MG4 Trophy + Ohme Home Pro + Intelligent Octopus

[ukslim]

(Not sure whether the fact it's an MG4 is relevant, but it asks you to plug the car in while it tests, so maybe...)

I bought an Ohme Home Pro charger from Octopus themselves, specifically so I could have Intelligent Octopus.

Then I got a standard Octopus account and am currently on the Flexible tariff. As I understand it you do that, then switch tariff in the app.

I went through the setup in the app, authorised Octopus to use my Ohme account. All seems to have worked, and the Ohme app says I'm with Intelligent Octopus and stuff is greyed out because of it -- to Octopus has obviously successfully used an Ohme API to tell it.

Next step is the charge test. Plug the cable into the car. Car isn't fully charged. Tap "continue". App says it's testing and it should take under a minute. I left it for about half an hour, and it never succeeded.

Now the Octopus app says I'm still on the Flexible tariff, but in "devices" knows I have an Ohme (but has no setup options or way to repeat the test)
And the Ohme app says my tariff is Intelligent Octopus, and has "avoid peak charging" disabled because of it.

I see others are using Intelligent. Did it work smoothly for you? Are there any things you have to do to nudge it?

Octopus haven't answered an email since I got the account, either , except an automated one (a week ago) saying "don't worry, we're busy, but we got your question and we'll get to you".

 

[mg4mc]

I ran into the same problem, it was down to an error by me. I had created my Ohme account using my Google login. Wrong, you must create the account using a new username/password.

Then the sign-up process still failed in the Octopus app. But coincidentally the Octopus app updated itself, and after that the process worked first time.

So, if you have done the same as me, I would...

1. Delete your Ohme account using your third party login.
2. Create a new Ohme account using a username/password.
3. Uninstall the Octopus app (or delete the cache and storage which should reset it)
4. Try the sign-up/test charge process again.

 

[ukslim]

I ran into the same problem, it was down to an error by me. I had created my Ohme account using my Google login. Wrong, you must create the account using a new username/password.

Then the sign-up process still failed in the Octopus app. But coincidentally the Octopus app updated itself, and after that the process worked first time.

So, if you have done the same as me, I would...

1. Delete your Ohme account using your third party login.
2. Create a new Ohme account using a username/password.
3. Uninstall the Octopus app (or delete the cache and storage which should reset it)
4. Try the sign-up/test charge process again.

Thanks. I'd already deleted my Ohme account and re-made it with an email/password because I wanted my wife to be able to use the app too, and password-sharing is the only way. Just like with MG iSmart, and just as unacceptable in this day and age. Oh well.

I just got an email from Octopus, 12 hours after the failed test, saying "Hi John, Congratulations! You are now live on Intelligent Octopus!" so maybe someone's working through my support email

 

[Deleted member 13624]

It takes time for the changes to show in your account, hang on in there, I think it was a few days and it all moved over for me automatically.

 

[ukslim]

It takes time for the changes to show in your account, hang on in there, I think it was a few days and it all moved over for me automatically.

I seem to be there now, despite the test never having passed.

Well, I'll attempt a charge tonight and see whether it works.

 

[Themist0]

I never had a problem setting my ohme up and got onto intelligent quickly, it’s worked a treat for the last 3 months. I always set the charge to be more % than I need as the car will stop the charge at its designated target percent. I did find that sometimes it started charging just after 11, rather than 11:30 but octopus assured me that they do that as demand is low and everything at that point is on cheap rate… so don’t worry if you see your smart meter hit 7Kw plus.
I’ve seen advice to turn off scheduled charging on the MG4 but mine is on and set between 11:30 and 05:30 and it doesn’t appear to interfere with ohme…

One other thing is Ohme advise to switch off ‘price cap’ settings,

Good luck

 

[KH11]

(Not sure whether the fact it's an MG4 is relevant, but it asks you to plug the car in while it tests, so maybe...)

I bought an Ohme Home Pro charger from Octopus themselves, specifically so I could have Intelligent Octopus.

Then I got a standard Octopus account and am currently on the Flexible tariff. As I understand it you do that, then switch tariff in the app.

I went through the setup in the app, authorised Octopus to use my Ohme account. All seems to have worked, and the Ohme app says I'm with Intelligent Octopus and stuff is greyed out because of it -- to Octopus has obviously successfully used an Ohme API to tell it.

Next step is the charge test. Plug the cable into the car. Car isn't fully charged. Tap "continue". App says it's testing and it should take under a minute. I left it for about half an hour, and it never succeeded.

Now the Octopus app says I'm still on the Flexible tariff, but in "devices" knows I have an Ohme (but has no setup options or way to repeat the test)
And the Ohme app says my tariff is Intelligent Octopus, and has "avoid peak charging" disabled because of it.

I see others are using Intelligent. Did it work smoothly for you? Are there any things you have to do to nudge it?

Octopus haven't answered an email since I got the account, either , except an automated one (a week ago) saying "don't worry, we're busy, but we got your question and we'll get to you".

I quite often message them on Twitter now X. They are usually quite speedy in answering on there than e mail.

 

[NoSkill]

I never had a problem setting my ohme up and got onto intelligent quickly, it’s worked a treat for the last 3 months. I always set the charge to be more % than I need as the car will stop the charge at its designated target percent. I did find that sometimes it started charging just after 11, rather than 11:30 but octopus assured me that they do that as demand is low and everything at that point is on cheap rate… so don’t worry if you see your smart meter hit 7Kw plus.
I’ve seen advice to turn off scheduled charging on the MG4 but mine is on and set between 11:30 and 05:30 and it doesn’t appear to interfere with ohme…

One other thing is Ohme advise to switch off ‘price cap’ settings,

Good luck

With intelligent octopus they determine when to charge based on overall network load, having the schedule in the car will presumably block that.

Recently I've started getting a 'schedule' when I plug the car in, sometimes seeing it'll start charging for 15/30 min chunks as early as 16:30

 

[ukslim]

Well, I never did get a successful charge test in the app. But I got an email saying I'm now on Intelligent, and a successful off-peak charge overnight with Octopus pulling the timer strings, so all is well.

 

[Koomi]

I am in the same boat - Octopus is installing the Ohme next week, already moved to their Flex tariff, so just need to add the charger and do a test charge once fitted.
Good to know about the points above, which hopefully won't happen to me, but if they do, how to get around

 

[weblinkuk]

I,ve moved to EON 3weeks ago for 10p Kwh from 12 to 7am I had a second generation smart meter fitted by OVO last year. Guess what? They can’t read my meter, they now saying it could take up to six weeks.

 

[kelloggs]

I moved from go to intelligent early in the year and have had no problem moving over or using. One caviate being the octopus app still doesn’t show the charging slots and links straight to the ohme app so I don’t see a revised charging schedule.

 

[jollyman]

Recently I changed from EDF. To octopus Agile electric supply and just use my ISMART app to charge the MG4 on schedule charging ,as I couldn’t afford £1000 for an OHME CHARGER I use my charger i bought 4years ago for under £300 and it works fine at 9 pence an hour from 12 to 7 HAPPY DAYS!,,!!!!!

 

[Museruk]

We are currently on Octopus Go tariff, although not able to benefit from this since our smart meter is not communicating successfully with Octopus and has been like that for over 2 months now.
We hope to get a meter engineer visit at the end of August (earliest Octopus could offer us) in order to get this rectified - although I am somewhat sceptical since we are already on our third 2nd Gen. smart meter!
So I am intrigued to know if you can install an Ohme charger and use the Ohme app in order to communicate with Octopus in order to benefit from the lower intelligent rates offered by Octopus?
Or do we need a fully functioning smart meter in addition to an Ohme charger (which is what I thought is required)?

 

[tsedge]

We are currently on Octopus Go tariff, although not able to benefit from this since our smart meter is not communicating successfully with Octopus and has been like that for over 2 months now.
We hope to get a meter engineer visit at the end of August (earliest Octopus could offer us) in order to get this rectified - although I am somewhat sceptical since we are already on our third 2nd Gen. smart meter!
So I am intrigued to know if you can install an Ohme charger and use the Ohme app in order to communicate with Octopus in order to benefit from the lower intelligent rates offered by Octopus?
Or do we need a fully functioning smart meter in addition to an Ohme charger (which is what I thought is required)?

If you can't benefit, wouldn't it pay to switch back to the standard Octopus tariff until your meter is fixed and get a refund from Octopus for any extra you have paid?

(Or is the tariff not yet active?)

 

[Museruk]

If you can't benefit, wouldn't it pay to switch back to the standard Octopus tariff until your meter is fixed and get a refund from Octopus for any extra you have paid?

(Or is the tariff not yet active?)

The Go tariff is active, however as the meter has stopped communicating, Octopus do not have knowledge of when power is used, consequently they seem to not be able to charge us correctly
This is being investigated currently by Octopus - so I will reserve judgement!

What I would like to know is whether or not I need to have a working smart meter in order to benefit from the intelligent tariff re charging my EV.
So far Octopus have told me that I do need the (working) smart meter in order to go onto one of their smart tariffs.
However I did wonder if by using the Ohme charger and the Ohme app that I could work around the fact that the smart meter is proving to be v. unreliable?

 

[tsedge]

The Go tariff is active, however as the meter has stopped communicating, Octopus do not have knowledge of when power is used, consequently they seem to not be able to charge us correctly
This is being investigated currently by Octopus - so I will reserve judgement!

What I would like to know is whether or not I need to have a working smart meter in order to benefit from the intelligent tariff re charging my EV.
So far Octopus have told me that I do need the (working) smart meter in order to go onto one of their smart tariffs.
However I did wonder if by using the Ohme charger and the Ohme app that I could work around the fact that the smart meter is proving to be v. unreliable?

You need the smart meter for all Octopus tariffs as far as I know. Not sure of the technical reasons why, but we had to wait until after our broken smart meter was replaced before Octopus could put us properly onto Go. In fact, it took 2 weeks after the fix before their systems caught up and we started to get the correct billing.

(At the time this worked in our favour since prices were dropping and they couldn't bill us until the meter was fixed, so we ended up paying a lower rate for the electricity we used when it finally caught up).

 

[DBedford]

You need a gen 2 smart meter for atllEV tariffs as they allow1/2hr metering.

 

[KH11]

You need the smart meter for all Octopus tariffs as far as I know. Not sure of the technical reasons why, but we had to wait until after our broken smart meter was replaced before Octopus could put us properly onto Go. In fact, it took 2 weeks after the fix before their systems caught up and we started to get the correct billing.

(At the time this worked in our favour since prices were dropping and they couldn't bill us until the meter was fixed, so we ended up paying a lower rate for the electricity we used when it finally caught up).

They need to be able to do half hour reads through the smart meter so they can then detect what was used when and charge accordingly.

 

[tsedge]

They need to be able to do half hour reads through the smart meter so they can then detect what was used when and charge accordingly.

Yes, however, I think the thought process here was that if Octopus can talk directly to the charger and can control it (for Intelligent Octopus), does it still need the smart meter? It would for all the non car charging anyway.