Pod Point Flex

[Medved_77]

Just signed up to this, although unsure of full details:

Here at Pod Point, we’re always looking for ways to help our customers reduce their CO2 emissions and make owning an electric car cheaper. Now, we're delighted to give you the chance to be part of an exciting new trial.

If you’re eligible and you decide to sign-up, we’ll send you an email a couple of times a week. Plug in and charge at least half of those times and we’ll give you a £25 Amazon voucher in the Spring.

Scotland sometimes generates more electricity than it can consume or export over the border. When there’s nowhere for this excess wind energy to go, Scottish wind farms must be paid to “curtail” their generation, which means they’re being paid to shut down and stop producing energy. But we think there’s a better way to make use of this energy and save us all money, by instead rewarding our customers for charging during these periods of excess energy.

So, as a Scottish Pod Point customer, between September 2023 and March 2024, you could be rewarded for plugging in and charging on days when there's an abundance of wind energy.

Obviously you need to be a PodPoint customer with a smart meter. Seems a similar incentive to Octopus Agile whereby you're paid to use electricity when wind generation volumes are too high.

As I'm on Intelligent Octopus, I'll have to see if these times occur during peak (30p per kW/h) or off peak (7.5p per kW/h) to see if it's worth doing.

Ultimately it's just a trial for now, with a small incentive for participation, but could be interesting if it was to become a permanent fixture where the car charger is providing the incentives, rather than the energy company.

 

[spdpsba]

Just signed up to this, although unsure of full details:



Obviously you need to be a PodPoint customer with a smart meter. Seems a similar incentive to Octopus Agile whereby you're paid to use electricity when wind generation volumes are too high.

As I'm on Intelligent Octopus, I'll have to see if these times occur during peak (30p per kW/h) or off peak (7.5p per kW/h) to see if it's worth doing.

Ultimately it's just a trial for now, with a small incentive for participation, but could be interesting if it was to become a permanent fixture where the car charger is providing the incentives, rather than the energy company.

Is that available only in scotland? or does it include UK?

 

[MrBadger]

Is that available only in scotland? or does it include UK?

Scotland is in UK...

 

[Medved_77]

Is that available only in scotland? or does it include UK?

The email received from them would suggest it was trial in Scotland only, given the reference to being unable to export across the border.

TBH, I don't know any more about the scheme other than what's written in the text from the email quoted in the first post. There is a contact email though, [email protected] if you wanted to enquire.

A google/X search for this scheme also yields no results. Will share more when I have further info.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Scotland is in UK...

I wonder what the validity-time of that reply is !

 

[Medved_77]

I wonder what the validity-time of that reply is !

Too long.

 

[init6]

I just signed up too. This was in the blurb during sign-up:

We need to access your smart meter to verify your energy consumption. This is a requirement from National Grid, the Electricity System Operator, who funds this programme.

Looks like the National Grid are running this so it might be rolled out to other charging operators.

 

[spdpsba]

Scotland is in UK...

No intention of creating any rift (I know, I get it, we are excellent in cricket, football, rugby and god knows what else - ) between Scots and English - what I meant was is that only for Scotland or the rest of the UK?

 

[Medved_77]

First pod point flex event now, 12pm-4pm.

Some FAQs have been created here:

Pod-Point Flex

flex.pod-point.com

Not sure how good this will be for those on a dual rate tariff. Additionally, I'm not sure how long the car needs to be consuming power for between 12pm-4pm today in order to qualify as a completed session.

I actually think it's an odd arrangement for the EV charge point companies to be running this scheme, probably best left to the energy suppliers.

 

[init6]

It's the National Grid that are running it. I'm guessing that if the NG want to use a load of electricity in a short space of time then EV's would be a good option to choose. None of us have a direct relationship with the NG, so would make sense to go to someone who has a list of customers with EVs.

 

[Medved_77]

It's the National Grid that are running it. I'm guessing that if the NG want to use a load of electricity in a short space of time then EV's would be a good option to choose. None of us have a direct relationship with the NG, so would make sense to go to someone who has a list of customers with EVs.

I get that. I just struggle to understand how this will work at scale, given I have no ongoing financial interactions with my charge point company.

I'm assuming for most on a dual tariff, they'll need an incentive to charge during peak hours at 4x the cost of off peak. Keeping a tally and issuing an Amazon gift card can't be the long term plan.

It's a trial for now so hopefully they're gathering some good data from it, but long term, will this work without incentives?

 

[ACarneiro]

Surely IO would be the perfect t for for such a trial?
Or maybe even “Power Hours” like Octopus did last year.
The energy company can give you one or two hours of “free electricity” and if the wholesale prices are actually negative at the time then they can even make a profit!

 

[init6]

I get that. I just struggle to understand how this will work at scale, given I have no ongoing financial interactions with my charge point company.

I'm assuming for most on a dual tariff, they'll need an incentive to charge during peak hours at 4x the cost of off peak. Keeping a tally and issuing an Amazon gift card can't be the long term plan.

It's a trial for now so hopefully they're gathering some good data from it, but long term, will this work without incentives?

This won't work at scale and I don't think it is intended to. I see this as just the first part of a demand management process. No point in putting all the systems in place to charge (costs) differently if it doesn't manage the demand.

It says in the FAQ that it's not recommended for people with an off peak tariff - unless you already charge during peak times.

If you're on an off-peak tariff, and you charge during your peak times, the reward we offer will not compensate you for the increased electricity cost. We understand that this is not ideal, and as an industry, there are plans to resolve this.

However, there will be events that occur during off peak periods as well. We're planning to automate the process so you can participate in these - please watch this space.

 

[init6]

Ok did a bit more (skim) reading here:

https://www.nationalgrideso.com/document/273341/download

The following is my understanding of the above.

The problem they are trying to resolve is the thermal constraint on the B6 boundary connection between Scotland and England. i.e. there is sometimes too much electricity generated in Scotland to be able to be sent down South.
Non-Scots need not apply:

Connection - Assets must be distribution connected above the B6 (Anglo-Scottish/SCOTEX) boundary.

This is a tactical solution to address the issue until a longer term plan is in place.
They are attempting to create a market, so presumably PP are one of the entrants to this market - there may be others.

 

[init6]

Anyone else get there £25 voucher today? I'm pretty sure I didn't participate in > half the events , but still got the voucher.

 

[Medved_77]

Anyone else get there £25 voucher today? I'm pretty sure I didn't participate in > half the events , but still got the voucher.

Yes! I wasn't actively participating at all and didn't change any charging habits. The initial launch was very rocky so I didn't really pay any attention to it thereafter.

 

[Danno_]

I didn’t get a penny, despite signing up at the start. To rub salt in the wound the flex operating hours seem to have changed overnight which meant the car stopped charging at 11pm last night and I now don’t have enough charge for my work today.

 

[init6]

Your scheme must have worked differently to the scheme I was on (the FAQ does say there are regional variations), but we were notified in advance about the times to charge the car or 'events' as they called them.