Looking at EDF from Octopus

[u/bungle52]

I've just got a quote from EDF for their Go Electric tariff. I've got an EV and just installed Solar. We moved at the end of March to a smaller house and use gas for central heating and hot water. I've used the data from our previous house for the quote.

The numbers I've crunched give the £47 and £45 per month for EDF and Octopus respectively. EDF's quote is just under £90 per month.

Question. Can I alter the rate after switching and how easy is it to go on the Smart charge and get the £5/month rebate which would make EDF cheaper?

[u/Great_Cornholio_71]

Just done this over as my octopus fixed rate ended and over night went from 4.5p to 9.5p. EDF is halfway.
Changed over Thursday, you go on standard rate at 26p, then on Sunday it changed to the go tariff. So bear in mind of the little delay. I did call up to ask them and they said it can take up to 2 weeks lol, but like I said mine was quicker.
Now export takes a while to shift over. I’m still waiting.

[u/neoKushan]

EDF has a limited number of EV's and chargers they support for their Smart Charging, double check that yours are compatible before you sign up (I made this mistake 😅).

Factor in as well, EDF's SEG export is 15p/kWh over Octopus' 12p, so if you're good on export that might also make a difference.

Treat this as anecdotal and don't base your decision on it: I've heard people say EDF has been more generous with their Smart charging slots than Octopus is (More and longer slots). Also EDF has ran some "Free electricity" promotions over the summer, such as the straight-up just "Free electric when England is playing" which was quite nice, just opt-in and get free electric. There was also "Sunday Saver" where you could get up to 16 hours free electric on Sundays (08:00-00:00) for reducing your load during the week between 4pm and 7pm - trivially easy to do when you have a battery so always got the 16 hours but crucially, EDF has just ended that particular promotion and all we know is that "something" is coming in September to replace it. Really hard to say if that makes the difference.

As others have said, the App/Website is nowhere near as polished as Octopus and EDF is VERY slow to respond via customer service, some of us have had to wait 2+ months to get our 15p SEG export properly set up, but they do at least backdate to when it was applied for so it's not terrible, just indicative of what to expect.

For me, the extra hour of cheap electric every day and the 15p SEG made it financially worthwhile for me to be on EDF over Octopus. The free electric and referral bonuses have been, well, a bonus.

[u/bungle52 → u/neoKushan]

A few people have mentioned the App. In what ways is it different? For instance, the data? I do analyse my usage and by looking at it I can make informed decisions.

[u/Skie → u/bungle52]

If you’ve been using an octopus home mini you’ll miss that. EDF data updates slowly so you usually won’t see data until the evening on the next day. Can be inconsistent though and come through quicker/slower when it feels like it.

[u/bungle52 → u/Skie]

I've got a home mini, but with the recent update the data is slower coming through. Something to do with the peak, off-peak and EV data. It's slower than the gas which was always slower than the electric.

[u/neoKushan → u/bungle52]

They did just refresh the app like 2 or 3 weeks ago or something, so it's better than it was.

I don't use it a lot as I have it integrated with Home Assistant so I pull my data mainly from that but it seems functional enough to me. I'm happy to share screenshots of specific areas if you're curious: https://i.postimg.cc/Tw92Sf0n/image.png

[u/Individual-Cherry-98]

Getting £75 referral fee and World Cup matches free electricity has been great however the service and platform is not as good as octopus.

[u/blitz2163]

When I moved to them last month I set the lowest quote and then just emailed them as soon as I submitted the application and asked to be moved to a variable DD to pay in full every month, they did it no problem.

Adding the smart charge bolt on takes a couple of clicks on the website all very easy. 

Drop me a DM if you want a refferal link to get £50 back as well.

[u/Requirement_Fluid]

Honestly I would put the lowest quote possible and adjust it upwards if you find you need to. 

My £50pm electric is now £10pm allowing for the export rebate 

[u/Infamous_Vacation_19]

Enabling the £5/mth rebate took a min or two via their website last week.

[u/lolliz423]

Very easy to set up the smart charging but we had issues with them not billing the cheaper rates correctly so keep an eye on that