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

I appreciate that - my point is that I have only just ( 6 months max) purchased the Ohme as OVO’s approved charger for Charge Anytime, when July comes, the benefits of having an Ohme will be lost as I will be paying full rate for charging my vehicle.

Not too good for customer satisfaction !

It was actually Ohme that refused to update their code to match the new methods OVO is using these days for the Charge Anytime integrations. Without the new code, there wasn’t much OVO could do.

Ohme was also never the only choice for Charge Anytime and tbh it’s been a while since anyone on the Forum last recommended them - I’ve been recommending Hypervolt a lot recently based on what I’ve seen. Indra was the first partner, Ohme came second while Hypervolt and later Andersen joined the party after that - Nexblue and EVEC have also recently signed up. There were always other options.

OVO is willing to let you quit without exit fees, but you’d have to call 0330 175 9678 if you want to take that up. It is ONLY available for those who can’t continue using CA because of the Ohme shutdown where you don’t have a compatible EV though.

Such a disappointment. I have recently ordered my first EV (Ford Explorer) through motability, and their ONLY supplier is OHME, so I’m stuck with an incompatible car and an incompatible charger. It’s infutriating that the industry is in such a disjointed mess. Appreciate it’s not really OVO’s fault, but given the push from the UK government to go all-electric, this lack of standardisation needs to be addressed. Looks like I will have to be moving to Octopus as a result, having been an OVO customer for many years (or put my own compatible charger in at something like £1000 which I doubt would make economic sense right now)

Wish I’d kept my 2L diesel...

*Sigh* 

I think there’s still some confusion here but correct me if I’m wrong. Even if you don’t have a compatible charger or car you can still use OVO. It’s just the Charge Anytime Add on to benefit from better rates. For me, even without the Add On I would be saving on the equivalent of fuel, so no need to regret getting an EV over a 2L diesel I’d say.

No you’re right of course at this time it’ll still work and hopefully still cheaper than diesel (wait until Petrol and Diesel are doomed and watch that change rapidly...), but I’ll be stuck paying 3x as much as I could have otherwise to charge at home until I leave OVO.

I was encouraged in this direction when I saw OVO had a good charging tariff, and to find out too late that neither car not charger are compatible with that tarriff is very underwhelming.

The other downsides of the EV are of course range, and the cost of rapid public charging (which can exceed the price of diesel which was costing me 15p/mile), so it wasn’t so clear cut a decision for me when compared to (say) a Petrol hybrid. 

I have moved to Octopus - anybody know how to unlink OVO Anytime using their app? I don’t see the option anywhere

You are absolutely right. Moving to an EV even at the standard rate is a massive saving over running an ICE. Getting a discount from the standard rate is a bonus and worth having so you need to see which tariff / supplier suits your circumstances best. Everybody's combination of tech needs the right tariff to make the best use of it.

I moved to an EV because I'm an older driver and I needed an automatic to make driving easier but hate the standard automatic options on ICEs. I saved money moving to an EV and saving more money with a tariff that matches my circumstances.

Peter 

I have been using my OHME charger ( as recommended by OVO) for about two years and getting the reduced 7p/kWh rate.

today I took the plunge and changed to charge anytime, all went well until I came to try and pinpoint my location. The somewhat rudimentary map provided did not show up where my house was, I appreciate that it’s only been built two years and it is in rural Devon but……

so I plonked the pin roughly where the house is. I then started charging one of our two cars, the charge anytime app says I am charging away from home. I assume this means I will not get the reduced rate. I then went back into the app but can not find anywhere to reposition the location.

There is, of course, no help inthe app.

i did put in my address, which although it never came up as a predictive suggestion, did actually accept it.

any suggestions

Tim

Generally best to have a word with the team - they can reset the location for you if you set it incorrectly.

Thanks for the reply, like many others I am not really very impressed with OVO changing to make their own recommendations obsolete after two years and now I have to waste my time because they haven’t bothered to use an updated map.

however, I must admit that when you get past the the “humans” that normally handle queries I have always found them sympathetic, courteous and knowledgeable. I shall dedicate another few hours of my ever decreasing life expectancy trying to get this sorted out. 

As has been said before, the root cause was ultimately because Ohme refused to update/maintain their code so that it remained compatible with Charge Anytime. OVO didn’t want to pull the plug, but effectively had no choice as a result. There were always other options as Indra came into support first (and was actually the only option during the very early days) and others have since been added.

As for the map? That sounds like an issue with the mapping source - not much OVO can do about that I’m afraid, but you can let the team know anyway as they may be able to prod the vendor.

I have a Skoda Elroq (and charge with a Ohme ePod). I used to use the ePod to schedule the charging but have now changed over as advised to using CA to do everything. Since moving to this system I have had no problems with the actual charging but it seems that CA is contacting the car often enough to cause the car to start to protect its 12V battery? Is there anyway of controlling this?

Hi ​@salerio ,

This is the first time we’ve seen this mentioned on the Forum for Skoda, so I don’t have an answer for you. I’d suggest having a chat with the folks in the Charge Anytime team so they can take a look.

Try 0330 175 9678 or chargeanytime@ovo.com .

If they whisper in my ear any possible answers though, I’ll swing by again.

I will do that. What I can add, which is obviously Skoda specific, although it may apply to other MEB platform cars, is that after a successful charge using CA I get “component protection activated” displayed on my infotainment and my navigation function says it no longer has a licence. The navigation starts to function again, I’m guessing when the “component protection” whatever it actually is clears. I suspect 12V battery protection is causing this. I never saw this when using the Ohme scheduling method.

Hey ​@Tim a victim,

Sorry for the issues you’re having, 

The following topics may be helpful to you:
 

How to connect to Charge Anytime with your EV 

Once you know your EV is compatible, please follow the steps below. You’ll need to complete them before 15 July 2025 to keep Charge Anytime.

Step 1- Disconnect your charger from Charge Anytime

You won’t be able to reconnect through your charger once you’ve done this - so please make sure that your vehicle’s compatible before completing this step:

• Open the OVO app and select the black circle in the top right corner to go to your profile 
• Go to Plan details then Manage add-ons
• Find Charge Anytime and select Cancel add-on 

Step 2- : Delete your Ohme account:

Please note: Deleting your Ohme account, will clear your charger of any routines, settings, your charging history and will disable the lock feature.

• Go to the settings tab in the bottom right hand corner of the Ohme app
• Scroll to the bottom
• Select ‘delete account’

Step 3- Reconnect to Charge Anytime through your EV: 

• Download the Charge Anytime app from the App Store or Google Play, and log in using your energy account details 
• Select your EV make, model, and year of manufacture
• Sign in using your EV account details 
• Give permission for Charge Anytime to access information about your EV account 
• Select your car to connect to Charge Anytime via your EV
• Set your home location

Hey ​@salerio,

Please reach out to the team,
 

If you have any issues getting through, let me know & I’ll give them a nudge. It would be really helpful if you could pop back with an update as this could benefit other Skoda users.

I have sent a fairly detailed email this morning.

Keep us posted ​@salerio!

Ridiculous - an “upgrade” or “improvement” to service is effectively excluding ¼ of customers because they happen to have a different charger installed.

Of course only announced 3 months after we signed up to a fixed term contract which we will need to pay to get out of in order to switch to a supplier that will still work with Ohme for reducing charging rates.

If OVO can’t work with Ohme then they should offer a solution to their consumers - not hang them out to dry.

Have been an OVO customer for over 10 years, I’ve put up with glitches, payment system problems, billing errors and more as generally was happy with how most things handled and issues corrected (sometimes proactively) but this sadly means I will likely move elsewhere as it quite frankly is a ridiculous “update” to effectively segregate a portion of their consumers from accessing a service.

If you are affected by this issue and cannot migrate to the Charge Anytime app, please call 0330 175 9678 or email chargeanytime@ovo.com for details on your options.

Thanks - I’ve sent them an email already but will likely call them on Monday - guess we’ll be moving to Octopus, which is two households lost as a result as our sons house is also OVO and Ohme

Whether you stay or go doesn’t make much difference to me - I’m not OVO staff so it doesn’t affect my income streams anyway. But people come and go all the time so it won’t be long before OVO gets new customers coming along to buy the electricity you would have otherwise purchased.

I have exactly the same issue on a Skoda Superb PHEV since moving from an Ohme Pro being in control to the Ovo app taking control. I think this is also responsible for sometimes not getting a full charge - at the point at which the 12v limit is exceeded, the car will cease to take remote instructions, so might charge a little in the first session but then won’t respond to subsequent instructions to start charging. The upshot is a system which used to work entirely reliably has now become one where it is entirely random as to whether I get a full charge or not. 

After having to run my Ohme charger in dumb mode & switch the smart charging capabilities over to Charge Anytime,

CA has again fallen short in charging my Kona as requested,

Having plugged in about 6pm Saturday evening & set up for a 100% charge by 10am Sunday morning,

It has only hit 80%,

I know the Kona is only on the beta compatibility list but is this the best we can expect from CA.

Since having to use CA for smart charging, it has only completed a full charge on 1 of 5 attempts.

An 80% charge when requested 100% & not charging at all being the worst.

The full charge was accomplished after a busy morning, when plugging in at 3pm & requesting a 90% charge by 10pm that same evening, it charged from the off & continued charging thru until it completed about 9.30pm, all on smart charging.

(I wasn’t expecting a full charge considering the time of day, but any charge would have been beneficial)

So CA ignored the restrictive 4-10pm charge timeframe & charged anyway,

but can’t complete overnight charge with a 16hr window.

Going downhill from there, I readjusted the ready by time to 12pm today (Sunday) hoping to gain the last 20% charge before venturing out.

But CA has decided it’s charging next after 13.30. A complete letdown.

Is this the best I can expect from CA? 

Tom…

Aside from this being most annoying there are some technical deficiencies in this.
Having the charger managing things makes the most sense since it has a clamp on the properties supply to monitor and ensure that the load (of the charger + house general) does not exceed the main cut-out fuse (60/80/100amp).

With the OHME charger integrated with OVO everything would work perfectly.
NOW, when charging I can see that the EV (at least in my case) is drawing the full 7KW at all times when charging; whereas the OHME was more intelligent and varied the current based on how long was left in the schedule (plus local load?).

So now the OVA app will calculate charge time needed to meet the time you set, but IF the charger need to drop the current (to protect the properties fuse) for a time then the OVA app is not aware of this; thus it’s calculations will be skewed and the target EV charge might not be met on time.

Also … logging out of the OHME is rather rubbish. Doing this you turn it into a dumb charger and loose the ‘ authorize charge ‘ function. Not to mention someone could walk up with the OHME app, scan your QR code and register it to another account; just to be stupid of course ...