window.
In addition, when IO schedules your EV charging slots it sometimes creates schedules that fall outside of the fixed, six hour window. If that happens your EV charging and all your household use in these extra-slots is also charged at off-peak rates.
I have frequently had schedules give me seven or more hours of off-peak rates. On one occasion, I had a total of ten hours of off-peak rates.

Am I eligible?
You need a smart meter and a compatible car and/or charger. Since you’re reading this here, I assume you’ve got or are thinking of getting a Tesla. IO works with the Tesla API to create the charging schedules. The advantage of this is that IO will work with any* home charger. If you have a charger with smart features, you need to disable them so that the charger acts as a dumb switch. IO will control everything via Tesla’s API to start and stop your charging.
*Even your granny charger - but you need to tell IO what the max throughput is when you go through setup so that it can work out your schedules properly.

Some of this sounds too good to be true.
Phantom drain caused by having smart charging enabled in the Octopus app has been fixed as of 30th August 2022. One small side effect appears to be that schedules sometimes take longer to appear in the app after plugging in.

Further questions (to be updated in the main thread body once the edit timer on this post expires)

I have two EVs, can I charge the other while on IO?
Not with IO scheduling the charging, but you can charge any other car in the fixed 23:30-05:30 off peak window or at any other time at peak prices.

What are the rates etc?
Octopus do a decent job of explaining the peak and off-peak rates along with contracts etc. Head over to their pages to discover that.

I asked for a target % of x, but I got less than x.
There are two or three reasons for this.

The first, most common reason, is that Tesla reports battery % differently depending on where you look. The API (that IO uses) reports the gross battery %. This is generally fixed but can fluctuate very slightly. The Tesla app shows usable %. Apps like Teslamate and Teslafi can display both. Quite often, there is a delta of 2-3% which may be down to battery temp or other factors. This usable % will often be recovered as the battery warms up during a drive.

Some users have reported charging % being way off, perhaps 10% or more. This could be down to an error in the onboarding process. Some of the charger database entries incorrectly assume the charger you are onboarding is the 11kW version, without actually saying so in the charger description. The Andersen A2 was an early example of this. If you suspect this may be the case, the easiest thing to do is go through the on-boarding again and choose "Generic 7.4kW charger". It won't affect your functionality on IO in any way.

Lastly, it has to be mentioned that occasionally IO just craps out. It may be down to a comms error, a server error at Octopus' end, or just reasons. IO is a beta product and it's wise to expect one or two quirks from time to time

 

[Skie]

Heads up, but Octopus have started allowing people to move onto their tracker tariff again. You can move just gas if you wanted, but for me the high IO day rate makes switching both sensible (off-peak is about 35% of my usage as I haven't been doing huge mileage and have a relatively high daily load). You can download your usage and with a bit of Excel wankery do a comparison based on an average of the tracker prices.

You can check the current daily prices, and the standing charge (cheaper for me) here: Octopus Energy latest Tracker prices for North West England (use the drop down under "tracker prices" to change the region)

As the tracker also has the government price cap/discount applied for any time it goes over the capped tariff rate, the price of electricity would need to go over ~50p/kwh before you paid more than a normal tariff and based on the history it's rarely even reached the tracker price and is usually much cheaper. The gas price is a no-brainer on the tracker given how the market is heading for cheaper prices now availability has risen.

 

[Medved_77]

You can move just gas if you wanted

Might be missing something obvious but I can't see a way to do this without going via support. Any tips? I tried the sign me up link from this page:

Octopus Tracker

Britains' fairest energy tariff, with dynamic daily pricing and 100% renewable electricity.

octopus.energy

 

[Skie]

Might be missing something obvious but I can't see a way to do this without going via support. Any tips? I tried the sign me up link from this page:

Octopus Tracker

Britains' fairest energy tariff, with dynamic daily pricing and 100% renewable electricity.

octopus.energy

Yep, the only way to move to it is to contact them. Either via email, twitter or phone. Just make sure you're clear that you want to move just your gas tariff and are happy with IO for electricity.

 

[barry.perfect]

Heads up, but Octopus have started allowing people to move onto their tracker tariff again. You can move just gas if you wanted, but for me the high IO day rate makes switching both sensible (off-peak is about 35% of my usage as I haven't been doing huge mileage and have a relatively high daily load). You can download your usage and with a bit of Excel wankery do a comparison based on an average of the tracker prices.

You can check the current daily prices, and the standing charge (cheaper for me) here: Octopus Energy latest Tracker prices for North West England (use the drop down under "tracker prices" to change the region)

As the tracker also has the government price cap/discount applied for any time it goes over the capped tariff rate, the price of electricity would need to go over ~50p/kwh before you paid more than a normal tariff and based on the history it's rarely even reached the tracker price and is usually much cheaper. The gas price is a no-brainer on the tracker given how the market is heading for cheaper prices now availability has risen.

Is there anywhere that compares Octopus Tracker and Flexible Octopus for Gas, both seem to claim to follow the Gas wholesale costs?

Trying to work out whether it is worth jumping from Flexible to Tracker, but it is not clear what the advantages are.

 

[Skie]

Is there anywhere that compares Octopus Tracker and Flexible Octopus for Gas, both seem to claim to follow the Gas wholesale costs?

Trying to work out whether it is worth jumping from Flexible to Tracker, but it is not clear what the advantages are.

Flexible Octopus doesn’t change daily, it just gets set by Octopus at fixed points when they determine it’s worth changing. Currently the energy price guarantee is the fix point, it should change again when that is updated by the government or abolished.

Tracker follows wholesale prices daily. No exit fees either, just have to keep an eye on the prices to know when to jump.

The best way to compare is to grab your usage data from Octopus/your meter, and then add the daily tracker prices and flexible prices and see if in the past month it would have saved you money. Nobody can predict the future, but gas prices really shouldn’t be increasing unless we get a hard freeze in Feb.

Octopus Compare can compare agile vs flexible, but not tracker (Unless I’m doing something wrong)

 

[RedMod3]

I too now have the dreaded Octopus renewal email, and I'm very tempted to go for IO. I spoke to them on the phone and told them I would only charge between 23:30 and 05:30 and that I would not want or need extra slots, I also explained I had a Powerwall, and that didn't seem to be a problem.

I have a 5-terminal smart meter that activates for 4 hours for my granny charger for the Smart Car and for the immersion; I'm quite happy to leave it at 4 hours under IO as 4 hours is enough, and I would not need them to reset the ALCS every six months.

What I don't know is what the extra screens that appear on the Octopus App when you have IO. Could someone post all the extra screens please? I don't know how many there are. Thanks in advance.

 

[MrBadger]

Just

Isn’t that the same as Octopus Go or Go Faster?
The principle is the same, but in exchange for some benefits which we’ll explain, you allow Octopus to control the timing of your EV charge, so they can choose low carbon intensity and/or cheap wholesale priced time slots.

So I’m not in control of my charge? I don’t like the sound of that!
Well yes…and no. You’re in control of how much to charge and when you want the car to be ready, just like you would be normally. Within those parameters, you’re allowing Octopus to control which half-hour slots the car chooses to get to that target % charge. And you can always override IO if you want to “bump charge” through the day.

OK, but what are the benefits you mentioned for this trade off?
First of all, you get a larger guaranteed off-peak window for using household appliances and charging home batteries, etc. It’s six hours between 23:30-05:30. Go, for example, is a fixed 4 hour window.
...

Am I eligible?
You need a smart meter and a compatible car and/or charger. Since you’re reading this here, I assume you’ve got or are thinking of getting a Tesla. IO works with the Tesla API to create the charging schedules. The advantage of this is that IO will work with any* home charger. If you have a charger with smart features, you need to disable them so that the charger acts as a dumb switch. IO will control everything via Tesla’s API to start and stop your charging.
*Even your granny charger - but you need to tell IO what the max throughput is when you go through setup so that it can work out your schedules properly.

I have a month to decide what to do as current Go is going to expire in March. Do nothing is to move to Flexible, which by their calculations is the cheapest but dont know if thats tailored to me or just average usage. Go and IO have cheaper offpeak ~12p and ~10p, but an extra ~10p on day rates. I know that I can change at any time as its not a fixed period.

Questions.
What is there stopping me treating IO as a better Go? Longer and cheaper off peak vs Go.

Caveats. I non spart charge at 10A and whilst I currently have a Tesla so would seem to be currently eligible, we will be changing to a non Tesla brand at some point that may not support API charging and possibly not even to a full BEV.

Can I simply manually instigate a 23:30-05:30 charge in same way that I treat the Go 4 hour window? Or are they watching me and will kick me off IO when I stop doing charges controlled by IO?

Also a little worried about a failed IO charge as being on 10A, there is minimal opportunity to fix any issue. Is charge all controlled direct via the phone, or controlled by Octopus servers so no direct control needed from phone?

Sorry, too many posts to read.

 

[phil4]

Questions.
1) What is there stopping me treating IO as a better Go? Longer and cheaper off peak vs Go.

Caveats. I non spart charge at 10A and whilst I currently have a Tesla so would seem to be currently eligible, we will be changing to a non Tesla brand at some point that may not support API charging and possibly not even to a full BEV.

2) Can I simply manually instigate a 23:30-05:30 charge in same way that I treat the Go 4 hour window? Or are they watching me and will kick me off IO when I stop doing charges controlled by IO?

3) Also a little worried about a failed IO charge as being on 10A, there is minimal opportunity to fix any issue. Is charge all controlled direct via the phone, or controlled by Octopus servers so no direct control needed from phone?

Sorry, too many posts to read.

1) Nothing, their T&Cs say you need to let them control the charge at least once per month. I don't know if they enforce that. The rest of the time, do as you please and you'll still be within the T&Cs

2) As above, yes, provided you allow them to control the charge once per month. But not sure even that is enforced yet.

3) Controlled via their servers, the phone just tells the server your preference and lets you know what time slots they chose, it doesn't play any part in the stop start of charging. Note you can add a fall back in case it does, by also telling your car to charge at a set time (eg. be ready for 7am, off peak ends 05:30). This has two benefits, one it IO fails to start a charge your car will, and secondly your car won't try and charge when you plug it in in the evening.

 

[Jason71]

That’s quite a glitch. I have emailed them and I’m sure it will be sorted, itwas a bit of a shock though last night to see my account at -£7k!

It must have been really stressful. I imagine you hardly slept last night and have been having panic attacks ever since .
Octopus should really compensate you for that.............

 

[Jason71]

Just


I have a month to decide what to do as current Go is going to expire in March. Do nothing is to move to Flexible, which by their calculations is the cheapest but dont know if thats tailored to me or just average usage. Go and IO have cheaper offpeak ~12p and ~10p, but an extra ~10p on day rates. I know that I can change at any time as its not a fixed period.

Are you on Go faster at the moment with a cheap rate that is not the same time period as the standard Octopus Go of 00:30 to 04:30?
if so then the estimate they have given you for Go will be total B******ks

 

[ElectricPolice]

I jumped on IO Monday as my 5p Go rate expired on the 31st January.

First of all I could not set anything up as I have 2 Tesla's on my app. After being on the phone with a helpful chap for about 20 mins we got it sorted. I have deleted my wife's car from my app so I can only now see my car.

App set up and produced a new tab at the bottom for devices. Going into this tab shows the following as and when the IO is turned on for scheduling.

I ran a schedule on Monday night and it would have appeared to have worked fine as I had 100% for a long trip.

I then switched it off in the app (see the photo for how that looks) and when my wife came home last night plugged in and scheduled charge through her Tesla app as previously, start at 12:30 as on go and set a reasonable percentage to ensure it stopped before the end of the cheap rate. All worked fine as would on Go.

So far so good.

When I get home tomorrow night I'll run another schedule to keep everyone happy.

Hope this helps?

 

[ElectricPolice]

What I don't know yet is what happens if/when I put my wife's car back on my app as otherwise I don't have a profile to drive it!!

Don't fancy using the keycard

 

[browellm]

Just


I have a month to decide what to do as current Go is going to expire in March. Do nothing is to move to Flexible, which by their calculations is the cheapest but dont know if thats tailored to me or just average usage. Go and IO have cheaper offpeak ~12p and ~10p, but an extra ~10p on day rates. I know that I can change at any time as its not a fixed period.

Questions.
What is there stopping me treating IO as a better Go? Longer and cheaper off peak vs Go.

Caveats. I non spart charge at 10A and whilst I currently have a Tesla so would seem to be currently eligible, we will be changing to a non Tesla brand at some point that may not support API charging and possibly not even to a full BEV.

Can I simply manually instigate a 23:30-05:30 charge in same way that I treat the Go 4 hour window? Or are they watching me and will kick me off IO when I stop doing charges controlled by IO?

Also a little worried about a failed IO charge as being on 10A, there is minimal opportunity to fix any issue. Is charge all controlled direct via the phone, or controlled by Octopus servers so no direct control needed from phone?

Sorry, too many posts to read.

ToS here.

 

[phil4]

What I don't know yet is what happens if/when I put my wife's car back on my app as otherwise I don't have a profile to drive it!!

Don't fancy using the keycard

It should be fine.

I setup IO at first when I only had 1 tesla, all fine. Then other half bought one and added me. All worked fine. Then I removed my car from IO, and re-added it (as changed charger), and got the error you mention, because I've got two tesla. So I created a new Tesla account and added just my car, and used that for IO. But long and short a) yes, go ahead and add yourself it's fine, and b) if you run into trouble, try creating another tesla account and using that instead.

 

[MrBadger]

Are you on Go faster at the moment with a cheap rate that is not the same time period as the standard Octopus Go of 00:30 to 04:30?
if so then the estimate they have given you for Go will be total B******ks

No Standard Go rate 00:30-04:30. Off top of my head, their flexible estimate was around 20% cheaper than Go. I don't think they estimated for IO.

I would rather not have to go and download the real numbers and compare with those as tbh, its so close financially and in favour of flexible that I will probably just stick with that. But a couple of extra hours on IO would be useful once in a while and with solar during the summer (and a battery still waiting to be commissioned), the extra day rate may well be offset by that. Otherwise charge flat rate at any time is quite an enticing proposition. Which ever way I look at the numbers, its going to be a bit of a shock on current prices, let alone on previous years pricing. And thats before gas runs out later in the year...

 

[Skie]

For anyone jumping on IO now, it's a good idea to check what else is available. IO might be more competitive than other energy suppliers, but Octopus have a lot of options still available. Enter your postcode here and see what your rates are for their various tariffs: Octopus Energy

IO is great if you don't have a lot of base load and can shift heavy usage to the 11:30-5:30 window or you do a significant number of miles each day. But if neither of those statements are true then shop around a bit.

My off peak usage is only 35% so for me Tracker works out better based on current prices. But I'm willing to monitor the prices and jump if the market conditions start to shift again, not everyone can commit to that and IO works out as a bit of a fixed tariff.

 

[MrBadger]

ToS here.

Thanks, but a few things specific to my use case are a bit vague

5b If we schedule your electric vehicle to charge outside of the off-peak hours 23:30 to 05:30, we'll give you the night rate for your EV charging and any underlying household usage in any charging half hours.

5c If it's not possible to charge your car by the time you specify (for example, because the connector capacity is not sufficient for a full charge or because the preferences are updated with too short a notice period for a full charge) we'll notify you and try to charge as much as possible.

5d Intelligent Octopus is subject to a fair use policy with a maximum of six hours of managed charging per 24 hours - which is enough for most electric vehicles to reach a full charge. Usage in excess of these six hours per day may be charged at the day rate.

5c and 5d - at 10A, its going to be a long way off a full charge. Currently, we just aggregate charges across multiple days, no great problem as we have control. 5c - 'try and charge as much as possible'. At moment, if I don't need a specific limit as is the case most days, to keep within 00:30-04:30 I either charge with a % delta, or more often, just run with a higher limit and schedule a hard stop at 04:30. Sounds like I'm going to have to check the app each night and keep bumping the % limit and hope they give me the full 6 hours?

12 As a condition for joining and remaining on this tariff, you agree to download the Intelligent Octopus app and authorise Octopus integration with any required low carbon technology. If you do not download the app within 30 days of joining the tariff or if you do not have active authorisation for integration with any required low carbon technologies for a period of 30 days (e.g. if you have de-authorised and not renewed a previous authorisation), then Octopus may consider you to be in breach of this contract and move you on to another tariff.

Active authorisation vs actual usage? ie. What maintains an active authorisation? What when car is changed (eg to different vehicle quite possibly without any IO controllability), is it possible to maintain an active authorisation and keep within the T&Cs?

 

[browellm]

For anyone jumping on IO now, it's a good idea to check what else is available. IO might be more competitive than other energy suppliers, but Octopus have a lot of options still available. Enter your postcode here and see what your rates are for their various tariffs: Octopus Energy

IO is great if you don't have a lot of base load and can shift heavy usage to the 11:30-5:30 window or you do a significant number of miles each day. But if neither of those statements are true then shop around a bit.

My off peak usage is only 35% so for me Tracker works out better based on current prices. But I'm willing to monitor the prices and jump if the market conditions start to shift again, not everyone can commit to that and IO works out as a bit of a fixed tariff.

Agile is also an option, especially with load shifting via solar+battery. Effectively a lumpier version of Tracker and definitely worth (re)considering moving as we get to spring.

 

[browellm]

Thanks, but a few things specific to my use case are a bit vague



5c and 5d - at 10A, its going to be a long way off a full charge. Currently, we just aggregate charges across multiple days, no great problem as we have control. 5c - 'try and charge as much as possible'. At moment, if I don't need a specific limit as is the case most days, to keep within 00:30-04:30 I either charge with a % delta, or more often, just run with a higher limit and schedule a hard stop at 04:30. Sounds like I'm going to have to check the app each night and keep bumping the % limit and hope they give me the full 6 hours?



Active authorisation vs actual usage? ie. What maintains an active authorisation? What when car is changed (eg to different vehicle quite possibly without any IO controllability), is it possible to maintain an active authorisation and keep within the T&Cs?

You're overthinking it tbh. Use the tariff as intended, or stay on Go.

 

[MrBadger]

You're overthinking it tbh. Use the tariff as intended, or stay on Go.

No point sticking with Go. Its more expensive than the default Flexible according to Octopus.

And just wanting clarification of a scenario that will happen later this year is hardly overthinking. Just thought that someone with hands on experience would enlighten me with what is involved with maintaining an authorisation.