So I've recently swapped to Octopus Energy to get their Agile tariff. I was originally with British Gas but after hiking my peak rate to 32p/kWh, I decided that I was paying far too much just to get off-peak rates (12p/kWh) for my car.
With Octopus, my "peak" rate, averages at around 15-17p/kWh during the day (except 4-7pm when it jumps to about 30p/kWh). But, as the rates change every 30 minutes, sometimes there will be a window during the day or night that is optimal for charging.
With my off-peak rate with British Gas, I would charge from 12am-5am with the buffer in the car set to 80%. But now I'm adding little bursts when electricity is cheapest, a few kWh here and there. The other night it dropped to 3p/kWh!
Already looking at my spend, I can see I'm saving about 30-50% of what I normally would spend each day. And my car is receiving little bursts of charge as and when rather than all in one go. Not that it makes a difference to the battery's health, but it's a complete change of habit. Before, I would only plug in on a Sunday night, and then charge at work through the week. But now I'm almost always plugging in, just to take advantage of those cheap electrons.
I can't speak for the long-term effects of the tariff, but I have friends who speak very highly of it.
I wonder if this would be the future of EV charging...
I'll leave my referral link, just in case anyone wants to sign up and get £50 credit: https://share.octopus.energy/ocean-finch-329
Octopus Agile has changed the way I charge
