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[VIC, NSW, QLD, SA] "The EV Plan": off-Peak EV Charging Rate 12am-6am 8¢/kWh, Super off-Peak Rate 11am-2pm 0¢/kWh @ OVO Energy

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[VIC, NSW, QLD, SA] "The EV Plan": off-Peak EV Charging Rate 12am-6am 8¢/kWh, Super off-Peak Rate 11am-2pm 0¢/kWh @ OVO Energy
Go to Deal
jay510 on 25/02/2024 - 12:27 pages.ovoenergy.com.au (2029 clicks)
Last edited 26/02/2024 - 09:28 by 2 other users

Haven't seen this one posted yet.

Got an email from OVO a few weeks ago letting me know they've added free electricity to their existing EV Plan - so cheap charging at night, and free charging during the peak of the day! Pretty good gig.

From OVO:
With The EV Plan you get a tariff that powers your home and charges your EV without breaking the bank.
You don’t have to lose sleep with a rate of $0.08/kWh between 00:00 and 06:00, and your lunch break was never this good with a rate of $0/kWh from 11 to 2pm.

Need a smart meter, and an EV to apply.

They can't delineate between EV charging or other usage, so just set everything you can for the middle of the day (Washing machine, dishwasher, A/C, etc) to get the best bang for buck!

Terms:
https://www.ovoenergy.com.au/terms/nsw/special-terms/

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Comments

  • spirrowhack on 25/02/2024 - 12:42
    +6

    Cries in North Queensland

    • Jamesx on 25/02/2024 - 18:49
      +3

      I signed up for more than a year and laughing now.
      I'm with Vic United Energy, 5.5kW solar panels. I'm not paying any electricity since Oct & partially supply charges. EVs cost 20-30 bucks to run a month. Here're the figures:
      JANUARY 2024 Electricity used $39.42·411.01 kWh Solar exported $44.27·553.40 kWh
      FEBRUARY 2024 Electricity used $29.40·314.19 kWh Solar exported $36.55·456.88 kWh

    • payless69 on 15/03/2024 - 08:22

      But Ergon has that lovely leftie surcharge for married couples!

  • Opaquer on 25/02/2024 - 12:45
    +13

    One thing with OVO energy (and a lot of other energy companies) is that their solar plans will usually have higher charges than a non solar plan. Depending on your FIT, you may not even save money compared to a non solar plan. This plan might be different if they can't differentiate between EV charging and other charging (I'm not sure if they can or not), but I always recommend doing some calculations on it before signing up, just to be safe

    • cloudy on 25/02/2024 - 12:46
      +5

      Absolutely, this can not be considered a deal unless all oother times of day charges are considered.

      • Opaquer on 25/02/2024 - 12:48
        +3

        I kept hearing all these low rates for OVO and how good they were, but for me in my situation (Brisbane area), they weren't even the top 5 cheapest last I looked. And with their solar plan being more expensive than their regular plan, it made it even less tempting for me

        • Dsiee on 25/02/2024 - 17:18
          +2

          And for me they were are much cheaper there is minimal competition. 3 free hours doesn't required an ev and I an set the storage hot water systems to come on then so it straight up halves the bill.

          Point is people actually have to use their brain to work out what suits them and not just go with the comparison to the average.

    • jay510 on 25/02/2024 - 12:50
      +2

      Yeah they don't differentiate. . Just whatever you can use in the period, you get the corresponding rate. Just moved into the new place and was considering solar, but the business case looks pretty poor when I already get free energy during the middle of the day and cheap energy at night (when I can charge my EV)!

    • Name on 25/02/2024 - 12:51
      +7

      Yep. I was going to sign up but their 4pm peak period tariff is very high compared to others. I think they offset their mid-day loses with higher peak rates. Anyway. Doing the calcs it was about $150 a year worse off on their plan. Would probably be a great plan if you have a battery bank large enough to get you through their expensive peak tariff rates.

      • freefall101 on 25/02/2024 - 14:31
        +3

        I've been doing the numbers on a battery and they don't really add up either (at least for me). I could probably find $1k of savings each year, to buy a battery that costs over $10k with a 10 year warranty.

        It'll be awesome once an EV can be a house battery too. My peak tariff power usage for the month of August was a bit over 200kwh, about what it takes me to drive 1,000km. Being able to offset all that with just a bit more usage on the car battery would be awesome.

    • lunartemis on 25/02/2024 - 13:56
      +3

      I changed from supposedly the cheapest energy provider 143cents for daily supply charge, 31cent/kw to OVO plan and the daily charge is now 114cents and the peak time charge is 32.9 c/kw. We charge our ev between 12am-6am and 11am-2pm whenver we are at home. We usually do dishwasher, washing and vacuuming during the free energy period.

      • Name on 25/02/2024 - 14:29

        How'd you get that plan so cheap! When I plug my address in the peak is 51.2cents or 48.8c without EV. In South East Qld.

        • Dsiee on 25/02/2024 - 17:25
          +1

          Different network, meter, and metering type likely.

    • Bigboomboom on 25/02/2024 - 14:43
      +1

      FiT is 8 cents/kWh for me, so I just need to shift usage to either free window or 0-6 AM to have a "banked solar", like a battery but without battery. Their rates are also cheap enough for me, single rate 34 cents and supply charge 91 cents/day.

    • Jamesk811 on 26/02/2024 - 07:45
      -1

      This is where a battery comes in ;)

      • BargainDude8 on 26/02/2024 - 08:33

        I’m with OVO and we “banked” money in winter and spring and have been slowly using it up in summer with the hot evenings in Brisbane this year.

        I’ve done the numbers on a battery and the payback period of a battery by itself (not battery + solar combined which is how many justify it) is at least 15-20 years. The payback period on the 20kw solar system we had installed is looking to be 4-5 years. We are unlikely to be living in the same place in 4 years, so the battery payback period is not attractive.

  • coxymla on 25/02/2024 - 12:54
    +2

    Sample rates from Essential Energy NSW:

    EV Off-peak rate: 8.00c per kWh
    Off-Peak rate: 33.00c per kWh
    Super Off-Peak rate: 0.00c per kWh
    Peak rate: 50.71c per kWh
    Shoulder rate: 44.00c per kWh
    Solar FiT: 8.00c per kWh *(excl. GST)

    Supply charge: 165.00c per day

    • cumova on 25/02/2024 - 13:07
      +15

      Supply charge of 165c a day +50c peak rate already doesn't make it a deal

      • bowtiehoon on 25/02/2024 - 13:28

        Oh I was upset they didn’t cover my postcode… now I’m not so upset lol

        • Royale with cheese on 25/02/2024 - 22:38

          Peak rate 34.2815c/kWh

          EV off-peak 7.997c/kWh

          Supply charge 79.75c/day

          I suppose everyone is different depending on your retail provider. Mine is endeavour

  • bhunter101 on 25/02/2024 - 12:56

    Easiest/quickest way to change tariff type to TOU? (Powercore)

    • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 13:25
      +1

      Contact your retailer and ask them to switch you.

    • closey on 25/02/2024 - 17:54

      You don't need to change to TOU for this sort of plan. You can stay on TTOU if that's what you're on now.

  • Captain Hindsight on 25/02/2024 - 12:57
    +2

    I’m on this in New South Wales with ausgrid- rates are pretty high and I was probably better off when they gave a $.12 feed in and no free charging time. Hoping I can find better but definitely beat powershop when I signed up.

  • Genepi on 25/02/2024 - 12:59

    Would it still be worth it if you only had batteries but no solar panels? Ie charge batteries for free / cheap and drain during peak hours

    • TEER3X on 25/02/2024 - 13:00
      +1

      You need an ev

      • Bigboomboom on 25/02/2024 - 14:44

        There is a free plan separately if you don't have EV, no need for solar also. It doesn't have the 8 cents window just the 3 hours free daily.

    • pongoes on 25/02/2024 - 13:02
      +1

      Whilst I have both solar and battery, on cloudy days where I doubt the battery would fill up I load shift on this plan. Takes a big chuck of typical usage in peak times

    • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 13:18

      "You will be required to provide information about your electric vehicle. If you do not provide information or do not have an electric vehicle, OVO may terminate your Market Retail Contract."

      So no.

      • serpserpserp on 25/02/2024 - 14:09
        +1

        I bet they won't like an EV owner with a super fast charger that could do the whole battery in 2 hours. Or someone owning an EV that can power your house

        • closey on 25/02/2024 - 17:56
          +1

          Only available in SA, not approved in other states. And only a couple of cars, Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi Outlander. But you can't buy the required equipment to install now anyway.

          CCS bidirectional charging will come soon though.

          • BargainDude8 on 26/02/2024 - 08:36

            @closey: And currently the equipment for bidirectional charging is about $20k I’ve heard.

  • blighst on 25/02/2024 - 13:09
    -3

    Sounds like a recipe for disaster

    • Name on 25/02/2024 - 14:31

      Expand please. Not sure what you mean. :)

      • blighst on 25/02/2024 - 16:52

        Free power in a certain window is only going to be abused by customers. Can't think this kind of promo will survive.

        • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 18:23
          +4

          The cost of energy in the middle of the day is close to zero due to the level of solar in the system, they'll do just fine. A lot of the expense as an energy retailer is covering risk during the peak period when the wholesale price can spike to $17/kWh (yes that's dollars).

          If you can persuade your customers to move consumption to times when energy is plentiful and cheap, you actually come out ahead as the retailer.

          • ndenham on 25/02/2024 - 21:56

            @ezzaf: Yep to echo this, power during 11-2pm is sometimes negative, i.e. they're making money from your usage
            vvvv this

        • kipps on 25/02/2024 - 18:42
          +1

          That free power window is when solar arrays are generating max power & the wholesale feed in rate often goes negative. It’s very much in everyone’s interest to use power during that free window.

  • Franc-T on 25/02/2024 - 13:09
    +1

    This isnt the deal people think it is.

    • Jamesx on 25/02/2024 - 18:52
      +1

      Why?
      for EV owners, definitely worth considering!

    • kipps on 25/02/2024 - 21:29
      +1

      The figures don't stack up for me either on Energex in Qld.

      The plan though is interesting and I ran figures.

      Most of my load matches PV production. Based on historical PVoutput data, I'd estimate that the free 3 hour window might see maybe 7% of usage, and the midnight to 6am 8c/kWh window only 18% of usage. The rest of 75% of the usage would be charged at a considerable 31c/kWh charge.

      This brings the average cost / kWh down to about 23.2c/kWh, accepting that I may do a bit better by shifting EV charging to midnight, or alternatively maxing 32amp charge starting at 11am every day. Energy Locals comes out ahead on my use case, with a better average usage rate (22.5c/kWh) and better feed in rate.

      • Jamesx on 26/02/2024 - 12:46

        You're good at your numbers!
        If you shift some of the power consumption to free and EV charging to 0-6am which is ~12kWh at 10A, you're saving fair bit. you could have average usage rate way below 22.5c/kWh. I'm getting below 10c/kWh since the 3hrs free started. My Peak unit rate:40.2204c/kWh & Off-peak unit rate: 22.6512c/kWh

  • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 13:23
    +4

    Like any energy plan, do the sums and check if its right for you. Depending on your area and usage patterns, it may or may not be the best option.

    Personally about 80% of my usage falls in the overnight or midday periods, and this plan is about $100-$200 a year cheaper than anything else despite the very high usage charges outside of the discount windows.

    YMMV, but its a great deal for a particular type of customer.

      • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 13:28

        I thought smart meters were rolled out across Victoria?

      • Heybargain on 25/02/2024 - 13:57
        +1

        I don’t recall paying for a smart meter when I had mine installed.

      • Name on 25/02/2024 - 14:34
        +1

        I think it depends a lot. My energy provider in qld said there'd be a fee, then I argued saying there shouldn't be according to energex, they got back to me and said yeh. No fee. So probably worth triple checking with whoever manages the grid where you are if there should be a fee or not.

  • regenade on 25/02/2024 - 13:26
    +2

    If you have 1 or more EVw with a smart EV charger and have 3 phase supply you can absolutely smash in the free 3 hour period and then let the solar export at 8c/kWh do its job for the rest of the day.

    • howardaw on 25/02/2024 - 13:59

      Yep, this is my setup exactly, with solar. Can power my EV for pennies as it's home every second day.

  • keejoonc on 25/02/2024 - 13:53
    -2

    This is just a marketing trick by OVO. Not even cheap when you consider how much they charge for supply and peak rate.

    • pangwen on 25/02/2024 - 14:09
      +1

      Depends where you are. The daily and usage rates for me in SEQ weren’t that excessive compared to the competition. This plan is still the best for me by far.

    • dwhes on 25/02/2024 - 14:15
      +2

      Depends on your area. For me their rates are on par with other normal plans from other providers but with 8c FIT compared to 5c on most now and with the 8c window and free power window. I’m miles ahead with ovo compared to my previous provider. Run as much as I can in that 11-2pm window and then anything else I can delay in the midnight window.

    • sirlitchfield on 26/02/2024 - 14:44
      +1

      Works well for me working from home most of the week and owning a home battery and EV during these times I can charge everything to full for free every day from 11-2 even on cloudy days. Supply charge for me is on par with others as well and the FIT is decent.

  • Poor Ass on 25/02/2024 - 14:06
    +3

    Issue is that they estimate your bill monthly and direct debit that amount as well regardless of your actual quarterly reading which then they have the balls to give you 3% interest as a credit from your overpayment

    • askbargain on 25/02/2024 - 14:07
      +4

      you can post pay. maybe change your adjective in your name

      • bdl on 25/02/2024 - 14:36

        Post Ass :D

    • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 14:29
      +3

      You can ask them to update your monthly debit and refund your excess credit. Or you can pay extra to pay later.

      It's a bit of a pain sure, but its not the end of the world.

      • AshFon on 25/02/2024 - 16:21
        +2

        thats right .. I just sent them message in omline chat .. within few mintues they give me option for refund or hold direct debit for 6 months and reduce payments after that. Can't complain abt it.

    • juicejuice on 26/02/2024 - 08:21
      +1

      Not if you are ToU metering, in that case they track daily usage without any estimates.

      • Poor Ass on 26/02/2024 - 10:16

        I wouldn't be relying on that

        Since these new smart meters have those 4G antennas fitted…. every now and then with Energex I still get the "estimated" reads even though they are fully capable of getting an instant read as you have suggested.

        At this point I think the retailers can only get readings from the wholesaler

    • paddyo on 01/03/2024 - 12:55

      Isn't a Smart Meter a requirement for this deal? In which case they have true readings of your usage hourly, no need for estimates.

      • Poor Ass on 01/03/2024 - 13:04

        they don't use it

        true readings are only quarterly here

        so they are going to estimate each month and get ya money probably overstate

        also the peak demand surcharge is the killer… that's when most people use power and it's like 50c+ a kw vs 28c all day use

  • Dealseeker21 on 25/02/2024 - 14:57

    AusNet - Melbourne

    Peak rate of 53.245 c/kWh
    Off peak rate of 30.608 c/kWh
    Daily supply charge of 94.71 c/day

    Currently paying
    Peak rate of 38.962 c/kWh
    22.66 c/kWh c/kWh
    Daily supply charge of 104.676 c/day

    • Poor Ass on 25/02/2024 - 15:35

      What a rip

      • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 18:27
        +2

        Every kWh you shift from off peak to 11am-2pm saves you 22.66c (or 14.66c if you shift it to 12am-6am). It's a great offer for people who have the ability to consume most of their energy in those windows.

        • Poor Ass on 25/02/2024 - 20:57

          53c a kW mate

          • Nom on 25/02/2024 - 23:42
            +1

            @Poor Ass: Perfect for a home battery owner, who only ever pays off-peak rates.

            • Poor Ass on 26/02/2024 - 10:17

              @Nom: it would be but that's out of pocket of $12000-$14000 already for a decent one ignoring rebates

              almost most people don't have a battery

              depending on where you are I know 53c a kw is not in most people

  • jamestownfx on 25/02/2024 - 15:04

    The peak demand fee is a killer though I thought?

    • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 15:08
      +1

      That depends, are you on a demand tariff?

      Most retail customers pay only an energy rate, not an additional demand fee.

      • jamestownfx on 25/02/2024 - 19:16
        +1

        I don't have a demand fee with Origin but when I put my address in with OVO (and others) it has a demand fee

        • kipps on 25/02/2024 - 21:20
          +2

          Origin doesn't charge demand in Qld even if you're on a demand tariff. It's one of the few that don't.

  • eciuj on 25/02/2024 - 15:21

    I’m on this plan and it works well for us. No demand tarrif, 36c peak, 21c CL1, $1.20 supply charge (all approx figures). Bill would be even cheaper if I get a sparky to move my electric hot water to the main line and run a timer for 12-6am and 11am to 2pm. Not sure if OVO would pick up on the change (I could say I’ve moved to gas hot water?).

  • sydneybargainer on 25/02/2024 - 15:31

    on a side note - what is the typical solar feed in rate in sydney metro area?
    powershop is reducing my feed rate from 12c to 6c from next month.

  • Larrybird on 25/02/2024 - 15:33

    Drake bought an energy company?

  • unifex on 25/02/2024 - 15:36

    lot of unhappy customers for OVO they change the deals and you dont get as good a deal as you think.

    Bit like energylocals. They jacked up my rates but keep them lower for new customers. Really annoying these "cheap" deals that are not cheap five minutes after you got it.

    • archiexyz on 25/02/2024 - 23:59
      +1

      Follow up with them via chat and they will match whatever the new customer quote is. Or give you monthly credit. They are really easy to deal with, you just need to be on top of checking intermittently

  • pbaz on 25/02/2024 - 16:04
    +1

    Negative from me, their billing is a mess, must kill their staff trying to work everything out. They must make money on the people too busy to see they make changes or the plans you expect don't work out and then understanding there billing covers it up.

    • BargainDude8 on 26/02/2024 - 08:41

      Do you have a smart meter?

  • hashtagbargain on 25/02/2024 - 16:18

    This is hard to justify even with home batteries.

  • snoopydoop on 25/02/2024 - 16:29

    There's really no way to get this without an EV vehicle right?

    On the free lunch deal with them currently and cheap power through the night would be good for running the aircon etc

    • ezzaf on 25/02/2024 - 16:34

      If you think creatively enough you could probably come up with a way to convince them that you have an electric vehicle vehicle

      • bdl on 25/02/2024 - 18:52

        "Oh, yeah, I've got a Tesla (powerwall)!"

        • snoopydoop on 25/02/2024 - 19:32
          +1

          Was wondering if an electric bike counts 😂

      • NinjaChicken on 25/02/2024 - 20:21

        Only if you park you EV vehicle next to your personal ATM machine..

      • muzzamo on 26/02/2024 - 07:02
        +2

        I think others look up your rego.

    • paddyo on 01/03/2024 - 12:57

      You have to provide Rego and VIN.

  • milobob on 25/02/2024 - 17:56

    Great deal if you can somehow offset the high peak charges.

    The only way I think this would work is charging your EV during the off-peak/mid-day AND having a battery that charges during those times as well so you can leverage your battery energy during the peak hours.

    Would work out well if you had a house of Tesla powerwalls and 2 EVs - if not - I don't know if you are better off with this plan?!?!?

  • Poombear on 25/02/2024 - 22:12

    In Ausgrid Sydney area, fine print for me says cannot have more than 5kw of solar panels

    • derdew on 26/02/2024 - 06:37

      I ignored that and signed up anyway. see what happens….

  • lycheetea on 26/02/2024 - 05:52
    +1

    what does peak demand (4-9pm) mean? I'm tempted as their regular rates is cheaper than what I'm on now. But not sure about peak demand thing. Origin energy doesn't have this charge

    • Jamesk811 on 26/02/2024 - 07:47

      They charge extra during those hours

    • BargainDude8 on 26/02/2024 - 09:15

      Not all wholesale providers charge peak demand fees and not necessarily on all meters if they do (at least in Queensland).

  • IXXI on 26/02/2024 - 08:50
    +1

    When they first released the free power window between 11 and 2 I was initially impressed, but in reality its very hard to get free power out of this deal. You need to self consume all the solar you are producing between those times before you start getting the "free" power from the grid. If you have a half decent sized solar system, thats pretty hard to achieve. For me, when they introduced the "free" power window they dropped my FiT from 10c to 8c, so I was essentially worse off out of the deal. Still, for my circumstances, its still the best deal for available. Their customer service has greatly improved recently after some honestly very shitty experiences initially.

    • dwhes on 26/02/2024 - 09:15
      +1

      Really isn’t hard to achieve if you have an EV (which obviously do to be on this plan) and will be home at least some days of the week during that period. I charge my EV at 7kW during that period, which well and truly maxes out any solar excess. And then on top of that I’m running my house as normal, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, pool pump etc all as much as possible in that period. Sure if you have a 20kW system then maybe this plan isn’t for you. But the average home system is 6-10kW.

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