Octopus launches ‘plunge pricing’ for EV charging on public networks

Octopus Energy customers can now charge their electric vehicles at public charge points for less when there is excess energy on the grid.

The company’s “plunge pricing” sessions are being rolled out nationwide following successful trials of the scheme.

It allows drivers using Octopus’ Electroverse to receive discounts at public charge points for taking excess energy off the grid at sunny and windy times.

Electroverse has so far trialled five of these events at over 7,500 charge points across brands including IONITY, Osprey, Blink, Be.EV, GeniePoint and Raw.

Discounts to date have ranged from 15%-45% per kWh. Octopus said that in the future, there is the potential for drivers to get paid to charge up their car when wholesale prices go negative.

Octopus expects to have dozens of Plunge Pricing events over the next year, with plans to expand the innovation across even more charge point brands into the future.

Hundreds of customers have already taken part and saved £6.50 on average on a single charge, with Ocotpus estimating that electric car drivers could save up to £250 a year as a result of this new service.

Matt Davies, director of Octopus Electroverse, said: “This is a massive milestone: for the first time drivers can power up and pay less on the public charging network when green energy’s abundant.

“It isn’t your average discount – it’s revolutionising public charging and something that could never be done with petrol. We’re geared up to work with more charge point brands so we can bring this to even more people.”

Electroverse customers get notified up to 24 hours before a ‘Plunge Pricing’ event by email, push notification from their app (customers should ensure their app notifications are turned on to receive these), and through Electroverse’s social media.

Figures released by charge point mapping service Zapmap reveal that the UK has now surpassed 60,000 public charging points.

In addition, the overall rate of installation in the first four months of 2024 has increased by almost 37% compared with the average across 2023.

The first four months of the year have seen an average of more than 1,900 devices installed every month, up from the 2023 average of 1,400 per month.

Earlier this year, the government outlined streamlined permitting rules for EV charge point installations, to give charge point operators the right to carry out street works using a permit instead of a licence, as currently happens.