Ovo Energy will use ‘hidden’ balancing and timeshift to offer EV drivers ‘always off-peak’ charging tariff

Ovo Energy has joined with its sister company Kaluza to launch an electric vehicle tariff that offers charging at off-peak rates at any time. Described as the first ‘type of use’ energy tariff, OVO Drive Anytime offers EV drivers a flat tariff of 6p/kWh at any time of the day.

The platform offers cheap rates for EVs even in times of high energy system stress, such as those in the first two weeks of 2021 when Ovo says customers on ‘time of use’ tariffs were paying up to 35p/kWh for their electricity.

The Kaluza ‘smart energy’ platform uses live data on energy pricing, the weather and local network constraints, and its ability to shift most EV charging away from peak times should mean it can balance the extra cost where customers charge at peak. In addition, the platform can change EV charging patterns in real time and be paid to provide support to network operators as they manage peaks on the grid.  Customers will be able to set when they require their vehicle to be fully charged, or override Kaluza’s software to charge at short notice, without changing the rate they pay.

The OVO Drive Anytime tariff is in an initial phase with a small group of customers. The company will be collecting feedback from them before extending the offer to all OVO members later this year. 

Marzia Zafar, head of strategy and policy at Kaluza, said: “Our intelligent software is designed to give EV users the energy they need, precisely when they need it, at the lowest environmental impact, and now at a guaranteed price that saves them money. In doing so, Kaluza shields customers from the complexities of the energy transition, while at the same time driving it forward.” Eventually it shoud incorporate vehicle to grid options but there is as yet no timetable for that.

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