[bernie_eccle]

I've just taken delivery of my first EV - 2018 i3s 94ah rex. I am considering switching to Octopus for my energy but I have 4kW of solar PV that were installed in 2013. As such my feed in tariff is 25.6p and the export tariff 3.9p. The export tariff is on 50% deemed usage. The payments are supposedly guaranteed for 25 years and index linked so obviously I don't want to do anything that would lose that "guarantee".

I am trying to find out if I switch to Octopus Go whether my current set up for fit & export will be impacted? Is anyone able to confirm?

I also read about Octopus Agile and I think that I would lose my export tariff on the deemed basis but would receive a higher rate for exporting and be paid for what actually goes into the grid however, I don't think Agile would suit me and not too interested in following rates.

My car will be kept at home during the day and I could potentially use the solar PV to charge however I am not sure it is worth it and I would be better taking advantage of the Go rate overnight.

As far as my PV is concerned they on average produce 2,800kWhs per year. 80% of that is produced between March and September. I have an immersun solar iboost to heat water but there are only 2 of us in the house so probably don't make best use of that.

I am thinking I may get a Zappi installed. I am in Scotland so in theory can get £650 towards the install cost although I have yet to look to see what a Zappi installation may cost.

The car will be at home during the day, in my garage, which is attached to the house and has mains power. My usage will vary and could be 100-300 miles per week.

 

[James Watson]

Octopus Go and Octopus Agile are both consumption tariffs and will have no impact on your FIT arrangement. You can keep your FIT with your existing provider and simply switch your consumption tariffs to Octopus.

Octopus also offer a product called Outgoing Octopus. This is their export tariff and comes in two flavours, fixed at 5.5p or Agile, which varies in the same way their consumption Agile tariff does. I’d think it would be better to keep your deemed 50% export tariff than switch to a metered export tariff.

We charge using Go Faster, which works in a similar way to Go, but you can start at 8.30 (or later) rather than attempting to use our solar (6.2 kW system) as sadly we are not in FIT, just the SEG. As Go Faster is 5p, and our SEG rate is also 5p, there is no financial advantage to charging the car with the panels.

Something to be aware of with a Zappi is that it will only charge the car if about 1kW is being exported. If it’s a cloudy day and it’s jumping above and below that level, the charging will keep stopping and starting. I didn’t really fancy that idea, clunking the car on and off charge potentially dozens of times in a day.

If you do decide to switch to Octopus you are welcome to use my code below for £50 credit on both our accounts.

 

[bernie_eccle]

James, many thanks for the clear and detailed response. I think I'll go with Go then.

Interesting about not wanting to start/stop the charging via solar. From what I've read, I think the overall financial benefit of trying to use solar is probably negligible and I'm not putting too much hope in it, but will see.

 

[James Watson]

I had a few quotes for a Zappi and they came in around £1300. With the grant you mention it would bring it to a sensible price. Might need to check if Zappi can work with the I-boost ok, they do an Eddi which does the same job if not.

 

[ChrisCross123]

One of the benefits of the Zappi is that it is not 'all or nothing' - in eco mode you can set it to charge if solar output is above a certain percentage - stopping it from cycling the car charging on and off, it will 'top up' the solar to maintain a constant charge.

Eddi and Zappi work well together as you would expect - it is nice to be able to monitor both from one app and prioritise one over the other.

That said I boost is about £100 cheaper than Eddi.

 

[DenkiJidousha]

We’ve got solar PV on FIT, and currently use Octopus Go Faster.

We only have a dumb EV charger, and use the car’s timer with Octopus Go (Faster).

In hindsight a Zappi for charging the car off solar would have been better given we’ve been working from home for over a year.