Much like Yin and Yang, the UK power grid needs to be balanced at all times, but there are times when too much energy is on the grid (e.g. high levels of solar and wind generation from really sunny or windy days).
So, when energy is in high supply and demand low - shouldn't public charging prices change to reflect that?
Introducing Plunge Pricing - discounts on public charging when energy is in high supply.
Let’s get plugged in...
Sometimes there’s excess energy on the grid, and this can be for a number of reasons:
High solar generation from a very sunny few days
High wind generation from a few windy days (possibly more likely in the UK!)
Low national household demand/usage, etc.
When this happens, the amount of available energy exceeds the amount of energy typically needed during that time period. In other words, a classic case of supply vs demand.
If a shop selling cute Octopus plushy toys has more stock than they can keep, what happens? Discounts.
This is exactly the same for Plunge Pricing.
Plunge Pricing is not your average discount; it's a revolutionary approach tied to energy supply, demand, and wholesale prices.
Plunge pricing is designed to pass through the cheaper costs when demand is low and supply high.
What drives wholesale energy prices? Good question. Our friends at Octopus Energy wrote a great blog answering just this - check it out here!
With flexibility at its core, Plunge Price discounts will change with each event - ensuring the Electroverse community gets the best discount for the event period.
So, while a Plunge Price one day might bring you a 20% discount, the following week could see discounts of up to 50% off!
For Octopus Energy customers on Go and Intelligent GO tariffs, discounts will not be stacked. This means that whatever discount is higher at the time of a Plunge Pricing event will be applied.
As Plunge Pricing events happen in occurrence with high energy generation, they can't be scheduled like a TV guide.
We'll usually be certain of a Plunge Price day at least 24 hours prior - this means that the Electroverse community will be notified the day before a Plunge Price event.
Operator discounts (and the operators involved!) will change depending on each individual Plunge Pricing event.
Notifications on the Electroverse app, and posts on our social channels, will provide the names of the operators and the discount being provided.
The day before a Plunge Price event, we’ll send out an Electroverse app notification to your phone. It will look something like this:
To turn on push notifications:
Head into your Electroverse app account and scroll down to ‘App settings’
Tap ‘Notifications’ then ‘Notifications settings’
Toggle or tick to enable ‘All Electroverse notifications’
All set!
Once you’ve switched on all notifications for the Electroverse app, you’ll receive a notification on your phone the day before a Plunge Price event.
We’ll also be notifying our community via email and our social media pages - be sure to follow us on X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for all the latest news!
Feeling enlightened or do you think something was missing? Let us know by sharing your feedback.
Interested in learning more? Head over to our Electroverse Community area for more electrifying content.