Strange Intelligent Octopus GO Billing Issue

[SJGG]

Is IO controlling your charger or your car? I have a pod point charger which IO cannot control, so I have IO controlling the Taycan, which appears to work absolutely fine, except the rate stays at peak rate when IO charges the Taycan.

Yes - IO is setting the charging schedule and controlling charging times via the myenergi charger. Here is a typical daily half hour data sheet - as you see OE seems to control the charging well within the low rate time periods. (For info i have a PV system and battery strorage which means that the house doesn't consume any grid power during the day ).

Worth talking to the Octopus helpline - i've found them to be really helpful.

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[Leccy61]

Thanks @SJGG , mine works fine in the same situation as you’re pointing out there in that within the 11:30-05:30 window I get the 7p rate.

However, when IO initiates smart charging (IO is connected to my Taycan), outside of that window (anytime but for me typically in the morning 8-11am) the rate (i.e. the pink line) does not fall and apply the 7p rate to those sessions. It should do that and always has with previous EVs, it’s just with the Taycan that it is not.

I will make a call to Octopus if they don’t respond to the emails I’ve sent soon!

 

[tophamn]

Thanks @SJGG , mine works fine in the same situation as you’re pointing out there in that within the 11:30-05:30 window I get the 7p rate.

However, when IO initiates smart charging (IO is connected to my Taycan), outside of that window (anytime but for me typically in the morning 8-11am) the rate (i.e. the pink line) does not fall and apply the 7p rate to those sessions. It should do that and always has with previous EVs, it’s just with the Taycan that it is not.

I will make a call to Octopus if they don’t respond to the emails I’ve sent soon!

It's interesting that the charging sessions you've highlighted are beyond the overnight cheap window. Is the car charging in the cheap window but needs to continue charging later because it's not had enough time to complete? - if you regularly ask for 70kWh on a 7kW charger you need at least 10 hours to complete and I'm not sure how Octopus handle that. Does the charging schedule Octopus gives you have enough time to complete? I believe Octopus will actively stop you gaming the system if you ask for more charge so you can use cheaper electricity around your home outside the normal overnight window.

Bottom line: you need yo speak to them.

 

[Leccy61]

Yes @tophamn I inevitably will need to speak to them. Out of window sessions for me have been for both when I’ve returned home from a trip empty the night before and it continues outside the window or when I want a top up to 100% for nearer to when I depart rather than topping up to 100% and having it sit for 5-6 hours. Happens maybe 2-3 times a month.

So it’s not about gaming the tariff and it seems far too much of a coincidence that it was the change of car connected to IO when these out of window smart charge sessions stopped having the 7p applied to them.

It feels like a system issue their side rather than it being the Taycan, but I would still be keen for somebody to confirm that they’re getting out of window sessions at 7p with their Taycan being the connected device for IO.

 

[tophamn]

It feels like a system issue their side rather than it being the Taycan, but I would still be keen for somebody to confirm that they’re getting out of window sessions at 7p with their Taycan being the connected device for IO.

I definitely get the cheap rate outside the overnight windows but then I have Octopus integrated with my wall-box, not the Taycan.

 

[DSB]

Thanks for the original post, I'd not checked mine for a while. I can only find one example of 1.5 hours of charge at the higher rate, so seems to be OK for me. The example below is a Saturday where it charged during the day, 5th April.

 

[Leccy61]

Great thanks for that @DSB , just to make sure, it's definitely your Taycan that Octopus is controlling (its connected to it via the app), rather that your charger?

 

[MrB]

I had, until a few days ago, Intelligent GO with it linked to the Ohme wall EVSE and it worked perfectly. Since moved to Intelligent Drive Pack and the Ohme’s recorded usage and Octopus’ are very different. Seems they are aware of this specific issue but your graphs above look a bit like mine now so wonder if there’s a larger systemic issue in play.

 

[Leccy61]

Octopus have come back to me this morning and can see that IOG has been scheduling non 23:30-05:30 smart charging for the Taycan but not applying the 7p rate to those sessions since I connected the Taycan to IOG in March.

They’ve offered to credit my account which is great but they don’t know why it’s happening. They would have suggested removing and re-verifying the Taycan but can see that I did that already.

They did say there have been a few issues with Enode (which I’m sure everybody knows is used by Porsche to connect to 3rd party tariffs/controls) and are looking at moving away from it! Only solution in play at the moment if it won’t play ball is to just use the 23:30-05:30 window.

All of which makes me even keener to hear from somebody who has their Taycan connected to IOG and their non 23:30-05:30 smart charging is working with the 7p rate being applied.

 

[DSB]

Great thanks for that @DSB , just to make sure, it's definitely your Taycan that Octopus is controlling (its connected to it via the app), rather that your charger?

Yes, the wall box has all settings off, so its the car and IOG working together. I did have one issue a week or so ago (haven't got the bill yet) where it started charging in the evening and the schedule on the IOG app was for the night only? Normally it has the on peak hours in the schedule as well as off peak. Sounds like yours is on its way for remedy

 

[Leccy61]

Now appears to be working but will keep an eye on it, this might help others having issues with a directly connected IOG Taycan.

I disconnected and reconnected the car from Octopus a few times and checked to see if the 7p rate was being applied when smart charging outside the 11:30-05:30 window using the usage part of app.

The app indicated that it was but I waited until I received the full monthly billing details before calling this as fixed.

When re-connecting I choose 2022 CT 4S as the car (mine is a 2021 CT 4), no idea if that’s what made it work but I’m leaving well alone.

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