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EDF vs Octopus Go

kpatrick77

Standard Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Messages
12
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Location
Glasgow
Driving
MG5
Any advice on what EV tariff to pursue for a MG5LR coming in 3 weeks? Smart meter installed last week after months of delays and is now on the national database!!!! I use about 2300kWh of electricity per year currently and do about 12,000 miles per year on the car. Using a 200 mile range as a rough estimate, 12,000ish miles I think I will use about 3500kWh charging the car.

EDF

Price per kWh - 36.75p
Daily Charge - 36.5p
12am-5am - 4.5p
Fixed untill Jan 2024.
Exit Fee - £150

Octopus Go

Price per kWh - 31.1p
Daily Charge - 27.5p
12:30am-4:30am - 7.5p
One Year fixed.

Really looking for peoples thoughts on using Octopus/EDF as a company to be with and how much of a gamble sticking to these prices on a two year fixed will be? According to my spreadsheet I think Octopus will work out about £100 a year cheaper.

Thoughts. Attached an interesting PDF from EDF I got today from a live chat. EDF Pricing
 
If octopus is cheaper and has no exit fee. I would go with octopus.

With regard to dealing with them as a company, I found them to be professional, prompt with replying to queries, their billing is very nice and clear, and they don't mess you around with over pegging with DD.
 
£150 to get out of the EDF tariff is a bit steep at least with the Octopus tariff you can move it for free to a better one if the the rate do come down.
 
Any advice on what EV tariff to pursue for a MG5LR coming in 3 weeks? Smart meter installed last week after months of delays and is now on the national database!!!! I use about 2300kWh of electricity per year currently and do about 12,000 miles per year on the car. Using a 200 mile range as a rough estimate, 12,000ish miles I think I will use about 3500kWh charging the car.

EDF

Price per kWh - 36.75p
Daily Charge - 36.5p
12am-5am - 4.5p
Fixed untill Jan 2024.
Exit Fee - £150

Octopus Go

Price per kWh - 31.1p
Daily Charge - 27.5p
12:30am-4:30am - 7.5p
One Year fixed.

Really looking for peoples thoughts on using Octopus/EDF as a company to be with and how much of a gamble sticking to these prices on a two year fixed will be? According to my spreadsheet I think Octopus will work out about £100 a year cheaper.

Thoughts. Attached an interesting PDF from EDF I got today from a live chat. EDF Pricing
Hi kpatrick77, and thank you for that PDF you have shared with us from EDF very interesting to see the prices in different parts of the country and now I thank god I did what I did back end of October when I went against the advice of many so called experts and signed a fixed 2 year deal with Eon via sainsbury no off peak but at 21ppkwh not to bad and gas is less than 4p looking at the gas on your PDF it is outrageous what EDF are charging that plus £150 Exit fee they are taking the mick in my opinion go to Octopus if you can it must be better.
Les
 
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d signed a fixed 2 year deal with Eon via sainsbury no off peak but at 21ppkwh not to bad and gas is less than 4p looking at the gas on your PDF it is outrageous what EDF are charging that plus £150 Exit fee they are taking the mick in my opinion go to Octopus if you it can must be better.
No problem on the PDF. I don't have gas at my property so luckily just worried about electricity prices.

I phoned Octopus Go thinking I was ready to switch didn't realise I needed actual possession of the car and charger. The wait continues ...
 
No problem on the PDF. I don't have gas at my property so luckily just worried about electricity prices.

I phoned Octopus Go thinking I was ready to switch didn't realise I needed actual possession of the car and charger. The wait continues ...
Well that makes Octopus look even better as I see it, yeh I think I heard somewhere Octopus had change the Eligibility rules, the other thing you need to aware off is the government grant for a charger, is ending end of March I believe, and the charge point has to be installed and working not just on order before it ends to get the grant but you might know already about this change,but if not you need to get a move on with it I would think.
Les
 
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I've been with Octopus since 2019 and no probs really. I had heard that they weren't taking new customers recently but I think that was due to them being landed with massive numbers following the companies going bust but maybe they are over that now.

They recently tightened up on Go - anyone used to be able to get it. Can't say I blame them.

You can of course pile other usage into your cheap overnight period by using timers - dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers etc (though some wouldn't do the latter because of safety concerns).

You can get fantastic usage data next day from your Octopus account, either direct from their page or from other sources or if you are handy you can have a Raspberry Pi and write some code to do it. ( - I have, sadly!). Either way, you have useful references back to past usage if you want to see how you're doing.

I only have the 4 hour cheap slot but that does getting on for 50% of my change on a home charger (not the granny lead!!)

I was with EDF years ago (before the EV) and I wouldn't rush back to them but they weren't awful. Octopus customer experience is pretty good though.

And best of all if you use my referral link to sign up we both get £50... :) Octopus Energy
 
Addendum: if you are planning a time of use tariff like Go you'll need to make sure you have a method of turning on and off the charging automatically as the car can't do it for you. Ohme or Zappi chargers seem to do it and there may be others. If you decide to go with it, Octopus do a discounted OHME cable - down to £299 from £499 - I think the cheapest overall (but least portable I suppose) would be the commando socket version but of course you will need a properly installed commando socket as well. I've no idea what Zappis are but someone will know.

I have a simple smart home switch which indirectly turns the circuit on and off (controlled by Home Assistant or Google Home)

OHME would be a good choice with Octopus as if ever their Agile tariff becomes viable again it has logic to select the cheapest half hours in a given period and turn on and off the power accordingly for the required number of times.
 
Any advice on what EV tariff to pursue for a MG5LR coming in 3 weeks? Smart meter installed last week after months of delays and is now on the national database!!!! I use about 2300kWh of electricity per year currently and do about 12,000 miles per year on the car. Using a 200 mile range as a rough estimate, 12,000ish miles I think I will use about 3500kWh charging the car.

EDF

Price per kWh - 36.75p
Daily Charge - 36.5p
12am-5am - 4.5p
Fixed untill Jan 2024.
Exit Fee - £150

Octopus Go

Price per kWh - 31.1p
Daily Charge - 27.5p
12:30am-4:30am - 7.5p
One Year fixed.

Really looking for peoples thoughts on using Octopus/EDF as a company to be with and how much of a gamble sticking to these prices on a two year fixed will be? According to my spreadsheet I think Octopus will work out about £100 a year cheaper.

Thoughts. Attached an interesting PDF from EDF I got today from a live chat. EDF Pricing
with Octopus go you can also have your major use equipment like washing machine,dryer and dish washer on between 00.30 and 04.30 which we find saves a fortune.I don't know if EDF allows this or is purely for a EV.
 
I'm not sure they can tell.

Well, I believe devices can be identified by their "signatures" on your circuit but they couldn't from their end, I think all they 'd see is amount used.

I suppose they would know what rate your car charged at and could cap your cheap usage to that amount of juice but in the scheme of things hardly worth their while - and it would pee off existing customers who fill their household batteries on the cheap and whatnot no end.
 
I knew you had to be on octopus, with a smart meter giving readings, before you can switch to the Go or Agile products.

I was a customer for a year and switched to Go in September. Still awaiting my car and charger (ordered through octopus). A car or charger wasn't a prerequisite back then.
 
If you are looking to get solar in the future then a Zappi would be great but you will be looking at £1000. I had just the Zappi and set the timers for the off peak 4 hour slot. I am now using an Ohme as they were £199 from Octopus last year and it works great on the app. I have the loft conversion hot water unit on it, the immersion heater, various chargers and the washing machine. Unfortunately no timer on the dishwasher but I put it on late to overlap the off peak.
 
£150 to get out of the EDF tariff is a bit steep at least with the Octopus tariff you can move it for free to a better one if the the rate do come down.
Seems like EDF are expecting a future drop in wholesale prices.
They're also asking people on Facebook to sign up to email alerts when the price drops.
🤔
 
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