Origin EV Power Up - FAQs

To sign-up to EV Power Up, you'll need an eligible Origin residential electricity account. New users will require signing up to the Origin Basic electricity plan and have access to a smart meter to enable access to EV Power Up.

You must have a compatible EV that Origin can connect to via our app to join the beta. This will require consenting to Origin accessing your EV manufacturer's account. Currently, only Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles are eligible for EV Power Up, but we are working on adding more to this list. See full list of supported electric vehicles here.

You, or other occupants residing at the residential address, must not require life support equipment or otherwise rely on electricity for critical needs.

Your EV must not be charged by a controlled load system.

For iPhone users, you must have a software version of iOS 16 or later. Android users must be on Android 9 or later. All users are required to have the latest version of the Origin app installed on their device.

You are not able to join EV Power Up if you have a shared power source, which might be because you live in apartment.

View full Origin EV Power Up Terms and Conditions.

There are no costs to access the scheduled charging functionality in the Origin app.

For a completed scheduled charge session while using Origin EV Power Up, you will first be charged at your standard electricity rate as per your plan, then you'll be credited the difference between your standard rate and the 8c/kWh rate on your next bill, bringing your effective scheduled EV charge rate to 8c/kWh rate for electricity used to charge your EV.

Without the Origin EV Power Up scheduled charging activated, you will continue your standard electricity consumption rate as per your Origin electricity plan.

Scheduled Charging means any EV charging that takes place under the control of the Enode Platform at times reasonably determined by Origin to best meet your charging schedule, subject to any restricted times notified by Origin to you, and a Schedule Charge and Schedule Charged shall be construed accordingly.

Customers with life support provided at their residential address are not eligible to participate in any Virtual Power Plant (VPP) or energy-consumption optimisation-dependent programs, like Origin EV Power Up.

Origin will regularly review our customer-base to audit any sites that may have a life support system dependency registered on their account. If an existing Origin EV Power Up customer with life support dependency is discovered in these reviews, they will be notified that their access to the product will be paused as they will be ineligible to participate in the program.

If a prospective Origin EV Power Up customer no longer requires a life support dependency to be registered on their account, they can contact Origin to have this dependency removed from their account profile.

Your EV will charge at the same speed as per normal when using Origin EV Power Up.

Your actual charging speeds are subject to variables that include hardware and temperature and will depend on your EV and charger type.

Some examples of charging speeds can be found here: Electric vehicle chargers – Origin 360 EV (originenergy.com.au)

You will need to make sure you have a suitable power source to charge your EV that is also linked to your Origin electricity account.

You will not be able to access the 8c/kWh rate unless the charging occurs from your residential electricity account.

You will not be able to access the 8c/kWh rate for charging from a shared charger or shared power source.

Origin EV360 is an energy plan for selected eligible customers who have an Origin EV 360 subscription or EV charger installed by Origin (other criteria will also apply). The EV360 Energy Plan provides 0c/kWh energy between 10am-3pm daily.

View Basic Plan Information Documentation, Energy Fact Sheets and more detail on Origin EV360.

All energy use is initially billed at your Origin electricity account tariff rates. We will then measure how much scheduled EV charging was managed through Origin EV Power Up by reading charging data from your vehicle and then apply a credit based on the proportion of your total electricity consumption in the previous month was used to charge EV with on an Origin EV Power Up schedule.

We will calculate credit owed to you at end of schedule charge session. Only electricity supplied from the grid towards scheduled charging with Origin EV Power Up will be considered in calculation of credit. For example, during the first week of March (current month) we apply all credits that were earned during February (previous month). This credit will appear on your next electricity account bill.

If a scheduled charge session starts in one month and ends in the next month (month two) we will apply applicable credits to that schedule charge session on the bill due after month two. For example, if you have a scheduled charge session which runs over two months (your EV is plugged in from 31st January 2024 to 1st February 2024) we will apply applicable credits for that scheduled charge session on your next bill which is due after February.

You will be billed at your normal Origin electricity plan tariff rates for sessions that use the Instant Charge feature. This might mean you will be charged peak rates if you are on a time-of-use (ToU) tariff and use Instant Charge during peak period.

You will not be billed at the 8c/kWh rate while using Instant Charge in a charging session. You will also not earn credits for Instant Charge sessions.

Instant Charge session will automatically end when your EV battery reaches it's maximum charge limit capacity full OR when you unplug your vehicle.

Linking your EV will take a couple of minutes and a default charging schedule will be set to charge your car by 6am every day once the process is completed. You won't have to do anything further to continue with the default schedule setting.

Within another 10 minutes of connection, scheduled charging will be enabled and you can customise your schedule to choose charge-ready time that suits you.

If your EV battery is below 20%, we’ll charge it straight away until it reaches 20% capacity, so you’ll have enough power for a short trip if needed ahead of your normal charge-ready target time. Once that 20% capacity is met, an optimised charging schedule will apply at the 8c/kWh rate.

If you need to start charging your EV immediately (that is, if you need your vehicle charged sooner than your the charge-ready target time you have scheduled), simply use the Instant Charge feature in the app.

Once Instant Charge is enabled, it will remain active until you unplug your car OR if your battery reaches your charge limit.

You will be billed at your normal electricity plan's tariff rates for Instant charge. This might be peak rates if you are on a time-of-use (ToU) tariff plan and use Instant Charge during a designated peak period.

You will not qualify for the 8c/kWh rate while using Instant Charge, so you won't earn credits for Instant Charge sessions.

Check if your charge cable is properly connected to both your EV and your charger - unplug at each end and then try plugging in again.

Make sure any other charging services aren’t controlling your EV.

Check if your car is connected to the internet

Origin EV Power Up may be interpreting your EV is not located at your home address. We determine whether your EV is located at home based on the location information shared by your vehicle.

This will depend on how much charge is required and how fast your vehicle can be charged at home to meet your target. If there’s not enough time to charge to the target level between the point when you start your charge session and the charge-ready time, your EV will continue to charge, however we will advise you if we cannot reach your charge limit by your specified target.

To ensure you give us the maximum possible time to optimise your EV's charging, remember to keep your EV plugged in whenever you’re at home. Origin EV Power Up will only charge up to the charge limit maximum you have set in your EV manufacturer's app and we cannot override this setting.

For Apple iPhone users, please ensure you have iOS 16 or later on your device. Devices compatible with iOS 16 are here: iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 are compatible with these devices – Apple Support (AU)

You'll also need the latest version of Origin app installed on your device.

For Origin EV Power Up to work, you'll need to have location services enabled in your EV manufacturer's app.

Before we begin with enrolling you into Origin EV Power Up, we will first verify that you have an active Origin Basic electricity plan with a smart meter and you do not have life support requirements at your property and are not part of a controlled load system

We will also verify you have the latest operating system version (either iOS or Android) on your device to support the installation of the latest Origin app (if you don’t already have it).

Once those checks are made, you'll also need to ensure you are able to access your EV, have your vehicle's key with you, and ensure both your EV and smart phone have a stable internet connection.

There could be too many keys already registered to your account. Tesla only allows up to 19 keys to be registered (physical key card, phone key, and virtual keys are included). To resolve this, head to the “Keys” section in your Tesla app and remove any unused keys if this error persists.

There may also be an existing key registered with Enode, our technology partner, with your EV. To resolve this, navigate to “Keys” and remove the existing Enode key.

You may have placed your key card on the console too soon in the process - try placing the key card on the console only when prompted.

You may have placed the key card in the wrong location on your Tesla console - the key card must be placed behind the cup holders on the centre console.