As far as I understand it, machines will try to use the highest possible overclock multiplier they can, regardless of if they are actually provided with the necessary energy input.
For example, if some recipe requires 42EU/t, and the machine is T2, it will start the x2 process requiring 4x42EU/t - and stop right the next moment if it is provided with 88EU/t by T2 Dynamo.
Frankly, I fail to see how is this smart.
UPD: That’s even more frustrating because we can’t properly scale steam energy input by combining multiple boiler tanks, due to the way pipes work.