Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

A tariff is a tariff is a tariff and to complicate things by adding strings by asking what the kWh's are used for doesn't achieve anything that cannot be done more efficiently and simply by how the tariff is structured in the first place. Whether I plug in dishwasher, tumble dryer, immersion water heater etc OR my EV at 3 am is really irrelevant as far as load shifting is concerned which is what I assume the tariff is intended to do.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

"It's a change in policy, pure and simple. I don't think anyone is suggesting CS are still encouraging people ..."

I take it that this is speculation or inspired guesswork rather than insider knowledge?  

Just based on the information so far shared in the thread - that people are now being challenged regarding meeting the criteria where before they were not, and the tightening up of the T&C stating that people can now be offered an alternative tariff if they do not meet the criteria.

Telegraph_Sam said:

A tariff is a tariff is a tariff and to complicate things by adding strings by asking what the kWh's are used for doesn't achieve anything that cannot be done more efficiently and simply by how the tariff is structured in the first place. Whether I plug in dishwasher, tumble dryer, immersion water heater etc OR my EV at 3 am is really irrelevant as far as load shifting is concerned which is what I assume the tariff is intended to do.

I'd generally agree with that. Potential reasons Octopus might not is that non-EV users may not mop up enough off-peak energy to make it worthwhile to offer them the discounted rate, or they are genuinely trying to incentivise the demise of the internal combustion engine. Without knowing their exact motivations it is impossible to know whether a position of restricting the tariff is consistent with their aims or not.

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

 Whether I plug in dishwasher, tumble dryer, immersion water heater etc OR my EV at 3 am is really irrelevant as far as load shifting is concerned which is what I assume the tariff is intended to do.

The difference is how much you can use in a defined window.

I wouldn’t assume that Go/Go Faster are only about load shifting.

Having a dependable ‘sink’ for energy at known times has value too. 

Telegraph_Sam

That thought had occurred to me also. Whether there is an economic argument, once the account has been set up, in favour of having a large average kW per account per hour figure (the "window") at certain times, enough to justify asking the questions.  I don't know off-hand what the figures are but one EV on domestic charge must equate to x no of individual household's dishwashers, tumble dryers etc.
Whether asking the question leads to meaningful results is debatable,. Restricting the consumption to what might be a smaller number of qualifying accounts rather than encouraging max take-up regardless is a financial motivation, as you say different from load shifting. Company philosophy I suppose.

[Deleted User]

The revised pricing of Go and Go Faster has now made these tariffs less attractive to non EV or battery owners than was the case previously. Unless the consumer has devices that can consume high kWhs in 4/5 hours, then the peak pricing now makes Go/Go Faster less attractive than some  E7 tariffs. I also understand that Octopus has started to reduce the number of 20.30pm starts and it has removed the 3 hour offpeak option.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

That thought had occurred to me also. Whether there is an economic argument, once the account has been set up, in favour of having a large average kW per account per hour figure (the "window") at certain times, enough to justify asking the questions.  I don't know off-hand what the figures are but one EV on domestic charge must equate to x no of individual household's dishwashers, tumble dryers etc.

During the summer, I use on average 12 kWh/week off-peak (3 h window) vs 16 kWh/week for the other 21 hours. In the winter, my off-peak usage is 50-90 kWh/week off-peak. Suspect my off-peak usage will average as much as someone with an EV they use to commute a couple of miles to work per day and making a couple of local trips to the supermarket etc. An EV will be consuming a little under 0.5 kWh/mile.

Telegraph_Sam

So how does the new offer "grab" you in your situation? If things are broadly similar at renewal would you look elsewhere?

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

So how does the new offer "grab" you in your situation? If things are broadly similar at renewal would you look elsewhere?

It would really depend on what's available from other suppliers. At the moment the peak rate on offer for Go/Faster is high, but rates are high elsewhere too. Anywhere from 40-60% of my energy is consumed at peak rates depending on the season, so as a rough rule of thumb, if the average of the peak and off-peak rates (currently 14.3p based on the new tariffs, 9p based on my existing tariff) is lower than the cheapest single rate on offer (currently 16.5p), then I would stick with it - assuming I am allowed to do so.

niktheguru

I suspect the real reason for the enforcement of the tariff has also got to do with octopus inheriting all of avros customers shortly to stop all of them moving to go/go faster as they probably haven't hedged for so many people on that tariff.

Telegraph_Sam

Somewhere within all the [FT?] press articles covering the Avro move there was a reference to existing Octopus customers on fixed rate tariffs having to take a charge in order to pay for the SoLR take-over.  May be I misread it but it seemed clear enough at the time. It would be nice to be wrong on this occasion since contractually I don't see how it could be justified unless there is something in the T's and C's that I have missed.

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"if the average of the peak and off-peak rates (currently 14.3p based on the new tariffs, 9p based on my existing tariff) is lower than the cheapest single rate on offer (currently 16.5p), then I would stick with it - assuming I am allowed to do so"

Based on either the existing "old" tariffs and/or the current new tariffs still being on offer at renewal time?