Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

I must confess - that has shattered my little world of illusions. I was willing to accept that if I waited till the system  had been fully hooked up then I would get accurate both kwh's and £ readings as per the read-out.. Otherwise the meter is (partly) dumb.  One questions the logic in supplying software that purports to combine both but doesn't - and, worse than that, leads to false conclusions. Especially with the relatively complex innovative / ToU tariffs. And arguments when it comes to paying the bills.  Far better I would have thought would be to supply single rather than bilingual (kwh + £) meters and give up the pretence of combining both.  I wonder how many smart users are aware that the financial info that they are being fed with from their new gizmos is duff. You'd think that there would be pressure on Octopus to get this sorted one way or the other ASAP

"Good things come to those who wait"  - but "all good things come to an end" (!)

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

...And arguments when it comes to paying the bills.

There are no reasons for arguments when paying the bills, the bill you receive sets out your usage on a daily basis in excruciatingly precise detail showing your usage by the half-hour in both kWh and £.

Your online account will give you the usage on a daily basis in kWh, so again no surprises.

The IHD is a great energy monitor but it really isn't designed to be used as a substitute for an accurate bill when you are on a half-hour ToU tariff.

Telegraph_Sam

Let's take it that the online system can bill me accurately once I've been switched. So far this is what Tracker in dumb meter mode has provided.

The uninitiated new user of a smart meter can be forgiven for believing that when the system tells him in excruciatingly precise detail that based on the kwh readings he owes £xxx, that that is the truth.  If then the online system demands something else, at the very least disagreements will follow.

To repeat, what is the point of having a smart meter system that purports to include financial information if what it says on the tin is duff?  Far better to have an energy monitor that does, and does not claim to do more than that.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Let's take it that the online system can bill me accurately once I've been switched. So far this is what Tracker in dumb meter mode has provided.

The uninitiated new user of a smart meter can be forgiven for believing that when the system tells him in excruciatingly precise detail that based on the kwh readings he owes £xxx, that that is the truth.  If then the online system demands something else, at the very least disagreements will follow.

To repeat, what is the point of having a smart meter system that purports to include financial information if what it says on the tin is duff?  Far better to have an energy monitor that does, and does not claim to do more than that.

Sam, the vast majority of smart meters are fitted with people on single rate tariffs. The price indicators on these tariffs are accurate. It's just the ihd for whatever reason can't handle octopus' tou tariffs yet.

In fairness you'll get far more accurate and informative information using the octopus online account to assess your usage, or even the bright app (giving it permission ti access your smart meter)

Tracker in dumb mode didn't provide the same functionality at all. Tracker used estimates and averages depending on your submitted meter readings to guess your daily usage and estimate charges for you depending on their daily rates. Octopus go/faster with a smart meter will give you 100% accurate meter readings and usage breakdowns and charge you accurately for exactly what you use and at what time.

You also need to bear in mind that go and go faster are still beta tariffs, when you accept the t&c you accept that there will be teething problems and not everything runs super smooth (although it does tend to!) Which is probably also why these tariffs are so competitively priced.

Telegraph_Sam

"In fairness you'll get far more accurate and informative information using the octopus online account to assess your usage, or even the bright app (giving it permission ti access your smart meter)"
You are no doubt referring to the online monthly accounts breakdown print-outs. I will be interested to see how this handles hourly as opposed to daily readings.
It seems that the system as is tells me what my consumption "up to now" has been, but I can't ask it what was my consumption "yesterday"?
I must investigate Bright App though I don't use a mobile for energy matters!

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

"In fairness you'll get far more accurate and informative information using the octopus online account to assess your usage, or even the bright app (giving it permission ti access your smart meter)"
You are no doubt referring to the online monthly accounts breakdown print-outs. I will be interested to see how this handles hourly as opposed to daily readings.
It seems that the system as is tells me what my consumption "up to now" has been, but I can't ask it what was my consumption "yesterday"?
I must investigate Bright App though I don't use a mobile for energy matters!

The IHD should let you scroll back through several days of daily consumption. The online account will show you half-hour breakdowns for previous days when your meter is sending HH readings to Octopus (this is available from the 'Explore my usage' section of the online account). The bills will show a table of HH usage for each day in the billing period. All of that data can be downloaded. You will not feel short changed regarding the amount of usage information at your disposal!

I haven't turned on my IHD in many weeks. Last time I used it was just to check how much power a particular device was using, it's good for that, but not the best option for monitoring your usage patterns.

It is a shame the IHD wasn't designed to cope with anything more complicated than a single price or standard E7 tariff.

[Deleted User]

Slightly off topic, how are folk finding the Go tariff (cost-wise) if you don't have an electric car.  And, has anyone experienced issues moving into another property where the smart meter was fitted by another meter operator.  I don't know if the meter is SMETS1 or SMETS2.  Might it revert to being dumb if I change from Bulb (current provider) to Octopus?

[Deleted User]

DerwentMailman said:

Slightly off topic, how are folk finding the Go tariff (cost-wise) if you don't have an electric car.  And, has anyone experienced issues moving into another property where the smart meter was fitted by another meter operator.  I don't know if the meter is SMETS1 or SMETS2.  Might it revert to being dumb if I change from Bulb (current provider) to Octopus?

Go/Go Faster are excellent tariffs even without an EV. Your question about a move of property is one that is not possible to answer without knowing what the meter model is and when it was installed. All SMETS2 meters are connected to a central hub and are no longer supplier dependent. Many SMETS1 meters have been adopted by the DCC and these meters should also work with all suppliers.

When you move into a new property, your contract with Bulb will cease. The new property will already have a Deemed Supplier. Any switch to Octopus would be from the Deemed Supplier not Bulb. Remember to contract the Deemed Supplier with a meter reading BEFORE you initiate a switch to Octopus.

Edit: if you go to this website and enter your new property address it will tell you whether the property has a SMETS1 or SMETS2 meter:

https://www.logicor-energy.co.uk/

bristolleedsfan

Dolor said:

https://www.logicor-energy.co.uk/

Quoted me 15.9pkw fixed 12 months with 15p day S/C

TOU Tariff rates as per screenshot

[Deleted User]

bristolleedsfan said:

Dolor said:

https://www.logicor-energy.co.uk/

Quoted me 15.9pkw fixed 12 months with 15p day S/C

TOU Tariff rates as per screenshot

My response was in reply to a poster that wanted to know the type of meter installed in a property that he was moving in to. I wasn’t suggesting that Logicor Energy (another Octopus buy?) was offering a good tariff!  That said, the 3 tier tariff is I believe a good indicator of what we can all expect to see in the future.