Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

masonic

BargainBear said:

To be honest I don't think these shift loading tariffs will make the long term changes suppliers hope they will. As you say, the peak period is peak for a reason, and it's been that way for centuries because of life. Companies open and close at set times (Predominately 9-
17:00), schools open and close at set times (9-15:30), people need to eat, do chores (Washing/Drying etc.) in order to be in bed by certain times. Seasons and daylight saving time also play a big part too.

The only way they'll have the massive impact and stick around would be for life as we know it to massively change, and we know how reluctant the old dinosaurs of industry leading companies are to do this. People working from home isn't helping it at all, although a 4 day work week might help shake things up, especially if companies stagger departments 4 day week.

The biggest game changer for prices in the energy sector will be large batteries becoming more readily available and cheaper, and technology advancing for longevity and efficiency. Then there won't be such a reliance on shifting as green energy will be able to be stored for longer periods and utilised whenever is required instead of being lost/wasted.

The difference is that energy used to power vehicles is shifting from petrol stations to the grid. Just like many electric only homes adopted E7 heating, which was quite a successful load shifting incentive, so will EV owners adopt tariffs whereby they charge their vehicles overnight when they are unlikely to be driving. There will of course be some who do so while on the road, but many will have a standard daily commute within the range of their vehicles. If they were all to plug in during the early evening, then that would be a big problem. Certainly some form of industrial scale battery storage is one potential solution to that problem, but load shifting will certainly play its part too.

Petriix

BargainBear said:

To be honest I don't think these shift loading tariffs will make the long term changes suppliers hope they will. As you say, the peak period is peak for a reason, and it's been that way for centuries because of life. Companies open and close at set times (Predominately 9-
17:00), schools open and close at set times (9-15:30), people need to eat, do chores (Washing/Drying etc.) in order to be in bed by certain times. Seasons and daylight saving time also play a big part too.

The only way they'll have the massive impact and stick around would be for life as we know it to massively change, and we know how reluctant the old dinosaurs of industry leading companies are to do this. People working from home isn't helping it at all, although a 4 day work week might help shake things up, especially if companies stagger departments 4 day week.

The biggest game changer for prices in the energy sector will be large batteries becoming more readily available and cheaper, and technology advancing for longevity and efficiency. Then there won't be such a reliance on shifting as green energy will be able to be stored for longer periods and utilised whenever is required instead of being lost/wasted.

Anecdotally I think you're wrong. Although I am always astounded by how people will stubbornly stick to expensive habits, many of us are happy to adjust our usage. With a combination of solar panels and Octopus Go Faster, nearly 80% of my grid usage is in the 4h off peak window.

It's no hardship to set the timer on the washing machine and dishwasher or to run the tumble dryer overnight etc. We can usually save the hoovering until a sunny day and we'll even adapt what we eat: if there's surplus solar then we're more likely to use the oven and grill.

While it was sunny last week we only had a couple of spikes of grid usage. The car was largely charged from solar with one overnight top up. Only around 8kWh was drawn from the grid in peak times out of total usage of over 100kWh.

tlcgrantham

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

MWT

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

Octopus are not putting their prices up until 00:00 on the 2nd, so yes, compared to most other suppliers there is an extra day at the old variable rate.

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

tlcgrantham

Every Little Helps. My gas meter is not a smart, though electricity is , so I can keep the heating full on for another cold day.

bristolleedsfan

MWT said:

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

Either the prices are going up on 2nd or they are going up on 3rd, cannot be the case 2nd yet get some benefit from old prices on 2nd.

How it usually works submit meter reading any time up until midnight on lets say 2nd, get billed up until end of day before which in this case is 1st, thus new rates start on 2nd at 00.01

Saturday will either get charged at old rate or new rate,
.

Umiamz

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

Either the prices are going up on 2nd or they are going up on 3rd, cannot be the case 2nd yet get some benefit from old prices on 2nd.

How it usually works submit meter reading any time up until midnight on lets say 2nd, get billed up until end of day before which in this case is 1st, thus new rates start on 2nd at 00.01

Saturday will either get charged at old rate or new rate,
.

Octopus themselves have said that readings submitted on Saturday will be used as the midnight reading on Saturday. Hence, if you take a reading at 08:00 on Saturday and submit it, you'll effectively get those 8 hours at the old rate.

bristolleedsfan

Umiamz said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

Either the prices are going up on 2nd or they are going up on 3rd, cannot be the case 2nd yet get some benefit from old prices on 2nd.

How it usually works submit meter reading any time up until midnight on lets say 2nd, get billed up until end of day before which in this case is 1st, thus new rates start on 2nd at 00.01

Saturday will either get charged at old rate or new rate,
.

Octopus themselves have said that readings submitted on Saturday will be used as the midnight reading on Saturday. Hence, if you take a reading at 08:00 on Saturday and submit it, you'll effectively get those 8 hours at the old rate.

On the same day they are going to be billing at different rates for those without smart meters ,????

If that is the case why dont they always bill like that ???

Umiamz

bristolleedsfan said:

Umiamz said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

Either the prices are going up on 2nd or they are going up on 3rd, cannot be the case 2nd yet get some benefit from old prices on 2nd.

How it usually works submit meter reading any time up until midnight on lets say 2nd, get billed up until end of day before which in this case is 1st, thus new rates start on 2nd at 00.01

Saturday will either get charged at old rate or new rate,
.

Octopus themselves have said that readings submitted on Saturday will be used as the midnight reading on Saturday. Hence, if you take a reading at 08:00 on Saturday and submit it, you'll effectively get those 8 hours at the old rate.

On the same day they are going to be billing at different rates for those without smart meters ,????

No, that's not what they or I said. When you submit a reading for a non-smart meter they use it to bill you up to midnight on the day before. So if you take and submit a reading at 08:00 on Saturday 2nd then they'll use it to bill you up until midnight on the 1st. Anything after that reading will be charged at the new rates and anything up to and including that reading will be charged at the old rate.

Hence you've got an extra 8 hours usage at the old rate.

bristolleedsfan

Umiamz said:

bristolleedsfan said:

Umiamz said:

bristolleedsfan said:

MWT said:

tlcgrantham said:

NON SMART METER BENEFIT?
      “Make a note of your readings or take a photo of them on Saturday. When we receive THIS READING we will apply it to your account from midnight on the Saturday.”
      

Does that mean up to 23hrs 59min energy at cheaper rates?  

As an extra bonus, when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday, it will be used as the 00:00 reading that day, so you'll gain a bit extra use on Saturday itself at the old rate.

Either the prices are going up on 2nd or they are going up on 3rd, cannot be the case 2nd yet get some benefit from old prices on 2nd.

How it usually works submit meter reading any time up until midnight on lets say 2nd, get billed up until end of day before which in this case is 1st, thus new rates start on 2nd at 00.01

Saturday will either get charged at old rate or new rate,
.

Octopus themselves have said that readings submitted on Saturday will be used as the midnight reading on Saturday. Hence, if you take a reading at 08:00 on Saturday and submit it, you'll effectively get those 8 hours at the old rate.

On the same day they are going to be billing at different rates for those without smart meters ,????

No, that's not what they or I said. When you submit a reading for a non-smart meter they use it to bill you up to midnight on the day before. So if you take and submit a reading at 08:00 on Saturday 2nd then they'll use it to bill you up until midnight on the 1st. Anything after that reading will be charged at the new rates and anything up to and including that reading will be charged at the old rate.

Hence you've got an extra 8 hours usage at the old rate.

That is how all non smart meter energy billing works surely, Eon Next etc readings should have been given by midnight on 1st to get charged at old rates up until end of 31st March, I couldnt understand why it was being described as "an extra bonus when you submit your meter reading on the Saturday,"

Easier to just say readings should be submitted as close to possible to midnight on 2nd for Octopus/1st for other suppliers to get benefit of nearly whole days usage at old rates rather than random time 08.00 used as an example.

Octopus meter reading can be submitted up to 5 days afterwards to get a particular reading taken on 1st April charged at old rate