Thanks to the Beta team. Goodbye and Good Luck

Subscriptions are not for everybody but the reality is that more companies are using them and Octopus call theirs the Intelligent Drive Pack. However, everybody should look at the entirety of the offer from each supplier and decide what is best fit to your needs. I went to Octopus 18 months ago because the Agile tariff suited my life style and ability to be flexible better than OVO but it wouldn't suit everybody. One big difference is that OVO's billing is so much better than Octopus because Octopus sometimes skip a whole month and then lump two together. However, they did change my smart meter over to a new one recently and it went perfectly. But, they have substituted the IHD for a pink Mini Pod that sends IHD data to the app (it acts as a bridge between the smart meter and your router). It's taken me about 20 attempts over three weeks and a dozen emails to get it connected and send data. It's a beta trial but you have no choice but to go with that despite asking for a proper IHD.

Some you win, some you lose.

Peter,

You are right of course and I really hope OVO take some of the points onboard as like you say they have been brilliant. I really wanted to stay but just can’t get the mileage right in the boundaries set by them.

The Octopus Drive pack is unavailable right now so IOG is what I’m going on which brings me back pretty much to what OVO offered but with the bonus of being able to run dishwashers etc at the 7p also. I think we will see more of this truth be known.

I’m not going to be an OVO hater, far from it, I believe they can compete in features and customer service, I just think they got this one very wrong!

Just for the record I think subscriptions are totally wrong for the obvious reasons. I also think they are wrong when car manufacturers offer subs for features already on the car but not enabled. You bought the car but can't use them unless you pay extra. I just feel that subscriptions are just the way that organisations are attempting to monetize something they can't sell directly and a certain percentage of people will take them up without giving it any real thought. Good luck on your Octopus journey and thank you for the time you were with OVO. Hopefully we can tempt you back one day but we can only do that if we offer the right tariff.

​@Sallyswain thanks very much for the constructive feedback, and for taking part as well. It’s sad to see you leave, but you’ve got to do what’s right for you.

If you do switch away, know that you’re still welcome on our Forum of course.

I am with you on this.  It I am stuck with OVO for one reason. I own three EVs. And IOG just will not allow me to charge a car during the day. With OVO I can set a time to have one car through the day and another overnight. 
 

IOG will not let me charge three cars at times that suit so I am stuck paying 14p. I can only hope OVO bring down the price sometime. It was 10p when I joined two years ago before dropping to 7p. So even 10p would be a good deal

We were with OVO for 10 years up until the 14p EV rate was introduced. Then left for an E.ON Next Drive plan. As it turned out, OVO did us a favour by introducing the 14p. It caused us to evaluate in general how we were using CA and the supply.

I was always a big fan of the CA flexibility and wondered how we’d get on with the equivalent fixed 12-6am E.ON rate.  Most of our EV charging was done overnight anyway, with some daytime when required on CA. We’ve been concious not to change that pattern and see how it compares over time. Our current E.ON rates (12-6am) 7.5p v (6am-12) 28.7p. 

The main difference we made was to make use of the overnight rate to AC charge the solar battery everynight, whereas that wasn’t possible at OVO. That has been a game changer.

Even with charging the EV at daytime rates when we need to, our averge PP Kwh over the month has gone from approx 21.5p (OVO) to 10.9p (E.ON). Without changing our usage habits.

The other bonus now, is that when using CA we’d often get failed charging events overnight, but that has been completely eradicated. We now rely on the Hypervolt “scheduled charging” which never fails, and temporarily amend it to “plug and charge” when needing an immediate EV charge in the day. Very easy 1 click in the app.

Appreciate this scenario doesn’t suit everyone and also needs a solar/battery solution. But just sharing my experiences.

Hey ​@oho 

Thank you for sharing your insights with the community, I think that’ll be very helpful and useful information to others. It’s a shame to have seen you leave because of that, but we understand everyone’s needs are different and sometimes, other suppliers will offer something better for your lifestyle. We appreciate you coming back to the Forum to share insights and help with the community, we hope you’ll always feel welcome to do so, no matter what supplier your with.😊

Glad to hear you’re doing well with EON and that’s working out well for you.