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

 

[Drew57]

I wish Octopus had changed the 'use an IO smart charge at least once per month' to 'mandatory or you will be removed from the tariff'.

Many of us also have PV and batteries and still manage to use IO exactly as it was intended (and without having any impact on house battery SOC if researched and implemented correctly).

Why do an increasing number of people just see this as a cheaper GO? - 7.5p/6h vs 9p/4h happens because IO chooses the lowest wholesale cost slots & rewards that behaviour with the most competitive deal.

 

[Js1977]

ffs

And the Darwin award goes to...(spoilers alert...it not you)

 

[G4WFT]

I thought the idea of Intelligent Octopus Go was that Octopus "rewarded" you with a longer period of cheaper rate in return for allowing them to control your charging to help with grid balancing? Sounds like some want their cake and eat it.

 

[gdallas]

Which you can get away with at present but its not really within the spirit of the tariff. The whole quid pro quo of offering the better deal than Go is that they get to pick and chose the charge time. I know you can do what you are doing but if we all did that they would have to scrap the tariff.

Get away with?? What are you talking about? There is literally an option in the app to disable smart control. I take it you don't have a PV or Battery system and are unable to relate.

 

[gdallas]

You're on the wrong tariff then

How so. Enlighten me?

 

[G4WFT]

I wish Octopus had changed the 'use an IO smart charge at least once per month' to 'mandatory or you will be removed from the tariff'.

Many of us also have PV and batteries and still manage to use IO exactly as it was intended (and without having any impact on house battery SOC if researched and implemented correctly).

Why do an increasing number of people just see this as a cheaper GO? - 7.5p/6h vs 9p/4h happens because IO chooses the lowest wholesale cost slots & rewards that behaviour with the most competitive deal.

Absolutely right. If you can't see and understand that you're either thick, selfish or both.

 

[Jason71]

Get away with?? What are you talking about? There is literally an option in the app to disable smart control. I take it you don't have a PV or Battery system and are unable to relate.

I am not sure how much more I can add to what I said before but here goes.
IO gives you some benefits over Go. .i.e. 2 extra hours of cheap rate + a cheap rate of 7.5p vs 9.5p
in return Octopus ask that they decide when your car is charged so that they can do it when the wholesale price is at its lowest / greenest

The point is you are taking the extra benefits but not giving Octopus anything in return.
You absolutely can do that. You won't be sued or ( at the moment) kicked off the Tarff.
BUT
If too many people do what you are doing Octopus will have to either give up on IO or more likely add in some additional enforced terms which will definitely impact you and may also impact those of us who are "playing fair" which is why you have had such a strong negative reaction to your statements.

 

[Jerryjal]

Zappi integration IO

Hi, I have a question or two regarding the news that Zappi is now able to be added to IO.

I currently have one Zappi but we are a two Tesla household. At the moment my Tesla is linked to IO and when we want to charge the wife’s car I just schedule it from 11:30pm to 05:30am.

If I change the IO integration from the car to the Zappi I will be able to charge both Tesla’s using IO, is that correct?

Also, while I’m here….. we are in the process of having a second Zappi installed, I presume I will only be able to use the 11:30pm to 05:30am schedule on that one, is that right?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jason71]

Also, while I’m here….. we are in the process of having a second Zappi installed, I presume I will only be able to use the 11:30pm to 05:30am schedule on that one, is that right?

Not quite sure what you mean? If Octopus are controlling a zappi they will only control one the same as they only control one car so you can do what you want with the second one but you will only get cheap rate between 23:30-05:30 unless you happen to be charging on the other one and the smart charge strays out side those hours then you will get the cheap rate on extended hours on the second one as well of course.

 

[G4WFT]

A question for the more experienced IO Go users: If I plug the car in at, say, 10 am and tell the app that I want 80% charge by, say, 6 pm, does IO:

1) Schedule in time slots to fulfil that, even though they may be at expensive times
2) Assume the 6 pm is the following day and schedule overnight
3) Just say that the request can't be fulfilled and say you need to bump charge

I'm not trying to unfairly get extra low rate slots or would ever be likely to have such a requirement, just interested.

 

[Jerryjal]

Not quite sure what you mean? If Octopus are controlling a zappi they will only control one the same as they only control one car so you can do what you want with the second one but you will only get cheap rate between 23:30-05:30 unless you happen to be charging on the other one and the smart charge strays out side those hours then you will get the cheap rate on extended hours on the second one as well of course.

That is what I thought, The main Zappi can be used with IO but the advantage of using the Zappi to control IO is that now I can take advantage of the extended times that IO gives you on both Tesla's rather than just the one.

 

[Pink Duck]

80% charge by, say, 6 pm

It will go ahead and schedule optimal charging to try and achieve that if current permits within the time frame, usually time before lunch then a separate section in early afternoon. If it knows it can’t achieve target SoC then it will compromise, but it won’t consider the time target for the next day until that happens.

 

[Jason71]

It will go ahead and schedule optimal charging to try and achieve that if current permits within the time frame, usually time before lunch then a separate section in early afternoon. If it knows it can’t achieve target SoC then it will compromise, but it won’t consider the time target for the next day until that happens.

And will it give you that at the cheap rate? even if you give it a set of conditions that can only be fulfilled 100% outside of the normal cheap period?
Edit
when I look in the app now at 17:15 the earliest completion time I see is 4am so I don't see how you could do what @G4WFT is wanting to do?

 

[Pink Duck]

If it schedules then whole half hours where it starts, ends, or is actively charging throughout from schedule means yes, off-peak 7.5 p/kWh rate instead of peak.

 

[G4WFT]

And will it give you that at the cheap rate? even if you give it a set of conditions that can only be fulfilled 100% outside of the normal cheap period?

Exactly what I'm getting at Jason. Perhaps I should try it and see!

 

[Jason71]

Exactly what I'm getting at Jason. Perhaps I should try it and see!

in the app the hours you can schedule are limited. Right now I can see 4am is the earliest end time I can set ( no idea if that changes) so you will probably find you would never be able to set 6pm as the completion time

 

[G4WFT]

in the app the hours you can schedule are limited. Right now I can see 4am is the earliest end time I can set ( no idea if that changes) so you will probably find you would never be able to set 6pm as the completion time

Got you. Thanks Jason.

 

[Cardo]

Zappi integration IO

Hi, I have a question or two regarding the news that Zappi is now able to be added to IO.

I currently have one Zappi but we are a two Tesla household. At the moment my Tesla is linked to IO and when we want to charge the wife’s car I just schedule it from 11:30pm to 05:30am.

If I change the IO integration from the car to the Zappi I will be able to charge both Tesla’s using IO, is that correct?

Also, while I’m here….. we are in the process of having a second Zappi installed, I presume I will only be able to use the 11:30pm to 05:30am schedule on that one, is that right?

Thanks in advance.

Currently, the Zappi integration only works with a single Zappi (much like with the Tesla integration). You can carry out the onboaridng as long as there’s only one Zappi on your MyEnergi account, and that one will be the one that links to IO. Once onboarding has been carried out, you can add a second Zappi (again, much like with the Tesla integration). IO will control the initial Zappi. The second Zappi can be set to a scheduled boost of 2330-0530, or whatever. You’ll get the cheap rate 2330-0530 plus any charging slots IO assigns out of that time.

The way the Zappi integration works is you tell it what your car is during onboarding, so IO will know what size battery the car has. You then tell it how much % you want to charge each night. This is _not_ a target SoC, but how _much_ % to charge. So for me with a 75 kWh battery, if I’m at 50% and want to charge to 70%, I set it to 20% and the car will charge around 15kWh. If your second car has a similar sized battery, easy. If the battery is a different size, you might need to carry out some mental arithmetic to work out how much to charge, if using the IO Zappi.

 

[Cardo]

in the app the hours you can schedule are limited. Right now I can see 4am is the earliest end time I can set ( no idea if that changes) so you will probably find you would never be able to set 6pm as the completion time

To confirm, the “ready by time” is limited to 0400 hrs at the earliest and 1100 at the latest.

 

[wriggers]

Currently, the Zappi integration only works with a single Zappi (much like with the Tesla integration). You can carry out the onboaridng as long as there’s only one Zappi on your MyEnergi account, and that one will be the one that links to IO. Once onboarding has been carried out, you can add a second Zappi (again, much like with the Tesla integration). IO will control the initial Zappi. The second Zappi can be set to a scheduled boost of 2330-0530, or whatever. You’ll get the cheap rate 2330-0530 plus any charging slots IO assigns out of that time.

The way the Zappi integration works is you tell it what your car is during onboarding, so IO will know what size battery the car has. You then tell it how much % you want to charge each night. This is _not_ a target SoC, but how _much_ % to charge. So for me with a 75 kWh battery, if I’m at 50% and want to charge to 70%, I set it to 20% and the car will charge around 15kWh. If your second car has a similar sized battery, easy. If the battery is a different size, you might need to carry out some mental arithmetic to work out how much to charge, if using the IO Zappi.

I have two Zappi chargers - and I tried to link it last night. Because I have two chargers linked to my account octopus wouldn’t let me proceed.

Here’s how I handle it, and will continue to do so:
I have 2 x Model Y, both on same tesla account and octopus app now allows to “choose” which car to link up. Octopus control the charging for this car.
For the second car, I used ev.energy to have the car only charge during “off peak” hours - and that handles that.

Second car does less miles - so all my charging is at 7.5p.