Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

GGSid

niktheguru said:

Ive had this problem when trying to contact london power (operated by octopus) recently. Gave up and called them, and they pick up within a minute or two and are much more efficient.

That's been my experience too.  
Octopus have been pretty poor at answering email in the 6 months I've used them. 
They do however answer the phone with a bit more enthusiasm. They do also try quite hard to fix stuff when you do get hold of them, but email doesn't seem like a reliable choice to get in contact. 
On Octopus Go I pay just over 14p/kWh day and 5p in the night. It's saved me a lot. In the end I like the tariffs, and they try quite hard to fix stuff when it goes off track. Not the best service I've ever had, but nowhere near as dreadful as some of the bigger utility companies you could mention. 

[Deleted User]

A very fair review. I have been with Octopus for the last 3 years and their email response can no longer be described as ‘awesome’. Their tariffs are innovative but that innovation brings with it complexity. For example, consumers on a standard tariff can just send in meter readings if there is a smart meter issue. Those on ToU tariffs are just flying blind if the DCC is not receiving usage data. With this in mind, Octopus really needs to brigade its ToU tariff customers into dedicated CS cohorts with the expertise within the team that understands the nuances of Kraken; missing data and smart meter issues. 

GGSid

Dolor said:

A very fair review. I have been with Octopus for the last 3 years and their email response can no longer be described as ‘awesome’. Their tariffs are innovative but that innovation brings with it complexity. For example, consumers on a standard tariff can just send in meter readings if there is a smart meter issue. Those on ToU tariffs are just flying blind if the DCC is not receiving usage data. With this in mind, Octopus really needs to brigade its ToU tariff customers into dedicated CS cohorts with the expertise within the team that understands the nuances of Kraken; missing data and smart meter issues. 

I guess we should also add that billing can be a bit strange - doesn't matter so much but it's a bit odd at times. Sometimes the bills are 2 months apart and sometimes only 2 weeks apart. The bills have all been 100% correct, and the DD is always taken for when and how much I choose to set it, which is all good. There's masses of detail as well - should you want to analyse it to death you can, but it's weird seeing no billls then lots of bills, then no bills for a while.

nadsat

Telegraph_Sam said:

I would like to know if any of the forum readers actually uses the Tracker tariff and has experience of using the demo graphs and data.  I am coming to the conclusion,slowly, that helpful as these things try to be, you have to take some of the figures with caution. The kWh's they are based on seem to be purely invented which obviously leads to false results,  unless one takes them - I suppose as  intended - as just for demo purposes only. It's a bit smoke & mirrors..

Well I've just had the tracker bill for Jan-Feb and the electricity wholesale price has fluctuated widely - reaching nearly 20 p/kWh (which is 30.5 p/kWh retail) on one day and then a couple of days later coming down to 6 p/kWh wholesale. Gas prices have been much more steady. 

My thinking is it may be best to switch out of the tracker during the winter and go back on in the spring as wholesale prices subside as they seem to be doing now. I was very happy with the tracker prices when I switched last year in about May but not very happy now as daily Jan-Feb combined electricity-gas cost has been about £9 but we are all of course at home running central heating and numerous appliances. 

bristolleedsfan

nadsat said:

prebu

. Gas prices have been much more steady. 

  Gas Kwh rate hit 4.30p/4.40p level in January and as I mentioned previously during the coldest period of this year January/Earlier period of February Tracker Tariff Gas kwh rate was higher than Scottish Power much maligned Standard Tariff which is around 2.99p level until April 1st, your kwh rate has now steadied to around 2.81/2.91p

You would have been better off changing to London Power at the time this was posted, If my memory serves me correct Gas kwh rate was around 2.46p fixed with E rates and SC rates very reasonable https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77941298#Comment_77941298

My region today Tracker Gas kwh rate is 3 p/kWh ( I am not on it for Gas)   NW4 - 2.91pkWh  today

nadsat

bristolleedsfan said:
You would have been better off changing to London Power at the time this was posted, If my memory serves me correct Gas kwh rate was around 2.46p fixed with E rates and SC rates very reasonable https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77941298#Comment_77941298

My region today Gas kwh rate is 3 p/kWh

Our gas tracker only reached 4p on one day in Jan and has been about 3.3p and by end Feb was 2.79p. I think we've discussed this before - it's the electricity that's my bugbear and Octopus is on the high side with its tracker. Not too concerned about gas and we also have a new condensing system boiler that's more efficient. 

[Deleted User]

nadsat said:

bristolleedsfan said:
You would have been better off changing to London Power at the time this was posted, If my memory serves me correct Gas kwh rate was around 2.46p fixed with E rates and SC rates very reasonable https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/77941298#Comment_77941298

My region today Gas kwh rate is 3 p/kWh

Our gas tracker only reached 4p on one day in Jan and has been about 3.3p and by end Feb was 2.79p. I think we've discussed this before - it's the electricity that's my bugbear and Octopus is on the high side with its tracker. Not too concerned about gas and we also have a new condensing system boiler that's more efficient. 

This explains what has been going on with electricity:

https://www.lcp.uk.com/our-viewpoint/2021/02/what-caused-january-s-record-high-electricity-prices-and-is-this-the-new-normal/?fbclid=IwAR0iKgQgrAtlI_Fye1EN3xZsaRuHWEl_3EFVNO5aWN_ZPxkKM9oPLnSF81I

nadsat

[Deleted User] said: This explains what has been going on with electricity:

https://www.lcp.uk.com/our-viewpoint/2021/02/what-caused-january-s-record-high-electricity-prices-and-is-this-the-new-normal/?fbclid=IwAR0iKgQgrAtlI_Fye1EN3xZsaRuHWEl_3EFVNO5aWN_ZPxkKM9oPLnSF81I

You've given me pause for thought given what happened in Texas, with people owing thousands of dollars for a few days spike in the wholesale price. Are we on trackers here similarly exposed? 

Telegraph_Sam

This from Octopus might contain some of the clues:
https://octopus.energy/tracker-demo-list/?headless=true

bristolleedsfan

Tracker Tariff is not capped to prevent rates rising above a certain level, taken from https://www.lcp.uk.com/our-viewpoint/2021/02/what-caused-january-s-record-high-electricity-prices-and-is-this-the-new-normal/?fbclid=IwAR0iKgQgrAtlI_Fye1EN3xZsaRuHWEl_3EFVNO5aWN_ZPxkKM9oPLnSF81I    "The GB and Texas markets are of a similar size and have similar levels of renewable penetration. But a key difference is that GB uses a Capacity Market (CM) to ensure there is enough supply to meet demand over the winter peaks, while Texas’ does not"

https://octopus.energy/blog/texas-energy-crisis/  We've adopted a one-time Bill Forgiveness Plan for all of our Texas customers. We're capping charges for any energy usage between February 13-19th at 12.20¢/kWh (the Energy Information Administration of Texas’ average price) for customers on our OctoFlex dynamic wholesale-priced tariff. (For context, wholesale rates during this week soared up to $9 / kWh, so this means forgiving millions of dollars worth of energy charges)