Best and cheapest EV energy suppliers - June 2022

[BugEyed]

That's just my home's electricity. Plus the car.

Which includes what you use at night when solar isn't generating. The figure that you need is the one without any "occasional" loads such as ovens, washing machines etc.
FWIW mine runs at just under 300W as it includes two freezers and an air pump, or 7.2kW. Without anything else to use solar generation on it would be wasted so I divert the excess to water heating (max 6kW) or the car when I'm home during peak generation. Anything else is wasted without looking at battery storage.

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Which includes what you use at night when solar isn't generating. The figure that you need is the one without any "occasional" loads such as ovens, washing machines etc.
FWIW mine runs at just under 300W as it includes two freezers and an air pump, or 7.2kW. Without anything else to use solar generation on it would be wasted so I divert the excess to water heating (max 6kW) or the car when I'm home during peak generation. Anything else is wasted without looking at battery storage.

Sorry but all of this confuses me...
I know that I use about 14kw in a day, that's what the little gadget from the smart meter shows. I have no idea how that is divided across the different devices.

When I will receive the car, that would be in addition to the 14kw.

Ideally I would want a small solar system, possibly with a battery to store energy for house use, then for charging the car. Would love to have the smallest system as possible but with a possibility for expansion at later date.

I also need to find a suitable energy supplier with the cheapest tariff

I am a complete beginner on EV and Solar energy and my brain is hurting with all the information thrown out there.

 

[Justin H]

Not sure go faster will offer you an early evening slot, although definitely worth a try. The earliest I could get was 21.30 to 02.30 every night.

The 21.30 start looks to be the best I can get but it's better than nothing.

 

[BugEyed]

I know that I use about 14kw in a day, that's what the little gadget from the smart meter shows. I have no idea how that is divided across the different devices.

Look at the display when there's nothing turned on that doesn't run 24/7.

I also need to find a suitable energy supplier with the cheapest tariff

To do this you need to know the split of usage by time and an idea of what can be moved. For example, all of our washing machine usage is now overnight to benefit from the lower costs - but friends can't understand how we could delay that.

Ideally I would want a small solar system, possibly with a battery to store energy for house use, then for charging the car. Would love to have the smallest system as possible but with a possibility for expansion at later date.

There's no point having solar below 2kWp. Batteries for spreading solar and off-peak make sense.

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Look at the display when there's nothing turned on that doesn't run 24/7.



To do this you need to know the split of usage by time and an idea of what can be moved. For example, all of our washing machine usage is now overnight to benefit from the lower costs - but friends can't understand how we could delay that.



There's no point having solar below 2kWp. Batteries for spreading solar and off-peak make sense.

Thank you for the explanation, I will try creating a spreadsheet of usage for each appliance.

 

[Jomarkh]

Do you have a smart meter with half hourly readings to give you an idea of usage?

 

[Slipstream]

I'm still on 'go faster'.... My deal runs out in the autumn sometime. Definitely worth contacting Octopus to see of it is still on offer.

Thought go faster has finished

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Do you have a smart meter with half hourly readings to give you an idea of usage?

I just found out that the handheld smart meter show "today's History" in hourly segments. But it doesn't make sense to me.

In the hour 20:00 - 21:00 only show164 Wh... But we had the tumble drier on for nearly one and half hour at that time!

Looking at the previous segments, adding them up it doesn't tally with the daily figure. It seems that it's missing a decimal digit. On all the segments.

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Maybe I am getting confused with W and Wh.
I am not a sparky

 

[weedavemac]

Thought go faster has finished

Maybe they won't let me renew when the 12 months are up.... Time will tell

 

[Ozzie1989]

Thought go faster has finished

I tried to switch last week but the lady on the phone said I had to have one bill on Octopus Go before I could switch to Go Faster. My bill is due in a few days so will update...

 

[Ozzie1989]

I just found out that the handheld smart meter show "today's History" in hourly segments. But it doesn't make sense to me.

In the hour 20:00 - 21:00 only show164 Wh... But we had the tumble drier on for nearly one and half hour at that time!

Looking at the previous segments, adding them up it doesn't tally with the daily figure. It seems that it's missing a decimal digit. On all the segments.

Can you login to your online dashboard? Octopus shows me accurate half hour slots for usage.

As a basic rule of thumb, if you charge more than 6 hours per week, and use less than 12kWh a day in normal electric usage, you'll benefit from switching to Octopus Go. Even more if you schedule your dishwasher etc. to also use the cheap period.

I've done nearly 700 miles in the last 11 days and it has cost me just shy of £15 with Octopus Go.

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Can you login to your online dashboard? Octopus shows me accurate half hour slots for usage.

As a basic rule of thumb, if you charge more than 6 hours per week, and use less than 12kWh a day in normal electric usage, you'll benefit from switching to Octopus Go. Even more if you schedule your dishwasher etc. to also use the cheap period.

I've done nearly 700 miles in the last 11 days and it has cost me just shy of £15 with Octopus Go.

I was switched (forced) to Eon Next when my previous supplier folded.
They are terrible when comes to smart meters apps, even the main website. Get login problem on the app, which is useless!
I can see one hour use segments for the electricity, but only for the present day. Even that shows a wrong decimal place iè: 26.0 Wh supposed to be 260 Wh.

There is no details for the gas as yet.
It has been nearly 2 months since they installed the smart meters, you would think that by now I would have everything working properly.

My electric tariff is 28.45p kWh plus
43.39p per day.

I think that Octopus charges around 34p Kwh in peak times. But of course it is much cheaper at night.
As I said in a previous post, I'll have to create a spreadsheet to help me calculating costs.
It looks like that quite a few people use Octopus for their EV's.

 

[BugEyed]

Try a free App like Bright from Hildebrand which can access the data from any DCC connected SMETS2.

 

[weedavemac]

I was switched (forced) to Eon Next when my previous supplier folded.
They are terrible when comes to smart meters apps, even the main website. Get login problem on the app, which is useless!
I can see one hour use segments for the electricity, but only for the present day. Even that shows a wrong decimal place iè: 26.0 Wh supposed to be 260 Wh.

There is no details for the gas as yet.
It has been nearly 2 months since they installed the smart meters, you would think that by now I would have everything working properly.

My electric tariff is 28.45p kWh plus
43.39p per day.

I think that Octopus charges around 34p Kwh in peak times. But of course it is much cheaper at night.
As I said in a previous post, I'll have to create a spreadsheet to help me calculating costs.
It looks like that quite a few people use Octopus for their EV's.

If you do switch to Octopus then plenty of people on here will be able to give you a code to give you £50.00 credit on your account

 

[1MGEVUSER]

Try a free App like Bright from Hildebrand which can access the data from any DCC connected SMETS2.

Thank you for the heads-up.
I have registered with them and the app works for my smart meter, however the hourly and half-hour segments do not match the my Smartview gadget. Also, the standing charge is wrong on the app too. So, I can't rely on the total cost but I can view the correct daily and monthly kWh used on my phone, which is nice!