Meet the new Charge Anytime!

The article also points out that Octopus Energy failed the stress test.

Ohme were removed from the compatibility list because they don’t support the Enode API.

Hey ​@danmushman 

I checked in with the team about this and they would have hoped it had been completed by now, and have recommended that you contact the Charge Anytime team so they can check and get that resolved for you as soon as possible. You can get in touch with them by calling 0330 175 9678 (Option 1 new customers/option 2 existing customers), email via chargeanytime@ovo.com, or via Webchat -click the link then the green chat icon at the bottom right of the page.

I hope this helps.

Got an email this week informing me my DD is going up by about £50 a month to ensure i have a months credit by March.

My balance is slightly over £1000 in credit with this months just paid.

Switching energy supplier is easy but getting the charger happy again is just a complete pain.

Given that we are not locked in there is no harm giving octopus intelligent a try.

HI Brian,

It's good that you're not locked in but fir those who are there's a form to fill in yo dispense with leaving fees.

I keft OVO some time back but had a slightly lower balance than you.

It gad attracted 5% interest but when tgat stopped I reduced my balance to a couple of hundred.

I suggest you ask for a refund.

As to Octopus if you can get IOG I've calculated that I'm saving around £100 per year with no effort, largely due to overnight costs of 7p per kWh.

(Removed by Moderator)

You need to put your usage data in a spreadsheet to get an accurate comparison for your particular situation. 

Similar to others on here I have done some calculations and the change to either Octopus or Eon is marginal and would only be beneficial if I have usage on appliances overnight even with the doubling of the rate to 14p

Reckon I have usage of around 8,000 Kwh for 2 EVs in a year

Got  cheap fixed one year deal in June with Ovo which looks really good compared to what is on offer now 

Tempted to move just becase I am very angry at what Ovo have done 

Without a doubt the way the change was presented was absolute rubbish and I feel sorry for ​@Abby_OVO for having to present that but that is her role and it had to be done.

On the surface the change looks like a really poor deal but I've been monitoring other forums which have also gone ballistic over this but after the dust has settled comments like that from ​@DPA have come to light with a more balanced view in terms of the savings versus the unique features that CA offers. Over time with multiple EV ownership other suppliers will struggle to keep customers wanting to charge more than one car over an extended period of time because having a cheap period in the early hours doesn't allow you to do that. The options narrow considerably. We shall see how this evolves. 

Absolutely. The concept of only being able to charge at night just doesn't work for me, and we also recently became a 2 EV household. A friend of mine asked me if we have to fight over the charge each night. I laughed, and said that's not an issue with Charge Anytime.

I can sort of see the underlying logic of the payment plans as a way to reduce public charging cost, but I do believe that it should have been given more thought. Asking EV owners for ideas would have been a good idea before the sudden announcement. People don't like change, and the knee jerk reaction from many will be to jump ship, which is something that some will live to regret.

I’ve not been keen to comment on this thread until now, but since things are calming down, I feel ready to say the odd one or two things.

It’s worth noting that the ultra-low rates may be coming to an end. OVO might be the first, but I suspect they won’t be the last. Hedging contracts don’t last forever and the other players will have to regenerate those at some point...

I think 6p was pushing the boundary of what might be possible and others have said this could be the change that other suppliers have waited for to improve their margins. But they don't offer all day charging though. I think the latest is up to 11am. 

This is against the backdrop of large changes in the way power is generated and managed and discounted charging rates are not going to be the only casualty. As I said in my recent blog about the economics of solar and battery systems I mentioned that SEG rates are likely to fall. On the 1st July this year Scottish Power’s standalone SEG dropped from 12p to 6p/kWh. With large amounts of solar power coming on line pushing wholesale rates to near zero in the summer it was not unexpected that SP dropped their rate and it could pave the way for others to follow suit. We shall see.

I've seen a number of people who have said similar things but haven't included everything in their calculations.

certainly for anyone who uses practically no electricity over night and doesnt do a great deal of EV mileage with the third part of the puzzle being quite high daytime usage then OVO is still a good deal or st leadt no more expensive than moving on and paying slightly Higher standing charges along with higher peak rates.

many suppliers have regional rates do whereas gor some the peak rate might be 27p and low rate 7p others might have a peak rste of 31p. These examples are for Octopus IOG.

Doing the sums you need to work out how much upu are paying during the day and evening during an average year and how much you are paying in what woukd be the cheap period if you moved, again for an average year but clearly you need to apply the up-to-date prices.

For the example if IOG the cheap rate is 2330 to 0530 where all household usage us 7p.

However the ready-by time of the car can be up to 11AM so if the car is charging between 05:30 and 11:00 then the whole household benefits from electricity at 7p rather than 28p or whatever the rate might be.

IOG also allows fir advice daytime charging where the 7p rate would cover the whole house but these charging sessions are not gauranteed.

In addition to all that there are regular saving sessions or free power sessions which also help push the costs down.

Even though I use a low amount of power I do save an extra £100 over night simply due to the lower rate and then you have people timing their dishwashers or washing machines to run overnight.

For ne the greatest saving is the installation of a home battery which I charge overnight and yse all day and evening so my power is all bought for 7p per kWh.

There's also £50 referrals where a bribe is paid to whoever joins using one and the person who referred them gets an account credit for the same.

I'm not allowed to post my referral link in this forum but if anyone wanted to leave anyway perhaps they would be allowed to ask ne for one. I'm not sure.

The long and short of it is even though I've already recommended OVO to 50 or 60 people and after this stunt said I'd not recommend any more, I do find that I probably will as it's clear OVO will still be cheap for many in certain circumstances.

However for a few who feel they shoukd migrate I'm happy to advise them although perhaps it would be better on the forum which Speaks about EVs and a lot besides.

I'm sure people can find it via Google if I'm not allowed to mention it (speakev) here.

Personally I was very dissapointed to have to leave OVO after being a loyal customer for a decade but I had to go where I could make greater savings and over a period of  two years I'm well over £1500 better off.

I left, moved to e-on, OVO, must realise I wont be alone!  

​@P44cka People join and leave for a variety of reasons. Mostly they are about finding a tariff that suits them better than the one they are on. I left SSE to join OVO in 2014 because they were a lot cheaper (in the days before price caps). I left OVO two years ago because Octopus were offering a tariff that was a much better fit with charging an EV without a smart charge point. Circumstances change, tariffs change and we move on. I hope it works out at E.ON for you.

Can the OVO team take down the https://www.joinbonnet.com/

This is really confusing: joinbonnet, bonnet, charge anywhere, OVO charge please align branding and offering!

I am having a charger for my first EV installed by OVO in a couple of days.  I am not yet enrolled in Charge Anytime, but will wish to do so before the 4 November switch to the new offering.  I have been assuming that I would join on the current terms and then move over.  However, the registration process seems only to offer the new options.  Am I correct in my assumption?

Hi ​@ianbar ,

The new terms apply equally to everyone from the 4th November.

You can choose to remain on the PAYG option if you wish, at 14p/kWh

Hi Blastoise,

Thank you.  I understood that.  My question really was about the process for joining between now and 4th November, where it isn’t very clear what actually happens.

If you join today (25th October 2025) you’ll be on the old terms until the 4th November 2025. From the 4th November 2025 you’ll move to the new terms automatically.

If you don’t like the monthly plans, simply pick PAYG - or just pick one of them for now and then cancel it via your account to be kicked over to PAYG.

Hey ​@ianbar 

I’m glad to see Blastoise186 already stopped by to explain what would happen depending on when you sign up, I hope you found that information helpful.

If you’ve got any other questions, do feel free to let us know and we’ll do our best to clear anything else up.😊

I am shocked to learn that although I signed up with OVO predominantly for their very competitive 7p KWh Anytime Rare for EV charging, within 6 months of signing up  they are now doubling this rate to 14p KWh..!

I appreciate that there are various new contracts available but for my needs the pay as you go rate works and it seems unreasonable and excessive to double your rates overnight.

Have signed up for a year but have now called and hoping that any exit fee can be waived and I can move on.

You are not the only person to be shocked.

We've crunched the figures and will probably be off to Octopus IOG bit it's not that straight forward and there are a few things to consider. Having looked around the cheapest is scottish power ev saver but it's only 5h overnight. Their ev optimise is also decent but only supports 1 ev currently and we will soon be getting a 2nd. E. On next drive 5.2 is also good but doesn't support the Renault 5 which I'm going to get or the volve ex40 that the wife is being forced to get when her company car, a tesla m3lr goes back in Feb 😢. So that rules that out. So it pretty much leaves us with IOG. The new charge anytime rates made it the most expensive for us based on current usage by nearly £300 a year at £1971, IOG would be £1705 and Scottish EV saver £1622. Currently at 7p charge anytime works out at £1603 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Thanks for your reply- Glad it’s not just me..!

Criminal  that companies can do this but obviously they can. OVO trying to dress it up with various shiny new contract options which don’t work for me and then final nail in the coffin letting you know that some VW customers can still get the 7p rate..!

Shocking.

Customer Servives just shrugged and said “prices subject to change..”
That is some overnight change…!

Any recommendations for a new supplier,- Octopus seems like a good option?