Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

BargainBear

From what I hear on the grapevine, I get the impression solar+batteries in homes is going to be the next big push.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Octopus are one of the main players, if not the main player.

The government want to push all things EV, net zero is a massive thing right now and the grid can't produce enough to meet the forecasted demands. So they have to think outside the box. What better way than to encourage every house to produce electricity to sell back to the grid and/or store in batteries to potentially be sold back to the grid when the need arises, just like they're doing with EV batteries right now.

It wouldn't surprise me if after this push on solar and batteries you see the rate to buy back energy increase.

Telegraph_Sam

I believe that there is more than one not so simple way of selling elec back to the grid and I'm happy to plod on with the FIT system that I set up originally.  Shelling out mega bucks for solar batteries is quite a different matter even for non-accountants. They must compete with heat pumps in the political brownie points stakes.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Arguably the total load shift would be increased if the system was less rigid in its demands, and catered for moderate converts (like me) also.

Is the only way one can examine and compare the individual T's & C's by "signing up" for each in turn?

What is the minimum notice period that the supplier should give of a change of tariff in the absence of which the tariff used rolls over / defaults to the original as I understand it?

You can find the T&Cs under the Our Policies section of the website https://octopus.energy/policies/ under Legal Stuff. The minimum notice period for the end of a fixed term contract is 42 days. However, if they fail to do that they are not necessarily required to roll a customer over on the original tariff, even though that's what has happened to some in the past.

sln8458

Telegraph_Sam said:

I believe that there is more than one not so simple way of selling elec back to the grid and I'm happy to plod on with the FIT system that I set up originally.  Shelling out mega bucks for solar batteries is quite a different matter even for non-accountants. They must compete with heat pumps in the political brownie points stakes.

In order to be paid for any exported solar power you will need a 'smart' meter from Octopus.

We've been trying since Christmas, still no meter, just excuses.

VERY POOR OCTOPUS!

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

"If I have understood .." I suspect that your understanding of the T's and C's is better than mine      Is this spelled out somewhere?

To be accepted onto Intelligent Octopus you do require an EV or EVSE (a charging point) that is compatible with Intelligent Octopus. Part of the acceptance routine is a successful test charge to the EV controlled by Octopus. 

https://octopus.energy/smart/intelligent-octopus/

[Deleted User]

Interested to read about your experience with GF.

Go Faster is now a redundant legacy tariff: that is, it is no longer available to new customers.

[Deleted User]

From what I hear on the grapevine, I get the impression solar+batteries in homes is going to be the next big push. 

I have been on Octopus Flux now since late March. The tariff has 3 import/export times and 3 import/export prices.

Some suppliers such as Scottish Power are not prepared to pay for any power from a battery to the Grid if the battery is able to charge from the Grid. They regard this as Brown Power which does not sit with their green power credentials.

spot1034

BargainBear said:

From what I hear on the grapevine, I get the impression solar+batteries in homes is going to be the next big push.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Octopus are one of the main players, if not the main player.

The government want to push all things EV, net zero is a massive thing right now and the grid can't produce enough to meet the forecasted demands. So they have to think outside the box. What better way than to encourage every house to produce electricity to sell back to the grid and/or store in batteries to potentially be sold back to the grid when the need arises, just like they're doing with EV batteries right now.

It wouldn't surprise me if after this push on solar and batteries you see the rate to buy back energy increase.

I have no personal experience but from what I have heard, EV batteries are just the same as any other rechargeable battery in that you can only discharge and recharge so many times before the battery starts to lose its potency. I've also heard that this is already being noticed in cars that are only two or three years old which no longer have the same range as they do when new. I suspect there is going to be quite a lot of resistance to the government hastening this already problematic deterioration in the efficiency of very expensive batteries if they frequently 'borrow' the electricity stored in them to make up for shortfalls in grid capacity.

Telegraph_Sam

sln8458 said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

I believe that there is more than one not so simple way of selling elec back to the grid and I'm happy to plod on with the FIT system that I set up originally.  Shelling out mega bucks for solar batteries is quite a different matter even for non-accountants. They must compete with heat pumps in the political brownie points stakes.

In order to be paid for any exported solar power you will need a 'smart' meter from Octopus.

We've been trying since Christmas, still no meter, just excuses.

VERY POOR OCTOPUS!

It may or may not be comparable but I first started getting FIT payments from Scottish Power for what my solar panels produced long before smart meters had been invented.

Peter999_2

spot1034 said:

BargainBear said:

From what I hear on the grapevine, I get the impression solar+batteries in homes is going to be the next big push.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Octopus are one of the main players, if not the main player.

The government want to push all things EV, net zero is a massive thing right now and the grid can't produce enough to meet the forecasted demands. So they have to think outside the box. What better way than to encourage every house to produce electricity to sell back to the grid and/or store in batteries to potentially be sold back to the grid when the need arises, just like they're doing with EV batteries right now.

It wouldn't surprise me if after this push on solar and batteries you see the rate to buy back energy increase.

I have no personal experience but from what I have heard, EV batteries are just the same as any other rechargeable battery in that you can only discharge and recharge so many times before the battery starts to lose its potency. I've also heard that this is already being noticed in cars that are only two or three years old which no longer have the same range as they do when new. I suspect there is going to be quite a lot of resistance to the government hastening this already problematic deterioration in the efficiency of very expensive batteries if they frequently 'borrow' the electricity stored in them to make up for shortfalls in grid capacity.

I've been using V2G (Vehicle to Grid) for 3 years an 4 months.    My car still has 92% of it's original capacity (it's a 2017 car) and V2G doesn't seem to have made much difference even though it is plugged in all the time I am home.