Octopus Energy launched Octopus Power Pack, described as the UK's first vehicle-to-grid tariff, at the beginning of 20241. The launch followed a vehicle-to-grid trial run with National Grid ESO in 20221.
The tariff is recorded in an industry guide to electric vehicle infrastructure published in September 2024 by BEAMA and the Green Finance Institute, in its account of market developments1. The same guide sets out the wider context for vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home charging in the UK, noting that 82% of EV drivers have access to charging at home while 93% use public charging networks1. It also states that around a third of the UK does not have access to off-street parking1.
The guide gives the scale of the market the tariff sits within. It states there are currently 1 million battery electric vehicles in the UK, and gives the number of public chargepoints as 50,00, a figure the guide also renders as 59,590 public charging points as of 30 March 20241. Annual EV sales rose from fewer than 1,000 in 2011, less than 0.1% of total registrations, to nearly 315,000 by the end of 2023, or 16.5% of total registrations1. Transportation is responsible for 26% of UK greenhouse gas emissions, more than any other sector, and the guide states that it is responsible for more than 40,000 excess deaths in the UK every year1.
On public funding, the guide records that £300m was approved by Ofgem in May 2021, half of which will be used to develop EV infrastructure including rapid chargepoints, and that in March 2022 the Government published its updated Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, pledging up to £1.6bn of public funding for charging infrastructure1. It states that £2.5bn has been invested by the Government in the transition to EVs since 20201.
"at the beginning of 2024 Octopus Energy launched Octopus Power Pack which is the UK's first vehicle-to-grid tariff"
The guide does not give the rates paid under Octopus Power Pack, the terms of the tariff, or the number of households signed up. Those details have not been reported. The guide also does not state whether the tariff is available across the whole of the UK or how a household's eligibility is assessed.
Why it matters for households
A vehicle-to-grid tariff changes what a home's car can do for its energy position. Rather than only drawing power at EV energy tariff rates, a vehicle-to-grid arrangement allows a car's battery to export electricity back to the grid at times of high demand, which is the mechanism behind vehicle-to-grid earnings and the tariffs behind them. For a household with off-street parking and a home chargepoint, that turns a parked vehicle into a small store of energy that can be bought cheaply and sold at a higher price, subject to the terms of the tariff. The guide's figure that around a third of UK homes lack off-street parking indicates the limit on who can take part at all, since the arrangement depends on the car being plugged in at home. The distinction between exporting to the grid and using the car to run the home is set out in vehicle-to-grid vs vehicle-to-home and in using a car as power.
What happens next
The guide records several dated steps in the surrounding policy landscape. The zero emission vehicle mandate, the government's pathway towards all new cars and vans being zero emission by 2035, became law in January 20241. In February 2024 the government ran a consultation for the design of a fund, with all applications to be submitted by March 2024 and projects extended to be completed by 1 March 20251. At the end of 2025, chargepoint operators must enable drivers to pay through at least one roaming provider at their public charge point1. The guide notes that the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 came into force on 30 June 2022, that the Public Charge Point Regulations came into force in 2023, and that a measure was introduced in April 20221. No further launch or expansion date for Octopus Power Pack is given1.
Sources1 cited
- BEAMA-GFI-Guide-to-Electric-Vehicle-Infrastructure.pdf, beama.org.uk