Charge Anytime and Ohme integration update: important information for our customers

If you use your car to control the charging, there is one very important feature of the Ohme charge point that will no longer be available. That is load balancing. In my view, this is an important safety feature that is built in to the Ohme charge point. It ensures that the amount of current that is flowing through your consumer unit will never exceed a preset level. This level is set by the installer at the time the charge point is installed. With this feature, if the house is using a very high amount of electricity, the Ohme charge point will throttle back on the amount of current that it is using to charge the car. This prevents overloading the wiring in your consumer unit.

Not having this feature is in my opinion a definite cause for concern.

As a critical safety feature, it’s very unlikely that moving the Smart Charging from the Charger to an EV would break that stuff (as in the Load Limiting/Load Balancing) - you can’t even edit the settings outside of Installer Mode.

This is a hardware feature that by design, exists in every decent EV Charger these days. It’s not a toy that OVO’s system can mess with.

If Ohme are being truthful, then they’ve just created themselves a massive fire risk - so they’d better issue a rapid firmware update to fix that pronto...

​@Blastoise186 is correct. The load limit feature is an inherent feature of the unit and not controlled by the app. It is set by the installer dependent upon the limits of your supply. You can read the load limit in the app but not set it.

https://ohme-ev.com/support/troubleshooting-slow-charging/

Peter

Here is the information that I have received from Ohme:

“Linking your EV with the Charge Anytime app

If you have an EV supported by the Charge Anytime app you can link your vehicle directly to the Charge Anytime tariff. For more information and how to set up visit OVO Energy’s website here.

If you decide to access Charge Anytime directly via the vehicle you will need to delete your account from the Ohme app or request for the account to be unlinked. Refer to our help centre article for steps to delete your Ohme account: How to disconnect my account from my Ohme charger

Please be aware, switching to controlling charging via the Charge Anytime app will mean access to the following functionality included in the Ohme App will be lost: 

• Managing multiple EVs*
• Load Balancing
• Approving each plug-in or locking the charger buttons 
• Manage pre-conditioning, Solar and charging history from the Ohme app”

Somehow, I highly doubt that. As both myself and ​@Peter E have said, this is a safety feature that is basically mandatory these days in EV Chargers - or at least is a standard feature across them all. If other brands can make Load Balancing work just fine when Charge Anytime is controlling an EV rather than the Charger, then so can Ohme.

If, however, what Ohme is saying turns out to be true… Then this creates a serious fire risk that’d be condemned by the fire service and every DNO in the UK. It’d be so serious in fact, that it’d likely warrant a Product Recall unless Ohme issues an immediate fix. So as far as I’m concerned, they’ve got three options:

1. Confirm the support article has a mistake and correct it
2. Release a firmware update that makes Load Balancing work under ALL use cases
3. Offer full refunds and free removal of their Chargers regardless of age

Until it is known otherwise, I would strongly recommend against using an Ohme Charger at all whilst the rest of the house is under heavy load. Feel free to use it when things are quiet of course - just not when you’ve got the oven and/or washing machine running.

There’s some really interesting information in this thread but I would like more details from Ohme. All I have got is an email from them saying it’s all OVOs fault essentially.

Why are they not updating their App to support the changes? What happens if Octopus also make updates, will Ohme be able to support those or will we be left with a dumb charger eventually?

I am sure this has been going on for a while behind the scenes but the email from Ohme leaves a lot to be desired and has caused a lot of trouble. Maybe rightly so, or maybe not.

Indeed. The email from them is incredibly vague, perhaps too vague. It’s a classic trick to also blame the other party for your own missteps - I’ve seen it many times.

Personally, it feels like a classic case that they won’t get extra money out of making the changes and therefore aren’t interested. That’s just my guess, but it’s probably not beyond the realms of possibility.

Long story short, OVO wants to make Charge Anytime do more than just be a fancy cheap EV rate deal thing. They want to make it do more magic tricks, but the way the Ohme integration worked made that infeasible and since Ohme didn’t want to update their code, it wasn’t practical to make it work.

“…following functionality included in the Ohme App will be lost:

• Load Balancing
• Approving each plug-in or locking the charger buttons 

”

I’ve had approvals and button locking working fine when I used the CA App. Why could it not Load Balance either? Surely this is a mistake? Or are they actively removing this functionality…

Indeed, thanks for that by the way. My previous warning stands until Ohme responds properly to clarify the situation.

In which case, that leaves us with three possibilities:

1. The support article is wrong
2. Ohme is deliberately disabling critical safety features when stuff like Charge Anytime runs via the vehicle rather than the Charger (or is planning to do so)
3. Poor charger design that relies on a Vehicle API rather than the Charger Cable to communicate critical stuff between Charger and Vehicle

Out of those, I believe the first one is the most likely scenario - the article is probably just terribly written. 

In this link to Ohme, load balancing is an installer function. You will need installer credentials to access or change this whereas you will only have user credentials.

https://ohme-ev.com/support/how-do-i-commission-an-ohme-charger-and-re-enter-installer-mode/

It seems confusing that Ohme are simultaneously saying you are losing access to load balancing and also saying that it is an installer only function.

It can only be an installer only function because only they will have the training, qualifications and competence to change these settings and sign off the installation as safe.

The other point is that loss of access (if indeed it is) is not the same as loss of funtionality. It will continue to operate safely as set up by the installer.

Peter

This part is a bit tricky to answer definitively I’m afraid, so the best I can do is throw my hat into the ring and make a bit of a wild guess.

If Octopus does make changes to their platform and Ohme doesn’t keep up, then that’s a risk which could happen, the same as what’s already happened here. It could well cause half the Smart features to become unusable. Only time will tell.

Like many on here I have a ohme charger which is being disconnected from ovo even though it was their recommendation. I like many others are moving my energy account to Octopus. I have already made my complaint and it has been confirmed that I will not have to pay the £100 exit fee, However my fixed plan includes boiler cover essential which I pay a separate £24. Obviously my fixed term is being cancelled therefore I am assuming I will have to cancel the boiler cover and again would not expect to have to pay the exit fee. I also have the charger insurance with ovo as I wish to sever all ties with ovo when I move to Octopus and I expect there is a cancellation fee for that too?    

Based on what I’ve read, it appears the exit fee waivers apply to energy tariffs only - and only if you don’t have a compatible EV you can migrate to.

Boiler cover is provided by Corgi HomePlan and EV Charger cover is managed by OVO Insurance Services, both of which would have separate contracts that run independently from your energy account. I suspect the fee waiver probably wouldn’t cover those too as even the one that’s in place is already being done on a discretionary basis.

Hi. I’ve followed the suggested actions and also took advice from ​@Blastoise186  to fully delete my old Ohme account and start again. I used a new email. 
Everything looked well set up. I also power cycled the charger as it was offline.  It came back online. 
I then set up the schedule to be ready 6.30am tomorrow, and connected charger to car. That was over two hours ago. 
Since then the car has been intermittently charging. It’s gone from 40% to 70%.
That’s clearly wrong as it should only charge at night. Screen shots to follow from both Charge Anytime and Ohme apps. Please can anyone see what I have set you wrongly? 
thanks. 

OVO are missing important an important step  in their instructions to move from Ohme to Charge Anytime.
 

According to Ohme it’s the deletion of the existing account in the Ohme app.

My experience of the transition suggests it’s a bit too early to celebrate that my 2023 RAV4 PHEV’s Beta compatibility will be ok

Took the plunge this morning, unplugged the car and followed OVO’s guidance step 1 and step 2. I already had charge anytime app so didn’t follow step 3.

The good news is that after about 30 mins after plugging back in the OVO app recognised the car and allowed me to set a charge. Even better news is that the car charged to max in the time expected and the OVO app records a smart charge session.

The possibly bad news is that it looks no different to yesterday or before when all this was being done through Ohme. Also the  on the Ohme app I could watch charging info whilst it was being charged. This is likely because nowhere in OVO’s instructions is anything to delete the vehicle in the Ohme app.

A bit more internet hunting has revealed a step that OVO don’t mention. Deleting your account on the Ohme app. https://ohme-ev.com/support/anytime_update_1/?utm_campaign=OVO_anytime_tariff_all-ovo_e1&utm_content=ChargePush&utm_medium=email_action&utm_source=customer.io&utm_term=2025-06-03

“If you decide to access Charge Anytime directly via the vehicle you will need to delete your account from the Ohme app or request for the account to be unlinked. Refer to our help centre article for steps to delete your Ohme account: How to disconnect my account from my Ohme charger”

https://ohme-ev.com/support/how-to-disconnect-my-account-from-my-ohme-charger/

Just done that and now the Ohme app is virgin and isn’t connected to anything (note: as recommended I’d downloaded all data yesterday).

Will post later in the week if all is still ok on the OVO app

​

Hi ​@davidh5 ,

It’s worth knowing that Charge Anytime runs on an opportunistic basis, so it won’t just charge purely overnight, but whenever the system thinks it’s found a good slot. Either way, you will ONLY pay the cheaper rate (currently 7p/kWh) whenever the charging is running as long as it’s part of the schedule that the system has created for you - so don’t panic as this is exactly what it’s designed to do!

All this means is that in some cases, you’ll get one long charge running all in one go, whereas in other cases it’ll split the charging up into smaller chunks and then rest between them.

thanks so much ​@Blastoise186 it is indeed showing savings accumulating o the tab in the app, so it seems like it’s doing this.  Whilst using the Ohme charger to Ovo link, strangely this only happened a very few times and for far less charge than I have got today in ‘peak’ hours. I am relieved it’s working. Thanks for you help.

Howdy!

Thanks for this - please rest assured I’ve escalated this feedback to OVO via the Forum Moderators over the weekend and I’m waiting to hear back at the moment. Hopefully this should be fixed soon.

Thanks for the catch though!

No worries, glad that explains things!

Charge Anytime actually doesn’t have strict “Peak” and “Off-Peak” times as such, it runs on a more fluid, dynamic basis where it attempts to find any available cheap or green slot and use that to fire up your charging. It’s quite clever because it doesn’t limit you to purely overnight charging sessions - as the name suggests, they can happen anytime of the day or night. :)

If you need a hand with any other stuff or have burning questions, you know where to find us. :D

Hey ​@richyking,

I can see ​@Blastoise186 has come through with a good answer here and he’s right in what he’s saying. If you were looking to get the other costs waived you’d need to try logging a complaint with OVO.

I hope this helps.

If you lose the load balancing facility as a result of using your car to control the charging, I don’t think this is necessarily a fire risk. If you have an exceptionally high electricity consumption in your house at the same time that you charge your EV, the worst that is likely to happen is that you will blow the service fuse on the incoming supply to your house. While this would be incredibly annoying, as you will have to contact your Distribution Network Operator to get it replaced, it should not pose a fire risk.

Relying solely on the main fuse for that protection is not recommended however - it can’t give 100% guaranteed protection against all types of overloads or faults. Likewise, it doesn’t give 100% protection against preventing all electrical fires. Given that it’s designed as a reactive last resort safety measure, you should still do what you can to avoid overloading the supply anyway.

It could be argued that it’s a responsible behaviour to give advice that protects your safety in situations where things are ambiguous. This feels like one of those times.

It appears that the support article may be incorrect anyway. I had a few friends test their setups out over the weekend by using their Ohme chargers with an EV being controlled by Charge Anytime, whilst putting enough load on their supplies to trigger the load balancing threshold.

Despite the charging being controlled by Charge Anytime, the Chargers all triggered load balancing/load limiting as expected and ramped down to 16A to prevent overloads. This is contrary to the Ohme article.

Seems as if someone didn’t write it very well...

thank you both

i made a complaint and have received my response that i will not have to pay the exit fee.

the operator on the phone also said that i should not have to pay cancellation fee for the boiler cover as it is integral to the fixed tarrif i was on.

i am quite happy to keep charger insurance if i am allowed in fact i am quite happy to keep the boiler cover but was under the impression that the cost was related to my fixed term tarrif which includes boiler cover and that it was for ovo customers.

i do have a compatible car audi q4 etron but the internet connection on the vehicle is a bit hit and miss i wouldnt like to rely on it.

i am switching to octopus, ohme have informed me that their chargers are still integrated with octopus but i wont hold my breath for the future

at the end of the day its just a nuisance i could do without 

i think in the long run it may have been benificial for ovo to change the chargers free of charge the electrics are all there and im sure the could fit one for less than £500 which they would get back from their loyal customers i.e. me!!!

cheers

Have to say after receiving the email last week from Ohme with not a squeak from OVO i’m a bit miffed by this, I got a BP Pulse charger included with a merc EQC, when I enquired about charge anytime I forked out £1k on a Ohme for it to be compatible as the EQC wasnt. Feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth from whichever side is to blame, surely they can work together to make it work as it did

Hi ​@Loopy ,

It looks like the EQC is compatible now, provided you’ve got a 2019 or later one.

Just a heads up, it’s in Beta status so may not always work perfectly - but it should get you a charge at the reduced rates.

Any issues, let the team know:

0330 175 9678 or chargeanytime@ovo.com