Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

[Deleted User]

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Deleted_User said:

Who thinks that tariffs will drop again once this is over?
Or are we in it for the longterm? 

EV ownership is becoming more common, and Octopus is becoming a large energy supplier. I can't really see how cross-subsidising EV ownership at the expense of regular customers can continue long term (it works when the subsidised users are in a tiny minority). In the short term Go and Go Faster rates may fall back close to where they were.

As more people make use of low demand/low price periods then it follows that they will become high demand/high price. Personally, I believe that we will see some levelling off of prices but from what I read no analysts are predicting massive reductions. Despite the government arguing that we have diverse supply, the problem is that the highest bidder gets the energy. A lot of the LPG that used to head Westwards is now going to Asia. 

This is what should be happening, we should be encouraged to utilise the excess electricity that is being produced during the night when demand is low, its more efficient to keep the turbines turning but we do not have great capacity to store this excess electric, so it's a perfect time to charge EVs and other high powered items. 

Octopus also generates power so they have control of the full cycle and careful modelling and algorithms can work out when there will be excess in the system. 
The key observation here they have retained the 5p off peak rate, and only increased the peak rate so its aligned to other Octopus tariffs, this is a sensible move to protect the Go and Go faster tariff. These new rates make it less attractive for non EV owners, I think it's here to stay but with some extra checks and balances moving forward. 

Non EV owners or those without a home battery are now excluded from the Go/Go Faster tariffs.

Telegraph_Sam

The marketing buzz word for it is market segmentation. What that achieves is open to debate. But it does allow different prices to be charged for the same thing (kWh) depending on the packaging (time slot).

savers_united

[Deleted User] said:

savers_united said:

[Deleted User] said:

masonic said:

Deleted_User said:

Who thinks that tariffs will drop again once this is over?
Or are we in it for the longterm? 

EV ownership is becoming more common, and Octopus is becoming a large energy supplier. I can't really see how cross-subsidising EV ownership at the expense of regular customers can continue long term (it works when the subsidised users are in a tiny minority). In the short term Go and Go Faster rates may fall back close to where they were.

As more people make use of low demand/low price periods then it follows that they will become high demand/high price. Personally, I believe that we will see some levelling off of prices but from what I read no analysts are predicting massive reductions. Despite the government arguing that we have diverse supply, the problem is that the highest bidder gets the energy. A lot of the LPG that used to head Westwards is now going to Asia. 

This is what should be happening, we should be encouraged to utilise the excess electricity that is being produced during the night when demand is low, its more efficient to keep the turbines turning but we do not have great capacity to store this excess electric, so it's a perfect time to charge EVs and other high powered items. 

Octopus also generates power so they have control of the full cycle and careful modelling and algorithms can work out when there will be excess in the system. 
The key observation here they have retained the 5p off peak rate, and only increased the peak rate so its aligned to other Octopus tariffs, this is a sensible move to protect the Go and Go faster tariff. These new rates make it less attractive for non EV owners, I think it's here to stay but with some extra checks and balances moving forward. 

Non EV owners or those without a home battery are now excluded from the Go/Go Faster tariffs.

It states that in the T&Cs, but Octopus do not enforce it. They don't ask for any proof of EV ownership. Some have even commented that Octopus CS were advising them to move to the Go tariffs. Unless I am missing something nothing has changed on their website, where have you seen this? 

Umiamz

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

savers_united said:

Dolor said:

masonic said:

Deleted_User said:

Who thinks that tariffs will drop again once this is over?
Or are we in it for the longterm? 

EV ownership is becoming more common, and Octopus is becoming a large energy supplier. I can't really see how cross-subsidising EV ownership at the expense of regular customers can continue long term (it works when the subsidised users are in a tiny minority). In the short term Go and Go Faster rates may fall back close to where they were.

As more people make use of low demand/low price periods then it follows that they will become high demand/high price. Personally, I believe that we will see some levelling off of prices but from what I read no analysts are predicting massive reductions. Despite the government arguing that we have diverse supply, the problem is that the highest bidder gets the energy. A lot of the LPG that used to head Westwards is now going to Asia. 

This is what should be happening, we should be encouraged to utilise the excess electricity that is being produced during the night when demand is low, its more efficient to keep the turbines turning but we do not have great capacity to store this excess electric, so it's a perfect time to charge EVs and other high powered items. 

Octopus also generates power so they have control of the full cycle and careful modelling and algorithms can work out when there will be excess in the system. 
The key observation here they have retained the 5p off peak rate, and only increased the peak rate so its aligned to other Octopus tariffs, this is a sensible move to protect the Go and Go faster tariff. These new rates make it less attractive for non EV owners, I think it's here to stay but with some extra checks and balances moving forward. 

Non EV owners or those without a home battery are now excluded from the Go/Go Faster tariffs.

It states that in the T&Cs, but Octopus do not enforce it. They don't ask for any proof of EV ownership. Some have even commented that Octopus CS were advising them to move to the Go tariffs. Unless I am missing something nothing has changed on their website, where have you seen this? 

Some people who are switching to Go/Go Faster have been contacted by Customer Services to check whether they have an EV, so there appears to be at least a verbal check.

worrywart_3

Out of interest how many kWh does it take to charge a average ev from empty? 

The thing is it would be slightly unfair to insist it has to be a ev as for lost they are priced out of purchasing them in the first place, and I’m not sure we are ready bro go all electric for many reasons

MWT

I’m not sure how ‘unfair’ can be a consideration as it is a product for EV drivers in the first place, but to answer the question, typically 30-50kWh.

masonic

worrywart_3 said:

Out of interest how many kWh does it take to charge a average ev from empty? 

The thing is it would be slightly unfair to insist it has to be a ev as for lost they are priced out of purchasing them in the first place, and I’m not sure we are ready bro go all electric for many reasons

Energy companies have the right to incentivise certain behaviours through giving discounted pricing. In the case of EVs, the incentivisation fits in with their green credentials. In the future we may see them offer an innovative tariff associated with other green products, such as heat pumps, although it is hard to think exactly how they would do that.

One could argue that the high cost of EV ownership is a good justification for offering such a tariff to help those who have made the investment. It isn't unfair to offer a product because some people are priced out of meeting the criteria - those priced out people aren't incurring the higher costs that this discounted pricing is supposed to soften. It's not really any different to a supermarket offering a discount based on a minimum spend or a broadband provider offering a discount on their most expensive packages. Ultimately, costs will fall and EV ownership will become much more mainstream. Until then, we all benefit from cleaner air in and around our road network if more people can be incentivised to drive EVs. Speaking as a non-EV owner.

Where they need to be careful is in inadvertently discriminating against a protected group of people, such as those with disabilities. Including battery storage in the criteria, or making case by case exceptions would satisfy that requirement, and perhaps is why they haven't been too draconian in the T&Cs - only stating they may offer a different tariff to those who don't meet the criteria.

Keep_pedalling

worrywart_3 said:

Out of interest how many kWh does it take to charge a average ev from empty? 

The thing is it would be slightly unfair to insist it has to be a ev as for lost they are priced out of purchasing them in the first place, and I’m not sure we are ready bro go all electric for many reasons

For a small city car around 25KWh, mid range 50-60, long range and large heavy beasts 80-90. But few people charge to 100% and for day to day use few would let it drop to 0%, so most home charging will be staring at 20% or above and only go to 80%. 

A 7kW single phase charger can boost the storage by 28kWh on Go and up to 35 on Go faster.

milgo

Octopus are getting remote readings from my Elster AS300P Smets1 smart electricity meter! 

FYI Moved from PfP to Octopus on 21st September. I noticed today that from yesterday, 24th September, smart meter readings are available on my dashboard. 

Note. PfP were also able to read this meter remotely following a move from Avro who were not. 

Telegraph_Sam

masonic said:

worrywart_3 said:

 

The thing is it would be slightly unfair to insist it has to be a ev as for lost they are priced out of purchasing them in the first place, and I’m not sure we are ready bro go all electric for many reasons

Energy companies have the right to incentivise certain behaviours through giving discounted pricing. In the case of EVs, the incentivisation fits in with their green credentials. In the future we may see them offer an innovative tariff associated with other green products, such as heat pumps, although it is hard to think exactly how they would do that.

One could argue that the high cost of EV ownership is a good justification for offering such a tariff to help those who have made the investment. It isn't unfair to offer a product because some people are priced out of meeting the criteria - those priced out people aren't incurring the higher costs that this discounted pricing is supposed to soften. It's not really any different to a supermarket offering a discount based on a minimum spend or a broadband provider offering a discount on their most expensive packages. Ultimately, costs will fall and EV ownership will become much more mainstream. Until then, we all benefit from cleaner air in and around our road network if more people can be incentivised to drive EVs. Speaking as a non-EV owner.

Where they need to be careful is in inadvertently discriminating against a protected group of people, such as those with disabilities. Including battery storage in the criteria, or making case by case exceptions would satisfy that requirement, and perhaps is why they haven't been too draconian in the T&Cs - only stating they may offer a different tariff to those who don't meet the criteria.

I think it would be useful in this context to distinguish clearly between "discriminating" through the price-time combination offer on the one hand, and a formal demand of EV or battery ownership on the other. The former is flexible, almost voluntary, whilst the latter strikes me as heavy handed. Different criteria apply to each.