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That setting controls the charging rate. It has zero bearing on cost, assuming you wait to have your battery fully charged, anyway. You pay for electricity by total consumption, and that is determined by how much the battery can hold. 5.2 kWh in the case of the i8, which on a home outlet in Switzerland costs between CHF 1.20-1.50, depending on night or day rate. So, it will NOT kill your energy bill. If your charge at a faster rate, the charging will stop sooner - cost remains the same.
The charging rate is set to "low" by default, because they don't want you to overload your home circuit by accident. I believe at "low" it charges with 8 Ampére (over here, on a 220 V grid), which the super-safe setting. Pretty much any househould outlet is protected by the fuse / circuit breaker to at least 10 Amps.
I always plug my i8 into a 16 A outlet, so I have my charging rate set to "max". Never had any issues.
By the way, the i8 never seems to charge at a rate higher than about 2.5 kW/h (about 12 A at 220 V) even if it's plugged into a fast-charging e mobility outlet somewhere. We have some chargers here that deliver 400 V at 32 A, which should charge an i8 in less than half an hour. Yet, it always takes just over 2 hours for a full charge.
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