Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

niktheguru

To be honest I’m trialling it whilst waiting to go on octopus go, as their fixed and variable rates are not that great in my area so it’s worth a shot to see what tracker is like.

Telegraph_Sam

Which begs the question - what are the alternatives?  I rule out the "community" deals with the likes of Shell with their £60 exit fee. Avro sounds like a lot of admin hassle. Outfox perhaps though you don't hear much about them.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Which begs the question - what are the alternatives?  I rule out the "community" deals with the likes of Shell with their £60 exit fee. Avro sounds like a lot of admin hassle. Outfox perhaps though you don't hear much about them.

The alternatives are to go on the comparison sites and go for the cheapest deals. These will undoubtedly be more expensive than the current cheap fix you are on, but will be cheaper than whats currently available on octopus, especially if you don't have an EV or battery storage. (For me doing electricity with symbio would be 0.9p/kwh cheaper and gas with PFP or Zog would be 0.3p/kwh cheaper) If you "don't want exit fees", "don't want to go with other companies where you dont know the customer service levels" then the alternative is to pay the slightly higher fees somewhere where you are happier in a fix without an exit fee such as octopus where you can then move whenever if a cheaper deal comes about.
If you're trying to find cheaper than what you're on at the moment, its simply not going to happen right now.

Telegraph_Sam

Far be it from me to disagree but if what I see is correct -  Octopus Tracker electrical kWh @ 10.64 p - then that is going to prove pretty irresistible. Am I missing something?

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Far be it from me to disagree but if what I see is correct -  Octopus Tracker electrical kWh @ 10.64 p - then that is going to prove pretty irresistible. Am I missing something?

Today was a very cheap day. It was also seen on Agile where the price was around 1p for a significant part of the day and averaged <5p from midnight until 4 pm. Tomorrow will not be so cheap, although still looks well below the recent average. That's how tariffs that track wholesale prices are supposed to work. There will be expensive times as well, see January for example.

Umiamz

Telegraph_Sam said:

Far be it from me to disagree but if what I see is correct -  Octopus Tracker electrical kWh @ 10.64 p - then that is going to prove pretty irresistible. Am I missing something?

That's just for today, though, and the wholesale price is 63% higher tomorrow. If you don't have smart meters your usage will be estimated, so you won't be able to take advantage of a cheap day like today (although it will reduce the average cost over the month, of course).

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

Far be it from me to disagree but if what I see is correct -  Octopus Tracker electrical kWh @ 10.64 p - then that is going to prove pretty irresistible. Am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing the fact that there has been a lot of wind today and wind turbines have been turning. Octopus Agile customers have seen near 0p/kWh prices during the day. Agile rates in the early hours of tomorrow are also low.

Looking at Tracker for my region today, the unit price was 11.623p. Yesterday, it was 14.133p and on the 19th it was 16.98p. If you are really considering the Tracker or Agile tariffs, then you need to treat them as you would a Stock Market investment: that is, take a long term view and don't get too excited about bumps and holes in the road.

Telegraph_Sam

Umiamz said:

That's just for today, though, and the wholesale price is 63% higher tomorrow. If you don't have smart meters your usage will be estimated, so you won't be able to take advantage of a cheap day like today (although it will reduce the average cost over the month, of course).

I don't quite follow that, not being a smart meter person myself. If I was, is the idea that I switch all the cookers and tumble dryers on full blast when it's windy [lol]?
As a matter of interest what were the Agile daytime / non off-peak rates for comparison over the period in question?

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

Umiamz said:

That's just for today, though, and the wholesale price is 63% higher tomorrow. If you don't have smart meters your usage will be estimated, so you won't be able to take advantage of a cheap day like today (although it will reduce the average cost over the month, of course).

I don't quite follow that, not being a smart meter person myself. If I was, is the idea that I switch all the cookers and tumble dryers on full blast when it's windy [lol]?
As a matter of interest what were the Agile daytime / non off-peak rates for comparison over the period in question?

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile/

Choose your region from the drop-down menu (or scroll down for a table of regions).

The idea of time of use tariffs is that they encourage people to shift their energy use to times when there is plenty of supply and away from peak usage times. Even normal use will tend to work out cheaper than Octopus' other tariffs for many people.

[Deleted User]

Telegraph_Sam said:

Umiamz said:

That's just for today, though, and the wholesale price is 63% higher tomorrow. If you don't have smart meters your usage will be estimated, so you won't be able to take advantage of a cheap day like today (although it will reduce the average cost over the month, of course).

I don't quite follow that, not being a smart meter person myself. If I was, is the idea that I switch all the cookers and tumble dryers on full blast when it's windy [lol]?
As a matter of interest what were the Agile daytime / non off-peak rates for comparison over the period in question?

Here is a snapshot of some of the prices. The highest peak price was at 6pm at 27.32p/kWh.