Home EV charging on Intelligent Octopus Go

Intelligent Octopus Go is an EV tariff with a cheap overnight rate for the whole house, not only for the car. Octopus states the rate as 7.6p/kWh, with up to six hours for the home between 23:30 and 05:30. Smart charging of a compatible car or charger can also be billed at that off-peak rate for up to six hours in each 24, including slots outside that window. When Octopus schedules the car outside 23:30–05:30, the rest of the home is on the discounted rate for those half-hours too. The day rate is a quote for your address. This page uses Ofgem’s 26.32p/kWh only as the default-tariff comparison, not as your Intelligent Octopus Go day rate.

A year’s driving, written out

The homepage EV tab starts at 8,000 miles a year and 4.0 miles per kWh. That efficiency is a choice on the page (the other buttons are 3.5 and 4.5). Electricity for the year is 8,000 ÷ 4.0 = 2,000 kWh, if every mile is charged at home and the miles-per-kWh figure holds. Costs for 100+ popular cars at 8,000 miles are in EV charging costs by car.

• At 7.6p: 2,000 × 0.076 = £152.
• At 26.32p: 2,000 × 0.2632 = £526.40.
• Difference: £374.40, which is 71% less unit cost, because 1 − (7.6 ÷ 26.32) = 0.71. Octopus publishes the same 71% comparison against the October 2026 cap.

A single 10 kWh top-up is 76p at 7.6p and £2.63 at 26.32p. That is a round top-up, not a shop price.

Standing charge is not in these totals. 54.83p a day is about £200.13 a year on the electricity standing charge under the cap, and a smart tariff has its own standing charge. Shifting the car does not remove it. The calculator shows the unit saving and states that the standing charge is excluded.

Public charging

Octopus says a slow or fast public charge under 50 kW averaged 54p/kWh, last checked June 2026, and that 7.6p is about 85% less (1 − 7.6/54). On that published average, 2,000 kWh would be £1,080, and 10 kWh would be £5.40, against 76p at home on the off-peak rate. Rapid hubs are a different product and are often priced higher than that slow/fast average. This page does not replace Octopus’s 54p figure with a rapid-only number.

The homepage calculator’s third bar uses 75p/kWh as its own illustration of public rapid charging. That 75p is not the Octopus 54p average and it is not an Ofgem figure. Use it only as the labelled bar on the calculator. For a cited public price, use Octopus’s 54p/kWh slow-or-fast average and the date they last checked it.

The charger’s job

You need a way for Octopus to see the car or the charger, and you need somewhere safe to plug in. Compatibility still has to be checked for your car and charger on the day you join. A wallbox does not create the 7.6p rate. The tariff does.

Change the efficiency and the money moves in proportion. At 3.5 miles per kWh the same 8,000 miles are 2,286 kWh, about £174 off-peak and £602 at 26.32p. At 4.5 miles per kWh they are 1,778 kWh, about £135 off-peak and £468 at the cap. The homepage buttons exist so you can pick the car you drive rather than treat 4.0 as a fact. Public miles, workplace charging and winter motorway runs all change the home kWh again. The arithmetic only covers the units you actually put in at home.

There is no payback month on this page. A payback month needs a checked purchase and install price, and those were not verified. The electricity difference above is the part that can be counted from the published rates and the mileage assumption.

Sources

• Ofgem, price cap 1 October–31 December 2026
• Ofgem, unit rates and standing charges
• Octopus Energy, Intelligent Octopus Go
• Octopus Energy, how Intelligent Octopus Go works
• Octopus Energy, connecting a Hypervolt
• Octopus Energy, charger brands it offers

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