Rates checked: 19 September 2026
Octopus Agile vs Intelligent Octopus Go: which is better for EV home charging?
Half-hourly prices or a fixed cheap overnight window. Whole-house costs decide it.
Two Octopus smart tariffs. Two different ways to charge an EV at home.
Intelligent Octopus Go gives you a fixed cheap overnight rate for the whole house, plus smart EV charging slots at that same off-peak price. Octopus Agile gives you 48 half-hourly prices that track the wholesale market, including Plunge Pricing that can go below zero, and expects you to shift load into the cheap windows.
Which is right depends on whether you want a predictable cheap night, or you are willing to chase (and automate) half-hourly prices for the car and the rest of the house.
Intelligent Go off-peak 8p/kWh 8.4p until 1 Oct Rates checked 19 September 2026 Intelligent Go · Octopus Agile
Quick answer
Lean toward the tariff that matches how you live with the graph.
Lean toward Intelligent Octopus Go
Guaranteed off-peak rate and smart EV slots. Predictability over plunge days.
If you want half-hourly prices, plunge days, and you can shift (or automate) loadLean toward Octopus Agile
48 changing half-hours that can go negative. Cheaper when your load follows the market.
Lean toward Ember
Automation that locks Agile's cheapest stretch for a Tesla on iPhone, so you do not have to live in the price graph.
Intelligent Go = guaranteed off-peak rate + smart EV slots. Agile = 48 changing half-hours that can go negative. Pick Go for predictability; pick Agile if you can shift load, or automate it so you don't have to live in the price graph.
Side by side
How each tariff prices your home and car
Intelligent Octopus Go
- Pricing idea
- Fixed cheap off-peak rate + higher day (“bump”) rate
- Whole-house cheap window
- Up to 6 hours overnight, typically 23:30–05:30
- Off-peak / cheap rate
- 8p/kWh (8.4p/kWh until 1 Oct) on Octopus, checked 19 September 2026. Not a live quote.
- EV charging
- App sets target + ready-by; up to 6 hours smart EV charging per 24h at the off-peak rate
- When smart EV slots fall outside overnight
- Home can get the discount too, within the allowance
- Day / peak rate
- Regional day rate (get a quote)
- Price protection
- Day rate is the bump; off-peak is the set rate
- Smart meter
- Required (smart EV / ToU setup)
- Best if…
- You want set-and-forget cheap nights + Octopus to schedule the car
- Watch-outs
- Day rate can be higher than a flat tariff; needs compatible EV/charger
Octopus Agile
- Pricing idea
- 48 half-hourly rates linked to wholesale
- Whole-house cheap window
- Whenever that half-hour is cheap. No fixed window
- Off-peak / cheap rate
- Changes every 30 minutes; can be very low or negative
- EV charging
- You (or software) pick the cheap half-hours
- When smart EV slots fall outside overnight
- N/A. House always pays the half-hourly rate
- Day / peak rate
- Whatever that half-hour costs (capped by Price Cap Protect)
- Price protection
- Price Cap Protect max 100p/kWh
- Smart meter
- Required
- Best if…
- You can shift laundry, heating, and charging, or automate it
- Watch-outs
- High wholesale weeks can hurt the whole bill if you don’t shift
| Intelligent Octopus Go | Octopus Agile | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing idea | Fixed cheap off-peak rate + higher day (“bump”) rate | 48 half-hourly rates linked to wholesale |
| Whole-house cheap window | Up to 6 hours overnight, typically 23:30–05:30 | Whenever that half-hour is cheap. No fixed window |
| Off-peak / cheap rate | 8p/kWh (8.4p/kWh until 1 Oct) on Octopus, checked 19 September 2026. Not a live quote. | Changes every 30 minutes; can be very low or negative |
| EV charging | App sets target + ready-by; up to 6 hours smart EV charging per 24h at the off-peak rate | You (or software) pick the cheap half-hours |
| When smart EV slots fall outside overnight | Home can get the discount too, within the allowance | N/A. House always pays the half-hourly rate |
| Day / peak rate | Regional day rate (get a quote) | Whatever that half-hour costs (capped by Price Cap Protect) |
| Price protection | Day rate is the bump; off-peak is the set rate | Price Cap Protect max 100p/kWh |
| Smart meter | Required (smart EV / ToU setup) | Required |
| Best if… | You want set-and-forget cheap nights + Octopus to schedule the car | You can shift laundry, heating, and charging, or automate it |
| Watch-outs | Day rate can be higher than a flat tariff; needs compatible EV/charger | High wholesale weeks can hurt the whole bill if you don’t shift |
Plain Octopus Go is a different product: a simpler cheap overnight window without Intelligent’s smart EV scheduling. This page compares Agile and Intelligent Octopus Go only.
The Go path
How Intelligent Octopus Go works
Intelligent Octopus Go is a time-of-use tariff with a cheap overnight block for the whole home, plus Octopus-managed smart charging for your EV. More on Intelligent Go off-peak hours.
You set a charge target and a “ready by” time in the Octopus app. Octopus schedules up to six hours of smart EV charging in each 24-hour period at the off-peak rate (8p/kWh, or 8.4p/kWh until 1 Oct). The whole house also gets up to six hours of off-peak pricing overnight: 23:30 to 05:30.
If a smart EV charging slot falls outside that overnight window, your home can still get the discounted rate for that period, within the tariff’s allowance. Outside cheap periods you pay the regional day rate (the “bump”).
Octopus has claimed typical savings of £771 for May 2025–April 2026 versus Flexible Octopus. Treat that as their claim, not an independent guarantee.
Official page: Intelligent Octopus Go.
Choose Intelligent Go if you want a known cheap night rate, you’re happy for Octopus to schedule the car, and you care more about predictability than chasing the absolute cheapest half-hours.
The Agile path
How Octopus Agile works
Octopus Agile turns the wholesale market into 48 half-hourly prices for your whole home (car included). Rates for the next day land in the afternoon. Octopus says roughly 4–8pm, usually nearer 4pm. See also Agile plunge pricing explained.
On calm days, overnight and shoulder periods are often cheap. On windy, sunny, or low-demand days you can get Plunge Pricing, where the rate goes below zero and you can be paid to use electricity. When wholesale is stressed, prices rise, though Price Cap Protect caps any half-hour at 100p/kWh.
There’s no fixed “EV cheap window.” The cheap stretch moves. That’s the point: if you (or an app) can put charging, immersion, and flexible loads into the lowest half-hours, Agile can beat a fixed off-peak tariff. If you can’t shift, evening peaks and high-wholesale weeks can make Agile worse than a flatter deal.
Good example day · not every day
vs Intelligent Go on this day: Go’s overnight window is still a fixed 8p/kWh. On this London day, Agile overnight (00:00–05:00 sample) was all negative (~-1.8p to -4.2p). You’d be paid to use power. The midday plunge (~11:00–15:30) went negative too (deepest -5.0p). Charge through the 18:30 peak and you’d pay about 50p/kWh. Evening band 17:00–20:30 sat roughly 38–50p.
Region: London (GSP C). Tariff code AGILE-24-10-01, inc VAT. Source: Octopus Agile API, rates for 20 Sep 2026. Strip shows the 46 published half-hours from 00:00 to 23:00 BST. A clear example of why Agile rewards shifting (or automation). Not every Agile day looks like this.
If you use Ember on Agile (Tesla + iPhone), it aims for the cheapest stretch, overnight or the midday plunge, not the 18:30 peak.
Official page: Octopus Agile.
Choose Agile if you have a smart meter, you can move significant load (especially overnight EV charging), and you either like watching the day-ahead prices or you’ll automate them.
The real trade-off
Not just the car
Whole-house cost, not only the battery
Intelligent Go’s cheap rate covers the house in the overnight window (and sometimes during allowed smart slots). Agile’s half-hourly rate covers the whole house too: every kettle, heat pump cycle, and standby watt pays the same half-hour as the charger. So don’t ask only “which is cheaper for the car?” Ask which pricing shape fits how the rest of the home uses power.
Predictability vs plunge opportunity
Intelligent Go wins on mental load: you know the overnight rate and you let Octopus fill the car. Agile wins when plunges land and you can soak them up, and loses when you miss a spike.
Evening peaks and day rate
On Intelligent Go, evening usage after the overnight window sits on the day rate, which is regional and often higher than a standard variable tariff. On Agile, early evening is often one of the expensive half-hours unless demand is soft. Either way, “charge when you get home at 6pm” is usually the expensive habit.
Compatibility and setup
Both need a smart meter. Intelligent Go needs a compatible EV or charger. Check the live list on the Intelligent Octopus Go page (Andersen chargers are listed there). Agile needs the willingness (or software) to act on 48 prices every day.
Who it’s for
Who should pick Intelligent Octopus Go
Pick Intelligent Go if most of this is you:
- You want a fixed cheap overnight rate for the house, not a spreadsheet of half-hours.
- You’re happy for Octopus to hit a ready-by time with up to six smart charging hours.
- You value predictability over plunge days.
- Your EV/charger is on Octopus’s live compatibility list.
- You’re fine checking a regional day rate quote before switching.
For a lot of UK EV households, that’s enough: smart charging without living in the tariff graph.
Who should pick Octopus Agile
Pick Agile if most of this is you:
- You can shift EV charging (and ideally other loads) into the cheapest half-hours.
- You care about Plunge Pricing and the day-ahead rates published each afternoon.
- You’re fine that some weeks will look worse than a fixed off-peak deal if wholesale is high and you don’t shift.
- You’ll either manage the prices yourself or use automation to lock the cheap stretch.
Agile isn’t “always cheaper for EVs.” It’s cheaper when your load follows the market.
Where Ember fits
After you’ve chosen Agile, the hard part is doing it every day.
The cheap window moves, and missing it means filling the car on peak half-hours. See how Ember locks Agile windows.
Ember reads Agile’s 48 half-hourly prices, finds the cheapest stretch that still hits your target, and runs the home charge. Free charts are available; paid automation is £3.99/month or £38.99/year.
Tesla + iPhone only
Scope today
Ember supports Tesla + iPhone only. It does not work with every EV brand.
Tesla + iPhone on Agile: Ember locks the cheap window so you don’t have to babysit the day-ahead prices.
Other EVs / other phones: the tariff comparison above still applies; Ember’s automation isn’t the path yet. Soft next step: run Agile yourself, or watch for broader support if Ember announces it publicly.
Snapshot, 19 September 2026
All-time savings across 223 automated charges
Roughly per driver / year from that same cohort
Last 30 days, fleet savings
Avg price captured, kWh-weighted. 56% below a 24p price-cap reference
Intelligent Go off-peak in the 19 September 2026 check (8.4p until 1 October). Not a live quote.
Grid regions so far (9 members + 2 waitlisted)
Ember fleet data for 7 drivers (Tesla + iPhone) since 25 April 2026. Small sample; not a promise for every household. Figures as of 19 September 2026. This block is a frozen snapshot, not a current savings offer.
Last 180 days timing pattern (fleet): busiest charge start around 10:00; cheapest window often around 06:00. A reminder that Agile’s cheap stretch isn’t always the classic overnight block Intelligent Go locks in.
FAQ
Short answers, then the rest if you want it.
What’s the difference between Octopus Agile and Intelligent Octopus Go?
Intelligent Go uses a fixed cheap off-peak rate (plus a higher day rate) and Octopus-scheduled EV slots.
Agile uses 48 half-hourly wholesale-linked prices for the whole home, with no fixed cheap window.
Does Intelligent Go’s cheap rate cover the whole house?
Yes. The overnight off-peak window (typically up to six hours, 23:30–05:30) applies to the whole home.
Smart EV slots outside that window can also bring the home discount within the tariff’s allowance.
When is Intelligent Go off-peak?
The main whole-home off-peak window is 23:30–05:30 (6 hours) at 8p/kWh (8.4p/kWh until 1 Oct).
Smart EV charging can add up to six hours per 24 hours at that off-peak rate; slots outside the overnight window can still discount the home within the allowance.
How do Agile prices work?
Agile publishes 48 half-hourly rates for the next day (usually nearer 4pm).
Your home and charger pay whichever rate applies in that half-hour.
Can Agile go negative?
Yes. Under Plunge Pricing, rates can go below zero, so you may be paid to use electricity in those half-hours.
That is Agile’s half-hourly wholesale rate going negative, not a separate tariff.
Is Agile better than Intelligent Go for an EV?
Only if you can put charging into the cheap half-hours (yourself or with automation).
If you want a set cheap night and Octopus to schedule the car, Intelligent Go is usually the clearer fit.
Do I need a smart meter?
Yes for both tariffs.
Intelligent Go and Agile both need a smart meter.
What is Charge Cap / 6-hour smart charging on Intelligent Go?
Intelligent Go can schedule up to six hours of smart EV charging per 24 hours (midday to midday) at the off-peak rate.
Charge Cap is an Octopus app toggle that stops the EV once that 6-hour smart-charging allowance is used, before expensive rates kick in. The whole-home overnight window (23:30–05:30) stays separate.
Is Intelligent Go the same as Octopus Go?
No. Octopus Go is a simpler sibling with a cheap overnight window.
Intelligent Go adds app-led smart EV scheduling and related whole-home discount behaviour.
Next step
Pick a path. Then stop comparing.
-
Already leaning Agile and driving a Tesla with an iPhone?
Ember can lock the cheapest stretch to your charge target so you don’t lose the tariff’s upside to manual scheduling. See Ember in numbers above for early fleet results (n=7), or how Ember locks Agile windows.
Soft for other EVs: Agile vs Go still stands; Ember automation is Tesla + iPhone only today.
