Everything you need to know about dynamic electricity tariffs

Electricity tariffs have changed a lot in recent years. Tariffs might have become more complex and more varied, but the good news is that with a little bit of knowledge they’re easy to understand for EV drivers and you could save a lot of money.

Here we explain what dynamic electricity tariffs are, how they work and how they might work for you.

• Do I have to have a special electricity tariff if I drive an EV?
• What are off-peak electricity tariffs?
• What are dynamic electricity tariffs and how do they work?
• Should I switch to a dynamic electricity tariff?

Do I have to have a special electricity tariff if I drive an EV?

Absolutely not. Just because you drive an EV, it doesn’t mean you have to switch your home electricity tariff at all. Nobody is going to force you to switch your home electricity tariff, but it could save you money and help to reduce the running costs of your car, so why wouldn’t you?

What are off-peak electricity tariffs?

Off-peak electricity tariffs have been around for many years. Some might remember the old Economy 7 tariffs which, as their name suggested, gave customers seven hours of cheap electricity overnight.

The current off-peak electricity tariffs are effectively the same thing as those Economy 7 tariffs, just under a different name. They give you a cheaper rate of electricity over a set period of time, often overnight, when fewer people are using electricity. So you can set your car to charge during those times, using the Ohme app, when the price of your charge will be at the lower rate.

Even better, sometimes these off-peak tariffs can be all of the electricity coming into home, when all of your electricity will be at a reduced rate. So if you can set your washing machine, dishwasher or hot water heating for those hours, it might help you save on your overall household electricity costs as well.

Some off-peak tariffs even have ‘shoulder’ mid-peak periods between the highest and lowest times of cost, giving a more stepped price curve between the peak and off-peak times.

What are dynamic electricity tariffs and how do they work?

On the surface, dynamic electricity tariffs look very similar to the off-peak ones described above. Some companies might even have particular set times when they guarantee those low rates, exactly like those off-peak tariffs.

Where dynamic tariffs go one step further however, is that they enable greater flexibility when it comes to your charging in one form or another. Let’s take the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff as our first example and pretend that you’ve requested a charge via the Ohme app and your car is plugged in at home.

With an off-peak tariff mentioned earlier, the cheaper times for you to charge are within fixed hours.

With Intelligent Octopus Go however, there are guaranteed cheap periods that remain the same for your car charging and home, but there are also bonus cheap slots based on the grid and weather conditions (such as if it’s a particularly sunny or windy day). In that case, if your car is plugged in, Octopus and Ohme’s technology can work together to provide the charge at an earlier time in addition to those guaranteed off-peak hours.

That way, any renewable electricity gets used when it’s available and it alleviates any busier times later in the day during periods of high demand. It also means you can get additional hours of cheap charging and the energy companies can achieve more control on balancing the grid.

An alternative version of a dynamic tariff is offered in the form of OVO’s Charge Anytime add on. Rather than offering set times, this simply guarantees six hours of cheaper charging for your car in each 24 hour period. However, with Charge Anytime this can be at any time of the day and the reduced price of electricity is just that going through your charger, not to your entire home.

These are just two specific examples of dynamic tariffs, but the reality is that they come in many different forms and levels of flexibility. In short, dynamic energy tariffs do exactly what their names suggest; they’re more dynamic and more flexible than traditional off-peak tariffs meaning that your cheap charging times are not just overnight but potentially accessible at different times of the day as well. You also need an Ohme EV charger that can integrate with all dynamic tariffs on the market.

Should I switch to a dynamic electricity tariff?

Switching to a dynamic electricity tariff is obviously down to personal choice. Dynamic tariffs in all their forms will usually be the cheapest and most flexible way to charge your EV at home, helping to reduce your running costs.

Which kind of dynamic tariff will work best for you might also be down to both your average annual mileage and perhaps also how much electricity you use at home. Looking at the cost of your electricity consumption for both your EV and your home should help you to decide which tariff will work best for you.

*Total potential savings estimated to be £1,185. This is calculated using an average driving efficiency of 3.5 miles/kWh and annual mileage of 8,292 miles. Savings compares a smart (home) charging rate of £0.07 per kWh (May 2024 Ovo Anytime tariff) with a slow/fast rapid rate of £0.57 per kWh (ZapMap Price Index April 2024).