№ 28 · Fitted by Octopus's own engineers · 2026 review
Octopus Energy
Octopus Charge
4.1 / 5 · independently reviewed · 3 years (5 years for £79) warranty
Buy it if you are on Octopus, intend to stay, and want one company to own the charger, the fit, the app and the after-care. At £1,029 installed that is fairly priced. But the smart charging stops at the edge of Octopus's own tariffs, and there is no hardware-only price to fall back on if you leave. If the car is a Tesla on Intelligent Octopus Go, the scheduling already runs through the car's API — so the intelligence being sold here sits on the tariff, not on the wall. The Ohme Home Pro is £30 less installed and survives a change of supplier.
Unit only
£1029
Installed from
£1029
After OZEV
£529
Max Power Output
7.4kW (DfT eligible chargepoint list)
Cable Length
5 metres (tethered); untethered takes your own Type 2 cable
Connector
Type 2 (tethered or untethered)
Smart Charging
Requires an Octopus domestic electricity tariff; no OCPP
Solar Charging
Eco mode — charges from household export when more than 6 amps is spare
Cable Lock
App-controlled, on the untethered version
What we loved
- Plus£1,029 is the whole price: unit, labour and a standard installation, with no hardware-only price to be talked up from
- PlusDesigned, installed and warranted by Octopus itself — the engineers who fit it are trained by the team that built it
- PlusOn Intelligent Octopus Go it runs itself: set a ready-by time and a top-up amount, and Octopus books the cheapest slots
- PlusEco mode charges the car from solar surplus once more than 6 amps is spare
- PlusOn the official DfT chargepoint list (EVCP01 / EVCP02) — the £500 grant is available to renters, flat owners and landlords
What we didn't
- MinusSmart charging requires an Octopus domestic electricity tariff; on any other supplier it falls back to timed schedules and plug-and-charge
- MinusNo OCPP and no rival smart-tariff support — the Ohme Home Pro and Hypervolt Home 3 Pro, both sold in Octopus's own shop, work with OVO Charge Anytime and ev.energy
- MinusNo hardware-only price and no other installer: the fit cannot be shopped around, and the grant can only be claimed through Octopus
- MinusFor a Tesla on Intelligent Octopus Go the smart charging is redundant — Octopus already schedules the car through Tesla's API
- MinusThree years' warranty, with the extension to five charged at £79; the Pod Point Solo 3S includes five, also at £999 installed
- MinusOctopus publishes no dimensions, no weight and no IP rating for the unit
- MinusThe £1,029 version has no cable — bring your own Type 2 lead, or £100 for the tethered version
Which tariff pairs best
On a cheap overnight tariff, Octopus Charge saves up to £557 a year.
Estimated against the 24.5p/kWh standard variable rate at 10,000 miles a year. Sorted by annual saving.
| Tariff | Integration | Off-peak rate | Saving / year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Octopus Agile Octopus Energy | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 5p Variable | £557 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
Octopus Intelligent Go Octopus Energy | Full integration The charger talks to the tariff API directly. Set a departure time and it hunts the cheapest half-hours for you. | 7p 11:30pm–5:30am | £500 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
 Scottish Power EV Saver Scottish Power | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 7.2p 12am–5am | £494 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
 E.ON Next Drive E.ON | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 7.5p 12am–6am | £486 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
Octopus Go Octopus Energy | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 8.5p 12:30am–5:30am | £457 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
 EDF GoElectric EDF Energy | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 8.99p 12am–5am | £443 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
 British Gas Electric Drivers British Gas | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 9p 12am–5am | £443 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
 OVO Charge Anytime OVO Energy | App scheduling The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them. | 14p Any time | £300 vs 24.5p flat | Read → |
Best saving
- Off-peak rate
- 5p
- Window
- Variable
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 7p
- Window
- 11:30pm–5:30am
- Integration
- Full integration — The charger talks to the tariff API directly. Set a departure time and it hunts the cheapest half-hours for you.
- Off-peak rate
- 7.2p
- Window
- 12am–5am
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 7.5p
- Window
- 12am–6am
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 8.5p
- Window
- 12:30am–5:30am
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 8.99p
- Window
- 12am–5am
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 9p
- Window
- 12am–5am
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
- Off-peak rate
- 14p
- Window
- Any time
- Integration
- App scheduling — The charger's app supports scheduling to align with off-peak hours. You set the hours; the charger runs on them.
Figures are estimates. Your actual saving depends on how much charging you do in the off-peak window versus during the day, and on your provider's standing charge. Read the individual tariff reviews for the full picture.
The real cost
What Octopus Charge costs you over five years.
The up-front install, plus five years of electricity on your tariff — against public rapid charging and petrol at current rates. Adjust for your vehicle and mileage below.
Octopus Charge supports app-based scheduling to align with Octopus Agile off-peak hours. Read the Octopus Agile review →
Typical 5-year total
£1,743
£1,029 up front, then about £143 a year in electricity on Octopus Agile.
Saves about £10,571 over 5 years vs public rapid charging, £8,286 vs petrol at 18p/mile. Adjust the inputs above for your numbers.
Octopus sells this charger one way only: fitted. £1,029 buys the untethered unit and a standard installation by Octopus's own engineers, £1,129 the same thing with a 5-metre cable attached. There is no hardware-only price, no retailer, and no putting your own electrician on the job. Lead time is around four weeks.
The caveat to take in before the price. "Works with any energy supplier" appears on the product page, and it is true of the app only: smart charging — the automatic cheapest-slot charging the whole product is built around — requires an Octopus domestic electricity tariff, which Octopus states plainly in its own how-to guide. On another supplier you keep the app, timed schedules and plug-and-charge, which is everything except the part that saves the money. There is no OCPP either, so no rival smart tariff can drive it: not OVO Charge Anytime, not ev.energy.
Best for: Octopus customers who want the charger, the fit, the app and the tariff to come from one company, and would rather not think about any of it again.
Installation
Octopus fits it, or nobody does. The price covers the unit, the labour and a standard installation, and the engineers who turn up are trained by the team that designed the unit — no contractor network in between, and none of the who-turns-up uncertainty that comes with one. What Octopus does not publish is what falls outside "standard", so the one figure you cannot see before booking is the one that varies most with the property. It publishes no dimensions, no weight and no IP rating either; for a £1,029 purchase there is very little to read before you commit. Background reading in our install guide.
Tariff compatibility
One tariff family, and it is the one on the box. On Intelligent Octopus Go you set a ready-by time and how much charge to add, Octopus picks the slots, and the thing is genuinely hands-off. That is the reason to buy it.
It is also the reason a Tesla owner may not need to. Octopus publishes a walkthrough for adding a Tesla to Intelligent Octopus Go as an "Electric vehicle" device, and it ends with Octopus controlling the car through Tesla's own API — at which point the tariff is doing the scheduling and whatever is bolted to the wall is just a socket. A Tesla Wall Connector, which has no smart charging of its own, earns exactly the same overnight rate. The intelligence being sold here runs on the tariff rather than on the charger, and a Tesla is the one car that already has it. Our smart-tariff chargers guide covers how the rest of the market handles this.
Price
| Element | Cost |
|---|---|
| Untethered, standard installation included | £1,029 |
| Tethered 5m, standard installation included | £1,129 |
| Warranty extension to 5 years (optional) | £79 |
Read those as installed totals rather than sticker prices, and the gap to the rest of the field is narrow. The Ohme Home Pro is £999 with a standard installation and the Pod Point Solo 3S £999 installed with a five-year warranty — £30 less apiece. A Tesla Wall Connector is the awkward comparison: £478 plus a typical £400–£600 fit lands anywhere between £878 and £1,078, a range that straddles this one. On a straightforward install it undercuts the Octopus by £151; on an awkward one it costs £49 more. The premium is small and, for what arrives, fair. Price is not the argument against this charger.
Both versions are on the official DfT eligible-chargepoint list, as EVCP01 and EVCP02, so the £500 OZEV grant is in play for renters, flat owners and landlords — the people it is for — taking the untethered package to £529. The claim is made by the installer, and the installer here can only be Octopus, so get it confirmed before you order.
Against the field
Judged as an installation package it is a good one: fairly priced, designed, fitted and supported in-house, with a single company to call when it stops working. Judged as a smart charger it asks for something the others do not — that you remain an Octopus customer — and offers no hardware-only price to fall back on if you stop being one. The Ohme Home Pro and Hypervolt Home 3 Pro sit in Octopus's own shop, do the same job on Intelligent Octopus Go, and go on working on OVO Charge Anytime or ev.energy afterwards. The Ohme is £999 installed, £30 less than this, and it is the one to buy if the automation needs to survive a change of supplier.
Related reading
Keep going →
Complete Guide to Home EV Charger Installation
Everything about installation — costs, timeline, and finding an installer.
How Much Does It Cost to Charge a Tesla at Home?
Detailed cost breakdown with off-peak tariffs and annual savings.
OZEV EV Charger Grant UK 2026
Who's eligible for the £500 government grant and how to claim.
Solar Panels and EV Charging UK Guide
Can you charge your Tesla for free with solar panels?
Best EV Charger for Solar Panels UK 2026
Ranked comparison of all solar-compatible chargers.
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