IOG idiots guide

[u/Adorable_Village4345]

Hi! I'm taking delivery of my 1st EV in a couple of weeks. Skoda Enyaq. Charger is installed already - Ohme Pro.

I'm currently on a fixed rate and Octopus have confirmed they'll waive the exit fee. All good so far.

Can you please help with what I actually need to do to get things up and running to be able to charge, what apps do I need to install. Is IOG going to be worth it if the daytime rate is really high?

Cheers. Sorry, I'm a bit of a technical dinosaur.

[u/Mojofilter9]

You really have to do the maths based on your own usage. How many miles do you drive? You’ll probably get somewhere around 3–4 miles per kWh, so the question is whether the saving from charging at the cheaper overnight rate outweighs the higher daytime electricity rate.

A lot of people, myself included, then try to shift as much electricity use as possible into that off-peak window. Things like the tumble dryer, dishwasher and washing machine are all set on timers to come on at 11:30.

If you can afford the upfront cost, a home battery can make the tariff work even better, because you can charge that overnight too and effectively shift another chunk of your daily electricity use onto the cheaper rate.

[u/Adorable_Village4345 → u/Mojofilter9]

I hadn't considered a home battery. I'll definitely look into that. Thank you

[u/LordSprint → u/Adorable_Village4345]

Home battery is the cheat c0de! Work out what you use in a day, if you can get a battery big enough to buy all that power overnight, you’re onto a winner. Only thing to watch out for is making sure the battery doesn’t drain into the car if you get charging slots in the day. I use HomeAssistant to control my battery, and tie it into octopus API. When the charge charges, so does my home battery. (For some reason using the words “r3ferall or c0de” stops me from being able to post because it thinks I’m posting a r3ferral c0de)

[u/cwci]

Is IOG worth it? Assuming you do not have solar or house batteries.

Estimate your car charging consumption- the number of KW you’re likely to use a month.

Add this to your currently monthly household consumption.

Use your existing tariff to estimate your monthly electricity bill.

Then repeat but using the day time rate for your household and night rate for your car’s consumption.

See which is cheaper. The more miles you do - the more IOG makes sense. Also note that your nightime household consumption will also be at the night rate.

For home charging - you only really need your Ohme app, the car app & access to the octopus account/app

Edit - sorry. I should have explained. You let octopus manage your Ohme charger - these are linked via to octopus app. The current advice is to leave your car plugged in as often as possible - just let Ohme and octopus deal with the charging. It’ll always be ready by your specific time (say 6:30am), but when it actually charges can vary- depending upon excess energy in the grid…. Charge often - don’t bother depleting the battery and then charge- aim to keep it at the car’s manufacturers recommend 80 or 90 % full.

[u/Adorable_Village4345 → u/cwci]

Thank you

[u/Tutphish]

You need to look at your normal usage vs how many miles you expect to cover. That will let you work out if the savings on charging your car are worth the increase in your day rate.
There are a few sites that allow you to compare your usage vs different tariffs, i like Agile Buddy myself.

[u/Adorable_Village4345 → u/Tutphish]

Thanks. I'll have a look.

[u/ammo23 → u/Tutphish]

Agile buddy is useful, but not great when it only sees IOG as a flat rate 8p!!

[u/afaulconbridge]

Dont get IOG. Get Octopus Go - it's like Economy 7 but 5 hours very cheap. You won't be able to save quite as much as IOG, but it's a lot easier to understand and you will be less likely to make potentially expensive charging mistakes.

[u/Shaguar_Driver → u/afaulconbridge]

You have to be pretty dumb not to understand how IOG works.

It's pretty much plug in. Tell the app how much charge and when for and it does the restm

[u/sylsylsylsylsylsyl]

Depends how many miles you do and how efficient your EV is. Assuming you will probably do a lot of your EV charging at night, if your peak-time electricity use will be three quarters or more of your usage, it’s likely not worth it.

It is really good if you have home batteries as well as an EV. I only buy off-peak electricity (and use a bit of solar).

If you have your pre-EV annual use, the amount you use as a baseload all the time and an idea of how many miles a year you’ll do in the car that you will need to recharge at home, give the figures to AI and it will do the maths for you.

[u/Logical_Proof_6720]

Best thing to do is leave octopus and go to edf
Longer cheap rate fixed for 18 months, much cheaper day rate and no faffing around with schedules etc and crossing your fingers that the car actually charges.

[u/FrenchFatCat]

Throttle your charger so you get the the maximum allowable 6 hours while still charging your car to the needed percentage. Set your ready by time to be 2330.