Octopus Energy - Intelligent Tariff

Third party integrations
21

Just thought, in addition to the above. I wonder if there is a clean way we could think of to present the forthcoming charging slots?

As an example, if the slots were to be:

21.00 - 21.30
22.30 - 23.00
23.30 - 01.30
02.00 - 04:00

Then ideally I wouldn’t want my family looking at the dashboard at 21.20, seeing we are on cheap rate, and think we have cheap power and so put the dryer and dishwasher on (which would then run over the peak times too)

Possibly, to keep the number of lines of data down, we wouldn’t necessarily need to worry about the individual slots between 23.30 and 05.30, and just leave it as 23.30 - 05.30… but I guess it depends on how people want to use this… i.e. to see when the car is charging, or instead to see when there is cheap rate elec (for me it is the later).

1 Like
22

@Dave888 thanks for the ideas and feedback. I have just released v1.3.0 which adds a few more binary sensors to tell you if the next 1, 2 or 3 hrs are ‘off peak’ (e.g. dishwasher cycle etc)
I will add a ‘next’ timestamp too in v1.4.0.

1 Like
23

@dunwell hmm where do you see the off-peak times? On the Octopus Intelligent Slot history? Can you post a screenshot? Mine lines up (almost, just a few mins delay sometimes) perfectly:

image
image1160×1086 102 KB

24

Thanks @megakid - I’ll keep an eye out for v1.3.0 (can’t yet see it released), and test it out and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for your work on this

25

Hi Chaps has anyone got anywhere with Node red integration? this would be really awesome if possible - i have tried but its way beyond my capabilities!

26

For those who are interested in having their Current Electricity Price sensor reflect Peak/Off-Peak rates properly I have done a template sensor to change to the price you pay based on binary_sensor.octopus_intelligent_slot state - ON = Offpeak, OFF = Peak

Just change your Peak (0.37) and Offpeak (0.075) rates as per your tariff.
This works pretty well in the energy dashboard, with bills not far off what my Octopus bill me (give or take a few £)

template:
  - sensor:
      - name: "Current electricity price"
        unit_of_measurement: "£/kWh"
        device_class: monetary
        state: >
          {% set tariff = { "Peak": 0.37, "Offpeak": 0.075 } %}
          {% if is_state('binary_sensor.octopus_intelligent_slot', 'on') %}
            {{ tariff.Offpeak }}
          {% else %}
            {{ tariff.Peak }}
          {% endif %}

Hope this helps.

5 Likes
27

What are you trying to do with this integration in Node Red?

28

@megakid / @AndyWhittaker

Just gone through my bills and a few jump out where the off-peak rate is outside of usual 2330hrs - 0530hrs window. (attached) image below. The 09:30-12:00 hrs where they gave me off-peak rate looks to have counted my whole house consumption under that rate. I know car charged less than what the usage is in the screenshot.

However is the thinking then that if the car “wastes” the additional slots and does not charge then Octopus will not apply the rate during that slot? Be keen to see if anyone tested this yet?

Screenshot 2022-11-16 at 15.45.42
Screenshot 2022-11-16 at 15.45.421103×1318 157 KB

29

Hi @nickcj

So when Octopus Intelligent (OI) decides to charge your car in additional 30min slots outside the 23.30-05.30 period, then all usage in that 30min slot will be charged at the off peak rate.

If for some reason the car doesn’t charge during one of those scheduled slots (for instance you unplug it), then you will get charged on-peak for those slots.

Be aware, if you “bump charge” the car to charge outside the OI scheduled slots, you will be charged on-peak.

Does that help?

30

Thats great, thanks @nickcj !

31

Hey @Dave888

Yep was aware of the bump charge = peak cost. However was news about the vehicle not charging during the additional slots that you effectively lose that tariff.

Be good if you could trick it into thinking the vehicle is charging :smiley:

Thanks for explaining.

32

Great integration. I need this to stop my home batteries from getting during the intelligent extra slots. I schedule an automation to charge the home batteries in the same window as the EV. Thank you

1 Like
33

If you have a separate node red instance you could output the slot info via mqtt and ingest it in node red for inverter control if thats what I suspect you are trying to do?

34

this is great, thanks! I’ve just gone on to Intelligent with a Zappi charger.
No Zappi integration yet so I’ll work on an automation to allow the car to charge on solar with eco+ mode (probably enable Bump Charge when eco+ enabled and sunrise, turn it off again 1650/sunset). Let you know how it goes in spring!

And of course one to charge givenergy battery while the car is charging at other times.
thanks

35

I’m pretty new to home assistant but when I try and add the repo, I get

GitHub - megakid/ha_octopus_intelligent is not a valid add-on repository

I am adding it via HACS and not sure why it’s giving me this error.

Running a pi4 if that makes any difference

36

Amazing work, looking forward to v1.4 which will introduce the next charging slot data.

37

I’ve achieved this be exposing Tesla wall connector sensor to node-red.
When the sensor detects the connection, it waits to see if charging will initiate or is in a state of starting to charge, and then sends the command to the Tesla car to stop charging.
I’m using this to control the car: GitHub - onokje/node-red-contrib-tesla: Node red nodes to control Tesla vehicles and devices

38

Hi all. I’m new here so apologies if this is a stupid question, or if it’s already been answered.

Is there a way to pull the time slots for a mapped charge via the API?

I’d like to use that data to map a “do not discharge” schedule for my house batteries so they don’t discharge into the car during the IO charge slots.

Thanks!

39

There’s already a binary_sensor for that (havent got around to documenting the new sensors yet) but it’s named something like “Planned Dispatch” and is “on” when IO intends to charge

1 Like
40

I (finally) got my bill for October - December last week. Really pleased to report that this integration has helped save me a good amount of money - the phone notifications on off-peak slots are accurate and working, even when the car isn’t charging. Thank you so much to the developer!