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

 

[Cardo]

I plugged the car in just after 5pm then it did it’s little pre charge and stopped, then it started charging again at around 19.30 and stopped at 21.30 (when the next session was due to start).

It also charging again at 22.30 as per the schedule so I think Octopus shuffled the charging times around?

Sounds like IO changing the map. I’ve certainly noticed it changing throughout the evening. It’s probably worth making a note of it and checking your bill to see how it charged you. I’d like to think it’ll have applied the cheaper rate during the charging periods.

 

[Skie]

Yep, it shuffles charging periods around from the initial one you get at 5 to whenever it actually starts. Makes sense as it’s load balancing demand and not everyone will be plugging in at the same time, so it needs to juggle stuff around.

Just open the octopus app, look at your schedule and pull down to ensure you’re seeing the latest schedule.

 

[Pink Duck]

I think it a bit more than that, as I experienced similar issue yesterday evening despite refreshing both apps. IO attempting to stop the charging around 4 times, in dispute of the stated schedule, before relenting after 19:00 with no change. Despite that, I departed this morning with SoC 5% below what it should have been noting the car wasn’t charging itself, after re-requesting a schedule at 07:11. Feels like more system glitch than load balancing.

 

[ElectricPolice]

I actually let my Go finish (it was so cheap I didn't want to waste any), and then switched the weekend after.

The switch was virtually instant - clicked the button to swap, did my test charge, got an email confirming all done.

I believe if you 'go off early' before Go expires, the switch is still instant, so last minute seems advisable.

I've been waiting for a thread like this as my 5p Go expires month end so all points really helpful. I will definately see out my term for every last drop of my value tariff which started in Jan 2021.

I was considering setting up the IO on the granny charger to my M3 specifically, which does get some regular top up use, and then keeping the wall charger free for the 6h chargings for either mine or the misses' MY.

I can plug the M3 into this several times a week to keep within IO T&C's, if that's an issue with the OP?

However, what you're saying above makes more sense as if I set up and schedule on the wall charger as I might get extra slots? Although do I need them really?

From pages and pages of folk going on about charges starting immediately when plugging in and having to manually switch off, solutions by setting charge start times or end time etc... seems to work for some and not others going by the endless rants both ways. I'm not convinced I want the hassle, but would put up with some compromises for the 2p saving and extra 2h over the new Go rate?

If I set it up on the granny at least if it does start early this it won't exceed my battery/inverter output limit of 3.7kW in the summer and hence won't draw from the mains unlike the wall charger on all occasions.

Although 15 mins at 7kW at 41.6p is (only?) 75p it's the principle and the hassle when it doesn't need to be.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Cardo]

I've been waiting for a thread like this as my 5p Go expires month end so all points really helpful. I will definately see out my term for every last drop of my value tariff which started in Jan 2021.

I was considering setting up the IO on the granny charger to my M3 specifically, which does get some regular top up use, and then keeping the wall charger free for the 6h chargings for either mine or the misses' MY.

I can plug the M3 into this several times a week to keep within IO T&C's, if that's an issue with the OP?

However, what you're saying above makes more sense as if I set up and schedule on the wall charger as I might get extra slots? Although do I need them really?

From pages and pages of folk going on about charges starting immediately when plugging in and having to manually switch off, solutions by setting charge start times or end time etc... seems to work for some and not others going by the endless rants both ways. I'm not convinced I want the hassle, but would put up with some compromises for the 2p saving and extra 2h over the new Go rate?

If I set it up on the granny at least if it does start early this it won't exceed my battery/inverter output limit of 3.7kW in the summer and hence won't draw from the mains unlike the wall charger on all occasions.

Although 15 mins at 7kW at 41.6p is (only?) 75p it's the principle and the hassle when it doesn't need to be.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Set a schedule in the car to charge by the end of the off-peak period of 0530. Then simply plug into the regular charger. The schedule will stop the car from staring a charge straight away and IO can send start/stop commands as it pleases. Actually works rather well.

 

[phil4]

Set a schedule in the car to charge by the end of the off-peak period of 0530. Then simply plug into the regular charger. The schedule will stop the car from staring a charge straight away and IO can send start/stop commands as it pleases. Actually works rather well.

Or do the other way and tell it to start at 23:30... also works really well.

 

[Cardo]

Or do the other way and tell it to start at 23:30... also works really well.

Drawback with this way round is the car will start charging at 2330, whether or not a charge is mapped for then. This could mean the car charges too quickly and you lose a post 0530 charge slot.

 

[phil4]

Drawback with this way round is the car will start charging at 2330, whether or not a charge is mapped for then. This could mean the car charges too quickly and you lose a post 0530 charge slot.

And the flip side of telling it to be ready at 5:30 is it starts too early and in the peak period.

23:30 has worked for me... Octopus have never taken away a slot, even if it finished charging much much earlier.

But each to their own, don't see either as wrong, just offering an option that works for me.

 

[browellm]

I just stop the charge in the app.

Main reason is that because Octopus are slow to stop the initial charge, it still creates an artificial hump of charges starting at 11:30pm which is not really in keeping with the "Intelligent" load balancing part of the tariff objective.

 

[spooksman]

Set a schedule in the car to charge by the end of the off-peak period of 0530.

I have tried this twice - both times when I plugged in nothing happend (as expected) - then at about 7pm, the car started charging (no schedule).

What was odd was that I saw the notification and stopped it, then the car just started it again - that happened on repeat until I went to the car and removed the 05:30 thing.

No idea what s happening.

I just stop the charge now, and it works reliably.

 

[Cardo]

And the flip side of telling it to be ready at 5:30 is it starts too early and in the peak period.

23:30 has worked for me... Octopus have never taken away a slot, even if it finished charging much much earlier.

But each to their own, don't see either as wrong, just offering an option that works for me.

I have had Octopus take away extra slots when the car has charged fully after starting at 2330, so unfortunately it does happen. But as you say, if you need more charge than the car thinks can fit in 6 hours, then it could start early during the peak rate. Pros and cons both ways.

 

[phil4]

if you need more charge than the car thinks can fit in 6 hours

Genuine question, not me putting a counter point here... when setting the end point at 05:30, since you can tell the car when to start, how does it know to aim for. My guess was it'd just estimate how long it'd take and start when it needed... but your comment could be read that it knows it has 6 hours max... how does it know that?

 

[Cardo]

Genuine question, not me putting a counter point here... when setting the end point at 05:30, since you can tell the car when to start, how does it know to aim for. My guess was it'd just estimate how long it'd take and start when it needed... but your comment could be read that it knows it has 6 hours max... how does it know that?

With a charge end time, the car will aim to finish charging at that time, so it will start at the time it thinks it needs to ensure it has enough time to charge. Depending on how much it needs to charge, the start time will obviously vary. If it needs more than 6 hours’ worth of charging, it would obviously start before 2330… I only mention 6 hours because that’s the length of the off-peak period.

 

[phil4]

With a charge end time, the car will aim to finish charging at that time, so it will start at the time it thinks it needs to ensure it has enough time to charge. Depending on how much it needs to charge, the start time will obviously vary. If it needs more than 6 hours’ worth of charging, it would obviously start before 2330… I only mention 6 hours because that’s the length of the off-peak period.

Thanks, that makes sense... sorry just thought you had a way of letting it know. But you're right, rough calc will do it.

 

[Skie]

I have tried this twice - both times when I plugged in nothing happend (as expected) - then at about 7pm, the car started charging (no schedule).

What was odd was that I saw the notification and stopped it, then the car just started it again - that happened on repeat until I went to the car and removed the 05:30 thing.

Set it via the Tesla app. I've had a loaner for a few days and only now realised you can do it in the car as well , but it's buried in a submenu where you need to tap the blue text to tell the car when off-peak ends. But I've had it enabled via the app for a year now and the car never starts a charge when plugged in.

I have had Octopus take away extra slots when the car has charged fully after starting at 2330, so unfortunately it does happen. But as you say, if you need more charge than the car thinks can fit in 6 hours, then it could start early during the peak rate. Pros and cons both ways.

Yep, if you're at a low state of charge the charge might start before 11:30pm as the car tries to shoehorn it in, especially on a granny charger, but IO should stop it. I think IO is faster at stopping 'rogue' charging later on at night too, as it has less noise than around 5pm when everyone is getting home and plugging in.

If everything is set up right, IO might even pop in a pre-11:30pm charge schedule for you (epic trek today). There isnt a right or wrong way to do it, it's just fun seeing the damned thing work!

 

[spooksman]

Set it via the Tesla app.

 

[Drew57]

I find that the basic six IO hours is always sufficient so have nothing set in the Tesla app or car (except target SOC) & leave the end time as 05.30 in the Octopus app. I've always stopped the initial plug-in charge manually.

Occasionally the schedule starts sometime after 9.30pm but normally all slots are between 23.30-05.30. The house batteries charge from midnight & dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, heated airer, vacuum cleaner batteries, second car etc are set to 23.30 start whichever night they are needed (the batteries commence charging every night 30 minutes after everything else to avoid a single large power surge at 23.30, especially as they draw 3.6kWh). We also have 5L boiled water storage that starts at 05.10 and reaches temperature at 05.25. It provides instant hot water, replaces the need for a kettle & is turned off and refilled during the evening after the last use each day.

By 05.30 there is sufficient charge in the house batteries to always carry us through to 23.30 that night so extra slots have proved to be unnecessary in my case.

 

[ElectricPolice]

Thanks for all the above.

Still none the wiser, guess I’ll play with all the different options listed and find what suits me just as you all all have

 

[kuruma]

Not artificial current limiting for additional slots then? Every solar charge I've done the amps are controlled automatically and flex as per the available current.

In my Tesla app or in the car, I can set the amps. But if my solar isn't supplying enough power to satisfy those amps, the excess has to come from the grid. I've got a Tesla charger that was installed 3 years ago. Perhaps yours is a more up to date model or a Zappi. If so, maybe that's why your experience will differ from mine.

Never even occurred to me that limiting the current would generate additional slots. In fact, does it?

Certainly sounds like a car issue rather than an octopus issue. No signal getting through so the charge can’t be controlled. If the car is in a place with otherwise good cellular signal maybe get it booked into service to get it looked at.

I wonder if the connectivity is a car v Android update issue. I almost always have to get my phone out of my pocket now to get the car to unlock... or at least, by the time I've huffed and puffed and then resorted to that, the car unlocks. Worst it's been in the 3 and a bit years I've had the car.

Tonight though, it's the first time we needed to charge since I posted the issues we were facing, and everything worked fine with IO. Not a dicky bird from Octopus in response to my two support requests though...

 

[giorgosa]

quick question.

I switched today from GEUK to octopus, with the intention to move to IO. Switch went smoothly and completed in just 2 days.

I got today an email from Octopus, telling that they need smart meter and to book an installation, but no appointment is available.

GEUK installed updated SMETS2 meters on 19th of December, for which I get readings through Loop app. Shouldn’t these be ok for use from Octopus? I’ve emailed them but I am puzzled, I thought I am ready to go….