Electric car drivers using the Octopus Electroverse network can now benefit from cheaper public charging at selected times through its new ‘Plunge Pricing’ innovation.

Drivers using the Octopus Electroverse network now get discounts for taking excess energy off the grid during ‘Plunge Pricing’ events

‘Plunge Pricing’ events are held when green energy is abundant, due to high levels of cheap renewable generation and low demand. This results in wholesale electricity prices falling – and drivers using the Octopus Electroverse network now get discounts for taking excess energy off the grid at such times.

Octopus says the new innovation marks a first for the public EV charging network and could save drivers up to £250 a year on public charging costs.

It’s already trialled five of these events at over 7,500 charge points across brands such as Ionity, Osprey, Blink, Be.EV, GeniePoint and Raw.

Hundreds of customers have already taken part and saved £6.50 on average on a single charge. Discounts to date have ranged from 15% up to 45% per kWh.

Better still, drivers could even be actually paid to charge up their car when wholesale prices go negative in the future.

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.

It’s the latest benefit offered by Octopus Electroverse’s EV roaming service, described as the UK’s largest and giving customers access to more than 700,000 chargers across the UK & Europe; all via a ‘one card, one app’ model.

Octopus first pioneered ‘Plunge Pricing’ back in 2018 with its ‘Agile Octopus’ smart tariff linked to wholesale electricity prices. Said to be a world first, this unlocked time-of-use pricing, enabling customers to save money when wholesale prices drop – and even make money when they go negative. Over the last year, the tariff has seen almost 300 ‘Plunge Pricing’ events.

Matt Davies, director of Octopus Electroverse, commented: “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.

Other innovations by Octopus Energy include its smart EV tariff, dubbed ‘Intelligent Octopus Go’, which has seen tenfold growth in 12 months. And earlier this year, it launched the UK’s first mass market vehicle-to-grid tariff – Octopus Power Pack – enabling free home charging.