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

 

[btc1k]

Oh, that puts a different spin on it. Everyone has said one of the main advantages is that you get additional low-rate charging periods, but if you can’t benefit from them as they can change I don’t see much advantage over Go to offset the added complexity.

Of course you benefit from them. IO is designed to charge your car in an off-peak period, and that may mean extra slots.

You can always see the extra slots in the app.

And an extra 2 hours more than Go as well. It's really not complex...

 

[page3]

Of course you benefit from them. IO is designed to charge your car in an off-peak period, and that may mean extra slots.

You can always see the extra slots in the app.

And an extra 2 hours more than Go as well. It's really not complex...

But I’ve just been told those slots can change once scheduled. I don’t need extra charging time, so what exactly am I gaining?

If I can use those extra slots (when they’re outside the usual off peak period) for time shifting other activities then it’s a win. If I only get to use them for charging then it’s pointless as I don’t need the extra two hours. And it does mean faffing about in the app switching it on/off as necessary to avoid phantom drain.

 

[browellm]

But I’ve just been told those slots can change once scheduled. I don’t need extra charging time, so what exactly am I gaining?

If I can use those extra slots (when they’re outside the usual off peak period) for time shifting other activities then it’s a win. If I only get to use them for charging then it’s pointless as I don’t need the extra two hours. And it does mean faffing about in the app switching it on/off as necessary to avoid phantom drain.

Read. The. OP.

 

[page3]

What's "complex" about it? I've never known anything generate so much unjustified hand-wringing. You all drive Teslas, chaps.

It’s not complex, but it does require more hand holding than Go. Currently I just plug in either car whenever and they charge overnight as appropriate. With intelligence I’ll need to manage it a bit more, especially when the wife plugs her Ioniq in.

If though the extra time slots are usually pretty stable then the tariff still seems worth it.

This thread has been extremely helpful.

 

[page3]

You CAN but it is not necessary the fact that you will have slots

Standard Octopus Go off peak is from 0:30 to 4:30 - 4 hrs
IO off peak is 23:30 to 5:30 - two additional hours. IF you are lucky you might get more. But any time, if you charge your car or not, connect your car to the charger or not, you get scheduled slots or not, you ALWAYS get off-peak 23:30 to 5:30.

I struggle to understand how some people fail to understand this very simple concept

You cannot see the benefit of at least 2 more hours of off-peak vs regular go!? How does that math works!?

How many times! I do understand the concept - it’s pretty obvious.

I don’t need two more hours off peak in the middle of the night when nothing is using it.

The 4 hour Go period is plenty to charge either the Tesla or the Ioniq and to do a wash and dishwasher.

The only benefit on Intelligent is the extra occasional slots outside of the usual off peak period. If these are often enough and reliable then changing to this tariff is a no brainer. If not, then there is no benefit to me over Go.

Hope that clarifies things.

 

[yessuz]

How many times! I do understand the concept - it’s pretty obvious.

I don’t need two more hours off peak in the middle of the night when nothing is using it.

The 4 hour Go period is plenty to charge either the Tesla or the Ioniq and to do a wash and dishwasher.

The only benefit on Intelligent is the extra occasional slots outside of the usual off peak period. If these are often enough and reliable then changing to this tariff is a no brainer. If not, then there is no benefit to me over Go.

Hope that clarifies things.

Well it is the best option there is, meaning, there is no other supplier/tariff which offers more.

You realise, that in general you can use IO same way as regular GO just getting to more hrs.

IO and GO tariffs are same as well AFAIK

 

[DoricJim]

Best way to get stable extra hours is to set charge to 100% by 4am in the octopus app, but manage the actual amount you want in the Tesla; eg 80%. I find by doing that you often get an hour or 2 extra before 11:30. Depending on how low your battery is.

Okay it’s gaming the system a bit but don’t see anything in T&Cs stopping this.

Anyone would think IO required a post-grad degree in rocket science to manage from some of the posts.

 

[Mrklaw]

Best way to get stable extra hours is to set charge to 100% by 4am in the octopus app, but manage the actual amount you want in the Tesla; eg 80%. I find by doing that you often get an hour or 2 extra before 11:30. Depending on how low your battery is.

Okay it’s gaming the system a bit but don’t see anything in T&Cs stopping this.

Anyone would think IO required a post-grad degree in rocket science to manage from some of the posts.

at the moment this is all baby steps and useful data for Octopus. But I could see as things mature, you could get gentle nudges like ‘hey I know you keep wanting to charge to 100% by 4am which means we’re giving you extra slots in the early evening to squeeze it in. But we also noticed you don’t disconnect the car until 7.30am. Can we recommend updating the time needed by to 6.30am?’

 

[DoricJim]

at the moment this is all baby steps and useful data for Octopus. But I could see as things mature, you could get gentle nudges like ‘hey I know you keep wanting to charge to 100% by 4am which means we’re giving you extra slots in the early evening to squeeze it in. But we also noticed you don’t disconnect the car until 7.30am. Can we recommend updating the time needed by to 6.30am?’

Well until/if that happens I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.

 

[Pink Duck]

I find setting scheduled departure charge by helps avoid Tesla automatic charging on returning home, ahead of the planned smart charge window(s). However, sometimes those half-hour slots exceed the end of off-peak time. Also be careful when applying Tesla software updates, as those can also involve spontaneous charging to car SoC target during peak rate.

 

[btc1k]

Best way to get stable extra hours is to set charge to 100% by 4am in the octopus app, but manage the actual amount you want in the Tesla; eg 80%. I find by doing that you often get an hour or 2 extra before 11:30. Depending on how low your battery is.

Okay it’s gaming the system a bit but don’t see anything in T&Cs stopping this.

Anyone would think IO required a post-grad degree in rocket science to manage from some of the posts.

People like to complicate things, it's basic human behaviour.

The beauty in things is usually the simplicity. Simple works.

 

[Billbrown1982]

I'm kind of getting pee'd off with IO now. It constantly keeps failing to actually control my charge. When my car goes to sleep, it stays asleep. So its either not charging at all or charging to 100% even with the app set at 80%.

Support emails are taking weeks to reply to and even then, when you say "oh hey on this date, this happened" they are just responding with "I've checked todays logs and I can see xxx" yeah....thats not my issue.

I thought tonight, maybe I need to remove the car from the app and repair it from scratch, but oh hey....that option has vanished from the app during one of the last updates apparently, so there is literally nothing I can do.

I know its beta....but so was GO....and that worked much better lol

 

[yessuz]

I'm kind of getting pee'd off with IO now. It constantly keeps failing to actually control my charge. When my car goes to sleep, it stays asleep. So its either not charging at all or charging to 100% even with the app set at 80%.

Support emails are taking weeks to reply to and even then, when you say "oh hey on this date, this happened" they are just responding with "I've checked todays logs and I can see xxx" yeah....thats not my issue.

I thought tonight, maybe I need to remove the car from the app and repair it from scratch, but oh hey....that option has vanished from the app during one of the last updates apparently, so there is literally nothing I can do.

I know its beta....but so was GO....and that worked much better lol

So disable that IO smart thing and use it as regular GO just 6 hrs instead if 4. Where is the problem here?!

 

[Billbrown1982]

So disable that IO smart thing and use it as regular GO just 6 hrs instead if 4. Where is the problem here?!

Firstly, I can't disable it, as that option is also absent.
Secondly, because I don't want to use it as regular GO. If I did, I would have stayed on the regular GO tariff.

Sometimes I get home from work with only an hour left of the cheap window, which isn't enough time to charge. IO used to solve that problem but not at the moment...

 

[SteveJol]

So its either not charging at all or charging to 100% even with the app set at 80%.

The limiter inside the car should still apply, set the maximum charge to 80% in the car.

This doesn't help the 'not charging at all' problem, but certainly stops the 'charging to 100%' problem.

 

[Mrklaw]

Firstly, I can't disable it, as that option is also absent.
Secondly, because I don't want to use it as regular GO. If I did, I would have stayed on the regular GO tariff.

Sometimes I get home from work with only an hour left of the cheap window, which isn't enough time to charge. IO used to solve that problem but not at the moment...

I’m surprised they don’t have a ‘plug in by’ - they only say after 5. But you used to be able to plug in at 4am, it’d calculate the slots in time and work for you? Thats surprising

 

[yessuz]

Firstly, I can't disable it, as that option is also absent.
Secondly, because I don't want to use it as regular GO. If I did, I would have stayed on the regular GO tariff.

Sometimes I get home from work with only an hour left of the cheap window, which isn't enough time to charge. IO used to solve that problem but not at the moment...

because maybe you don't get required slots as they don't have any. remember - they do not HAVE TO put you in any slots outside off-peak hours.

My only comment was that in case regular GO "worked better" (with shorter off-peak window) then this one should work that way just better.

anyway - you would need to remove the IO from car account and start the process again I would presume.

the "smart" tab (3 circles) appears on my iOS app a second or so after I launch the app, by the way

 

[btc1k]

One thing that is clear from this thread, is people embrace a Beta tariff, and then expect it to work faultlessly and perfectly.

A beta is any software still under development that's made available during a software release life cycle to a select few to test, examine, and report problems. Beta testing allows developers to find problems they may have missed and fix them before the program is released.

If you absolutely despair that you can't operate IO, then "other tariffs are available".

 

[Kenners]

I'm kind of getting pee'd off with IO now. It constantly keeps failing to actually control my charge. When my car goes to sleep, it stays asleep. So its either not charging at all or charging to 100% even with the app set at 80%.

Support emails are taking weeks to reply to and even then, when you say "oh hey on this date, this happened" they are just responding with "I've checked todays logs and I can see xxx" yeah....thats not my issue.

I thought tonight, maybe I need to remove the car from the app and repair it from scratch, but oh hey....that option has vanished from the app during one of the last updates apparently, so there is literally nothing I can do.

I know its beta....but so was GO....and that worked much better lol

The option to turn off smart charging should be in account settings, where there should be a specific IO bit in the app. You cant turn it off from the bit where you set your charge and it shows the slots.

It missed a couple of charges for me entirely this weekend, so had to schedule last night from the car. But this seems to have been due to my wife stopping the charge manually rather than letting IO do it. But it does seem a little temperamental. On the positive side as I now plug in every night I have a bit of leeway if it fails one or two nights. But I guess if you are doing lots of miles that can be a bt of a pain.

But the idea of using the grid more intelligently is a good one. So will try and use IO as it is intended as often as I can and not complain its not like Go all the time - something its never claimed to be, even if you can use it like that by switching off the smart charging.

(Latter points not aimed at Bill!!)

 

[Billbrown1982]

The limiter inside the car should still apply, set the maximum charge to 80% in the car.

This doesn't help the 'not charging at all' problem, but certainly stops the 'charging to 100%' problem.

Yeah, I only increased it to 100% because support were claiming that the mismatch of 80% in app and 80% in car may have been causing a mismatch. That night it charged to 100 instead of 80 so I won't make that mistake again.

I’m surprised they don’t have a ‘plug in by’ - they only say after 5. But you used to be able to plug in at 4am, it’d calculate the slots in time and work for you? Thats surprising

It really is and i'm sure it won't last. Probably only while the product is in proper beta, sooner or later they will add a limit, they have to. Otherwise people that work nights and don't get home until 7am etc would be getting cheap electric all day.

because maybe you don't get required slots as they don't have any. remember - they do not HAVE TO put you in any slots outside off-peak hours.

My only comment was that in case regular GO "worked better" (with shorter off-peak window) then this one should work that way just better.

anyway - you would need to remove the IO from car account and start the process again I would presume.

the "smart" tab (3 circles) appears on my iOS app a second or so after I launch the app, by the way

No, its not that. Because last night the car was supposed to start at 3am and didn't. I had to wake it manually for it to start charging.

Yes GO might have worked for most, but for me I really struggled, which is part of the reason I switched to IO in the first place.

I'd LOVE to remove the car....but I can't lol. I'll show a screenshot further down to illustrate just how borked my account seems to be right now.

The intelligent octopus part of the app shows up for me after a few seconds too, unfortunately for whatever reason, there is now hardly anything inside of it.

One thing that is clear from this thread, is people embrace a Beta tariff, and then expect it to work faultlessly and perfectly.

A beta is any software still under development that's made available during a software release life cycle to a select few to test, examine, and report problems. Beta testing allows developers to find problems they may have missed and fix them before the program is released.

If you absolutely despair that you can't operate IO, then "other tariffs are available".

Not at all. I am fully aware of what beta entails and have been in various different beta's for various different things over many years. My issue here is, when you are testing a beta product but still waiting weeks, if not months to get a response to a problem email. The two just don't work together like that. You need to be ontop of a beta product to releases fixes quickly and help support the people that are willing to test it for you.

The option to turn off smart charging should be in account settings, where there should be a specific IO bit in the app. You cant turn it off from the bit where you set your charge and it shows the slots.

It missed a couple of charges for me entirely this weekend, so had to schedule last night from the car. But this seems to have been due to my wife stopping the charge manually rather than letting IO do it. But it does seem a little temperamental. On the positive side as I now plug in every night I have a bit of leeway if it fails one or two nights. But I guess if you are doing lots of miles that can be a bt of a pain.

But the idea of using the grid more intelligently is a good one. So will try and use IO as it is intended as often as I can and not complain its not like Go all the time - something its never claimed to be, even if you can use it like that by switching off the smart charging.

(Latter points not aimed at Bill!!)

I've attached a screenshot of what is inside my IO bit currently. I can't remember how it used to look exactly, but I know there was a toggle switch to turn IO on and off. As well as a remove car and reauthorize car option? Yeah all of them are gone lol.

I've tried logging out/in, deleting the app, rebooting, reinstalling. I was in the app beta program so I deregistered from that and downloaded an older version too, still no dice.