Intelligent Octopus Go: explained

It’s rare that your electricity tariff saves you money – but if you’re an electric vehicle driver, Intelligent Octopus Go could be extremely profitable.

Eligible customers can charge their car for a generously low rate at any time, as long as they follow the right steps – and for six hours every night, they can also use this cheaper electricity throughout their home.

In this guide, we’ll explain how Intelligent Octopus Go works with your car and home, how much you can save, and whether it’s the best tariff for your household.

And if you already have an electric vehicle, we recommend powering your car with solar. To find out how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll generate a quick estimate.

What is Intelligent Octopus Go?

Intelligent Octopus Go is a smart import tariff with peak and off-peak periods that allows electric vehicle drivers to always use their home charger at a cheap rate.

Its off-peak rate also enables households to consume electricity at a substantially cheaper rate between 11:30pm and 5:30am.

It’s just an import rate, so if you have solar panels, you’ll need to pair it with an export tariff to benefit fully (such as Octopus Outgoing Fixed).

How does Intelligent Octopus Go work?

Once you’ve switched to Intelligent Octopus Go, just connect your electric vehicle or charger to the Octopus app.

Then all you need to do is enter how much charge you want and when you need your car to be ready to go, and Octopus will deal with the rest.

Your car will charge when it’s the cheapest time for Octopus to buy electricity from the grid – but whenever it happens, you’ll pay 7.5p per kWh.

This electricity is 66% cheaper than the price cap set by Ofgem, as of July 2024.

You can’t sign up to Intelligent Octopus Go with more than one car, but if you do have a second electric vehicle, you can use this off-peak period to charge it.

The household can also use electricity at this 7.5p per kWh rate every day between 11:30pm and 5:30am – so if you can shift your dishwasher, washing machine, and tumble dryer usage to this time period, you may be able to significantly cut your electricity bills.

The rest of the time, you’ll usually pay slightly more than you would on a standard tariff, though this varies depending on where you live.

How is it different from Octopus Go?

Octopus Go was the company’s first electric vehicle tariff.

It’s still available to anyone who has an electric vehicle and charger, whereas Intelligent Octopus Go can only be used by households with specific models.

There’s no publicly available list of eligible cars or chargers, unfortunately, but you can use Octopus’s tool to find out if yours are compatible. Many vehicles do work with Intelligent Octopus Go, including models made by brands like Audi, Ford, Tesla, and Volkswagen.

Octopus Go gives you an off-peak rate between 12:30am and 4:30am, during which time you can charge your car and use electricity throughout your home for 9p per kWh.

This means the off-peak rate for Octopus Go is shorter than it is for Intelligent Octopus Go, as well as being 20% more expensive.

And with Intelligent Octopus Go, you can charge your car for 7.5p per kWh outside of the off-peak period, if you use the app to request a charge in advance. Octopus Go doesn’t offer this feature.

Octopus Go can also only be paired with Outgoing Fixed Lite, which pays 8p for every kWh of solar electricity you export, while Intelligent Octopus Go customers can benefit from Outgoing Fixed’s 15p per kWh rate.

Why did Octopus set up Intelligent Octopus Go?

Octopus created Intelligent Octopus Go to attract the growing number of electric vehicle owners.

A record-breaking amount of electric cars were sold in 2023 – and in most years over the past decade – and Octopus clearly wants to corner this market.

Intelligent Octopus Go also gives Octopus the flexibility to purchase electricity from the grid when it’s cheapest.

When Octopus Intelligent Go users provide a timeframe – for instance, by setting their car to be 80% charged by 7am the next day – the supplier can then assess wholesale rates to buy this electricity at the ideal moment.

The Octopus tariff is one of several – including Intelligent Octopus Flux and Agile Octopus – that incentivises customers to change their energy habits by generating electricity, storing it, and shifting when they use it.

What are Intelligent Octopus Go’s rates?

From 11:30pm to 5:30am every day, your home can use grid electricity for 7.5p per kWh.

This off-peak rate is about three times lower than the current price cap rate for electricity.

Octopus occasionally extends the time period by 30 minutes or so, and will let you know in advance when this happens.

When you use electricity outside of these times, it’ll cost you the peak rate, which is typically a bit more than the price cap rate – though it changes depending on your region.

You can also charge your electric car for 7.5p per kWh, as long as you either do it during the off-peak phase or use the Octopus app to request a certain amount of charge by a specific time.

If you want to charge your vehicle immediately, you can start a ‘bump charge’, but you’ll pay whatever the rate is at that time.

So if you choose to bump charge from 12am to 2am, for example, you’ll pay 7.5p per kWh – but if you bump charge from 7pm to 9pm, you’ll pay the peak rate.

How much can you save with Intelligent Octopus Go?

A household with solar panels and an electric vehicle will save around £593 with Intelligent Octopus Go, on average.

If you live in a three-bedroom home and drive 7,000 miles per year – which is roughly the average, according to NimbleFins – Octopus estimates that you can save £369 per year.

Solar panel owners should sign up for an export tariff too, such as Octopus Outgoing Fixed, which pays 15p per kWh of solar electricity you send to the grid.

On this tariff, a household with a 4.4kWp (kilowatt-peak) solar panel system and an annual electricity consumption of 3,500kWh (kilowatt-hours) will typically earn £224 per year.

You can technically get your export tariff from any supplier, but it may be tricky, as many companies won’t let you use their export rate if you don’t import your electricity from them.

Combining Intelligent Octopus Go with a solar export tariff

If you also have a solar panel system as well as an electric vehicle, you can take advantage of an export tariff alongside Intelligent Octopus Go.

Your best choice is Octopus Outgoing Fixed, which pays 15p for every kWh of electricity you send to the grid. This would result in annual earnings of £216 for the average household with a 4.3kWp system.

However, if your household also has a heat pump, you may want to use Cosy Octopus instead of Intelligent Octopus Go.

Cosy Octopus offers an off-peak rate three times per day – from 4am to 7am, 1pm to 4pm, and 10pm to 12am – that’s around 50% cheaper than your region’s Flexible Octopus rate.

You should also consider Intelligent Octopus Flux as an option, especially if you have a solar panel system that's bigger than 5.2kWp.

This smart import and export tariff offers higher rates during the 4pm-7pm peak time than they are at any other point, but they always stay level with each other. Octopus also takes control of your battery, using it as a selling machine that maximises your profits.

The main downside is that you won't get the cheap import rate that Intelligent Octopus Go offers.

How can you sign up for Intelligent Octopus Go?

To sign up for Intelligent Octopus Go, you’ll first need to check your car and charger are eligible.

Then you have to change tariffs. If you’re already getting your electricity from Octopus, you can make the switch in your Octopus app.

If not, just sign up for a different import tariff on Octopus’s site – which is free and should take no more than three weeks to go through – and then move to Intelligent Octopus Go.

You can connect your car and charger to Octopus and agree to the terms and conditions through the app, then all you need to do is complete a test charge, and you’ll be set.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible, you must receive your electricity from Octopus – though if you’re not currently, you can just switch before signing up for Intelligent Octopus Go.

You’ll also need a smart meter, which you can get installed for free by contacting your energy supplier, and a compatible electric vehicle and charger.

There’s no definitive list of approved models, but many cars and chargers are eligible.

You must also have an Apple or Android device, as you’ll need to sign up and set your charging schedule through the Octopus app.

How long does it take?

If you already get your electricity from Octopus, the switch should take next to no time – all you need to do is go through the relatively quick sign-up process.

If you currently use a different supplier, it should take three weeks at most for the companies involved to wrap up your move.

This short time frame is due to the Energy Switch Guarantee, which is a series of standards created by trade association Energy UK that all the major suppliers have signed up to follow.

Is Intelligent Octopus Go the best tariff for everyone?

Intelligent Octopus Go is the best tariff for many electric vehicle drivers, but it’s not the right choice for everyone.

If you have an EV and a large solar & battery system, and export most of the electricity it produces, you may be better off choosing Intelligent Octopus Flux.

This smart import and export tariff involves Octopus buying and selling grid electricity on your behalf to achieve the highest returns.

If you have a solar & battery system and don’t own an electric car, Intelligent Octopus Flux is definitely your best option – unless you have a heat pump.

In that case, you may want to use Cosy Octopus, which provides three off-peak periods per day which you can use to heat your home cheaply.

And if your circumstances change, you can switch between Octopus tariffs at any time, for free.

Summary

Intelligent Octopus Go is the best import tariff for households with an eligible electric vehicle and charger.

You can charge your car for an incredibly cheap rate – around three times less than electricity costs at the moment – which already makes it worth switching.

And if you can shift as much of your electricity consumption to the off-peak period, you can save even more on your energy bills.

By allowing Octopus to charge your car when it wants – to a point – you’ll also help to avoid overloading the grid, which will be increasingly important as the country electrifies its transport and heating networks.

And if you already have an electric vehicle, we recommend powering your car with solar. To find out how much you could save with a solar & battery system, enter a few details below and we’ll generate a quick estimate.

Intelligent Octopus Go: FAQs