OVO Charge Anytime

[G4XUR]

Hi All, Anyone using the OVO Charge Anytime app?
Just started a few days ago and achieved credits (payable 1 monthly in arrears) of £3.48p for not more than a 15% charge (65% to 80%) of my ID3 .
OVO Aop is sort of good!

[The RovingGeneral]

They are fitting my charger today. I am with OVO so looking forward to savings. I do like the ability to charge at any point in the day and not just a few hours between a specified time.

[StuartT]

I've been using OVO Anytime for a while and it has worked perfectly so far.
I'd always assumed that the grid was at its greenest overnight but the OVO app shows that not to be the case - the grid varies without any rhyme or reason that I can work out but using the grid status on the app means I can aim for the greenest electricity.
It works for me, the freedom to charge the car cheaply at anytime is convenient and I'm more than happy with it.
Happy motoring

[shire-dweller]

Am I missing something? Last month I was looking at both OVO Charge Anytime (OCA) and Intelligent Octopus (IO) to decide which one to switch to — and I ended up choosing the latter. My understanding of OCA is that it is really “Plug-in Anytime”, not really “Charge Anytime”, and that both OCA and IO work very similarly:

• Both OCA and IO allow you to plug in the car to the home charger at any time of day or night, but neither will actually charge the car at the lower rates during peak demand hours, usually 4pm-7pm.
• Both OCA and IO require you to specify a “ready-by time” through a smartphone app. You plug in the car at any time, and OCA and IO will decide when to actually charge the car to satisfy the ready-by time.
• Both OCA and IO may decide to actually charge the car during daytime (not just overnight), depending for example on the amount of solar and wind power on the grid. In my own experience this summer, often setting the ready-by time to 10am, I found that about a third of my car charging with IO happened between 6am and 10am.
• Both OCA and IO allow you to charge immediately at any time of day or night if you accept to pay peak rates by touching an Urgent Charge button in the OCA app or a Bump Charge button in the IO app.
• See below side-by-side screenshots of the OCA app and the IO app for the user interface similarities (ready-by time, urgent charge / bump charge, scheduled lower-rate charging during daytime).

The main differences being:

• OCA’s lower rate is 10p/kWh while IO’s lower rate is 7.5p/kWh.
• OCA applies the lower rate to car charging exclusively, with all home energy usage charged at the peak rate (even overnight). IO offers the lower rate for the whole house too (e.g. water tank heating, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.) for at least 6 hours per day (23:30 – 05:30), plus reportedly also at other times of day while the car is also charging (when IO schedules car charging during daytime).
• OCA does not offer any discounts for public charging, while IO customers also get discounts on public chargers through Octopus Electroverse, e.g. 13% discount on Ionity and 8% discount on tens of other networks (including Shell Recharge, Osprey, MER, Source London, ESB, Evyve, Mfg, Ubitricity, Geniepoint, Char.gy, Fastned, Allego among many others).
• There seems to be a small difference in the list of compatible cars and home chargers, with OCA additionally supporting the Indra home charger — but remember that it is enough for either the car or the charger to be compatible.

It looks to me that the only thing that OVO really did better than Octopus was the cheeky (if not misleading) tariff marketing that equates “plugging in” with “charging” and emphasises a straightforward “anytime” message to consumers who may be put off by the thought of having to deal with “schedules” — despite the fact that both OCA and IO equally require the user to set a ready-by time. Also, Octopus decided to cautiously advertise IO as a beta product, while OVO dispensed with that — but OVO’s community forum is full of threads of users pointing out issues, not unlike how people (myself included) point out issues with IO in this forum.

[StuartT]

Am I missing something? Last month I was looking at both OVO Charge Anytime (OCA) and Intelligent Octopus (IO) to decide which one to switch to — and I ended up choosing the latter. My understanding of OCA is that it is really “Plug-in Anytime”, not really “Charge Anytime”, and that both OCA and IO work very similarly:

• Both OCA and IO allow you to plug in the car to the home charger at any time of day or night, but neither will actually charge the car at the lower rates during peak demand hours, usually 4pm-7pm.
• Both OCA and IO require you to specify a “ready-by time” through a smartphone app. You plug in the car at any time, and OCA and IO will decide when to actually charge the car to satisfy the ready-by time.
• Both OCA and IO may decide to actually charge the car during daytime (not just overnight), depending for example on the amount of solar and wind power on the grid. In my own experience this summer, often setting the ready-by time to 10am, I found that about a third of my car charging with IO happened between 6am and 10am.
• Both OCA and IO allow you to charge immediately at any time of day or night if you accept to pay peak rates by touching an Urgent Charge button in the OCA app or a Bump Charge button in the IO app.
• See below side-by-side screenshots of the OCA app and the IO app for the user interface similarities (ready-by time, urgent charge / bump charge, scheduled lower-rate charging during daytime).

The main differences being:

• OCA’s lower rate is 10p/kWh while IO’s lower rate is 7.5p/kWh.
• OCA applies the lower rate to car charging exclusively, with all home energy usage charged at the peak rate (even overnight). IO offers the lower rate for the whole house too (e.g. water tank heating, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.) for at least 6 hours per day (23:30 – 05:30), plus reportedly also at other times of day while the car is also charging (when IO schedules car charging during daytime).
• OCA does not offer any discounts for public charging, while IO customers also get discounts on public chargers through Octopus Electroverse, e.g. 13% discount on Ionity and 8% discount on tens of other networks (including Shell Recharge, Osprey, MER, Source London, ESB, Evyve, Mfg, Ubitricity, Geniepoint, Char.gy, Fastned, Allego among many others).
• There seems to be a small difference in the list of compatible cars and home chargers, with OCA additionally supporting the Indra home charger — but remember that it is enough for either the car or the charger to be compatible.

It looks to me that the only thing that OVO really did better than Octopus was the cheeky (if not misleading) tariff marketing that equates “plugging in” with “charging” and emphasises a straightforward “anytime” message to consumers who may be put off by the thought of having to deal with “schedules” — despite the fact that both OCA and IO equally require the user to set a ready-by time. Also, Octopus decided to cautiously advertise IO as a beta product, while OVO dispensed with that — but OVO’s community forum is full of threads of users pointing out issues, not unlike how people (myself included) point out issues with IO in this forum.

side-by-side.jpg

I can't comment on IO and I'm not technically minded enough to look into the details as you have but all I can say is that no matter the time, whenever I need to charge my car I simply set up a schedule, plug the car in and it starts charging shortly after the start time I've set. Yes, you can boost charge at any time and be charged the full rate but if you do it through the Indra app it will be at the cheap rate.
This is what my app looks like

The schedule takes no time to set up and it charges the car with cheap electricity at any time. I treat it as if I'm charging with a dumb charger and just plug the car in and basically start charging. As you say though, it's only the car that gets the cheaper rate.
I'm retired, my wife works from home and getting "fuel" at a cost of about 2.5p per mile is enough to keep me happy

[The RovingGeneral]

Well my install was going so well. Till the electrician said. O I cant connect it today. We will have to wait for your DNO to confirm we can, as your on a looped link. I chuffing told them that when i submitted my forms. So i have a nice charger out front that I cant use. I hope the DNO pulls there finger out and gets this survey done quick. Cos my electric tariff changed as of today to 26.64p per KWH

[StuartT]

Well my install was going so well. Till the electrician said. O I cant connect it today. We will have to wait for your DNO to confirm we can, as your on a looped link. I chuffing told them that when i submitted my forms. So i have a nice charger out front that I cant use. I hope the DNO pulls there finger out and gets this survey done quick. Cos my electric tariff changed as of today to 26.64p per KWH

The change to electrification is throwing up new problems. There's cases like yours, which I hope can get settled ASAP, and there's cases like a mate of mine who lives in a small village where he's told they can't fit a smart meter. The headline stories used to be about random mobile network coverage in rural areas, then it was about decent broadband speeds, now it's about the fibre rollout; is the next story going to be about the inability to charge your car at home and if you can, can you charge at competitive rates? Change brings about new ideas and new problems.
I genuinely hope you get this frustrating situation resolved.

[EdinburghID3]

Well my install was going so well. Till the electrician said. O I cant connect it today. We will have to wait for your DNO to confirm we can, as your on a looped link. I chuffing told them that when i submitted my forms. So i have a nice charger out front that I cant use. I hope the DNO pulls there finger out and gets this survey done quick. Cos my electric tariff changed as of today to 26.64p per KWH

Where in the country are you? As my username suggests, I’m in Edinburgh. We didn’t have to wait too long to be unlooped and be switched to a 3 phase supply. I applied around the beginning of Feb, had a bit of back and forth with photos of my fuse board etc but the work was completed early April so about 2 months all in.

Be warned if getting 3 phase though…. Despite what the surveyor told me, when it came to installation the ground works involved digging up my street, neighbours over the road had their driveway blocked for a few days etc. Will depend where your main supply runs but was a bit of a disruptive job for us.

[The RovingGeneral]

I am in West Yorkshire Nr Huddersfield. I have had an update email saying that the installers have had confirmation from Northern power. They sent me a copy of the email it states.

Good morning,

Thank you for your application for an additional load increase at the above address. Please find attached letter which confirms that the current connection arrangement at this property is sufficient for the load you have requested.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

So now I just have to wait for the original installers to come and connect it up. They have given me a date of the 7th September but said if there is any cancelations they will fit me in sooner. So I am almost there now. and a tad happier.

[The RovingGeneral]

Well charger is installed. Bit of a faf with Indra and OVO re the app. But I am now happily charging at home at last. Its not quite the plug and go but not far off. Plug in, set what time I need the car and what charge set by te ID3. Sit back. at the allotted time, remove the lead and drive off. And at 10p per KW anytime is a big enough saving for me, without making the rest of the electric I use cost a fortune.

[StuartT]

Well charger is installed. Bit of a faf with Indra and OVO re the app. But I am now happily charging at home at last. Its not quite the plug and go but not far off. Plug in, set what time I need the car and what charge set by te ID3. Sit back. at the allotted time, remove the lead and drive off. And at 10p per KW anytime is a big enough saving for me, without making the rest of the electric I use cost a fortune.

After I'd posted, my OVO Anytime started playing up and the charger and car had fallen out with each other about scheduled charging! Long story short, I spoke to Indra and was told not to use the app for charging but to use their Web page. Anyway, I set up a charge via the Web page and the charger and car are now speaking to each other again and it worked perfectly. The app will now just be used to lock the charger.
I trust yours is all okay, cheers.
Stuart

[The RovingGeneral]

All good so far. The only issue i had was one friday morning it did not start charging early enough to fill to 80%. I rang OVO who said its because there was high demand on the grid. I was a tad annoyed but a boost charge and i was only 20 minutes later at setting off. But I have now taken to plugging it in over night to ensure its charged for te longer journeys .