Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

YorkieB

I'm another prospective Octopus Tracker. I've recently had solar panels fitted plus a storage battery. I'm currently with E.on. Is the Octopus tariff my best option?

bristolleedsfan

YorkieB said:

I'm another prospective Octopus Tracker. I've recently had solar panels fitted plus a storage battery. I'm currently with E.on. Is the Octopus tariff my best option?

Maybe consider https://octopus.energy/outgoing/

bristolleedsfan

YorkieB said:

I'm another prospective Octopus Tracker. I've recently had solar panels fitted plus a storage battery. I'm currently with E.on. Is the Octopus tariff my best option?

Tracker Gas has been very expensive recently, Electricity kwh rates volatile, no exit fees on any tariffs, maybe best sign up to 12 month fixed rate tariff and consider what is best nearer to switch date

YOUR TARIFF  Octopus Tracker  Octopus Tracker v1   15.31p/kWh16.88p/day   (All rates inc. VAT) ( kWh rate changes daily)

Khuprius

I'm on Octopus agile, with a Tesla battery and solar. I'm still saving money with the agile tariff over a fixed tariff. I saved £60 (on a £200 bill in December). I can share the figs if anyone wants them.

Telegraph_Sam

I am trying with some difficulty to figure out if changing from my Octopus fixed rate tariff to Agile, Go, Go Faster or Tracker would bring me any benefit, considering that my off peak early morning consumption would likely be very low.  No EV.   Solar panels but no storage battery. The Octopus web site does not offer me the option to ask for a quote for these tariffs in the normal manner. In these circumstances would switching to Agile etc be a leap in the dark? Has any reader in similar circs taken the leap, and with what result?

MWT

Telegraph_Sam said:

The Octopus web site does not offer me the option to ask for a quote for these tariffs in the normal manner. In these circumstances would switching to Agile etc be a leap in the dark? Has any reader in similar circs taken the leap, and with what result?

... but there are a number of user created tools to help you with the comparison... for example...

https://octocomparison.co.uk/comparison

I can make a couple of general observations though.

With no EV and no battery you will not make the most of the savings, but if the standard Go rate of around 14-15p '/kWh is close to or even less than your current fixed tariff then there is no harm in doing it as a first step, especially if you can get one of the early slots for the cheap rate.

I have no solar/battery but I do have an EV although low mileage and certainly not charging every night.

With Agile the big question is what do you do between 4-7pm?

If that is a major consumption period for you then with no battery to time-shift your load and minimal/no solar at that time of day, Agile might not be the best choice.

We eat around 7pm most nights so we do cook on electric during that period, we just avoid other heavy usage and with that and mild EV charging at night we hit around 9p/kWh during 2020.

This year Agile has been expensive so far due to wholesale prices driven by weather, nuclear shut-downs and other factors, but even so it has been close or slightly higher than to the 'Go' price levels so far this year and will drop down lower as the weather improves.

Telegraph_Sam

This illustrates the problem:  to access and use the link you have referred me to, thank you, I have to go to the Octopus Energy Developer page and get an API key.  This may or may not be a simple process. But to have to jump through these hoops (I have no illusions of being a developer) to see if there is an advantage, when with fixed tariffs one quick visit to a search engine is usually sufficient to bring up the results ... just makes me think Agile & co is smoke and mirrors and best avoided!

Telegraph_Sam

I tried to get access to the comparison link after copying the API Key.  It was not at all clear how to progress from here, and just what information could be gleaned from the figures and data that were displayed. You can only get access to the Octopus Forum by invitation, and the developer portal is obviously aimed at professional programmers. Far too much hassle if all I want is to know if there could be an advantage in switching to Agile or whatever!

Xbigman

Agile is not about an artificial comparison, it's about load shifting. Can you get your usage during the peak hours down to zero? If you can it will always be cheaper because Agiles off peak hours will never be more than anyone else's standard rate (well barring an apocalypse that is). So how close to zero can you get? Read your meters at the start of the peak period and again at the end. And to as many decimal points as you can. Do it for a week and you will have a good idea of your peak usage. Now what can you shift out of that time slot? Give yourself a week to think about it and make changes then in the third week read your meters at the beginning and end of the peak period again and see how its changed. You won't be able to work out an accurate figure but it will give you a good idea of your possible new usage to make a decision with.

Darren

bristolleedsfan

Xbigman said:

. Can you get your usage during the peak hours down to zero? If you can it will always be cheaper because Agiles off peak hours will never be more than anyone else's standard rate

This random thread from Twitter during December shows what you have said is not true, daytime Agile pricing was even worse during much of January

Marc #MaskUp 💙 on Twitter: "Dear Greg @g__j @octopus_energy Could we look at putting a cap on the kw price during the hours between 7pm and 4pm please, something like 20p/kw? It seems disproportionate for those on the #Agile tariff to potentially pay (approx)300% more for their daytime electricity 1/2" / Twitter

"Taken from same thread 9th December "Totally agree, Agile is very much a tariff for the long haul. Lots of shock and horror when it's 20p+ daytime pricing this week. But when it's 2p and lower overnight and they're throwing 50kWh into the car and batteries the same people think it's wonderful"