Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

Telegraph_Sam

" Even normal use will tend to work out cheaper than Octopus' other tariffs for many people"
That was and is the key point of interest, comparing Agile with Tracker. The early morning prices are irrelevant for me

[Deleted User]

Daytime prices on the same day:

Telegraph_Sam

Interesting. I take it that these are the retail not the wholesale elec prices inc VAT??   Is there not a peak 4 - 7 pm?

[Deleted User]

Here goes. They are the unit prices including VAT for my DNO Region.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

" Even normal use will tend to work out cheaper than Octopus' other tariffs for many people"
That was and is the key point of interest, comparing Agile with Tracker. The early morning prices are irrelevant for me

If you have high usage between 4-7pm that you can't or don't want to shift then you'd be better off on the tracker. From my own comparisons, Agile is the cheaper option for me as <5% of my usage is between 4-7 pm, typically a lot less than 5%.

Telegraph_Sam

That has confirmed my suspicions but saved me a lot of digging to prove the point tks

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

That has confirmed my suspicions but saved me a lot of digging to prove the point tks

Theres not much digging required. Guy lipmans website has all the figures. Its very easy to see that if you use a lot of energy between 4-7pm then agile is not for you. Tracker seems a decent alternative, but if you don't have a smart meter the rates are averaged out over the month for your consumption (as they don't know how much you use on each day so use an average figure based on monthly meter reads) If you want certainty of what the price will be then the fixed/variable option is best.

Telegraph_Sam

I agree that Tracker seems the best option in the circumstances you describe though I have used the figures in the Tracker "demos" rather than Guy Lipman's tables. The averaging mathematics they use must obviously make things a little less straightforward but if what comes out at the end is a competitive deal then so be it.

[Deleted User]

BEIS has recently commissioned a trial ToU price comparison tool that allows smart meter consumers - who agree to allow the use of their actual historical 30 minute data - to compare standard and ToU electricity tariffs. It also has the ability for a consumer to see what effect a little bit of demand shifting can have on tariff choice. No doubt PCWs are working on similar tools: however, as I understand the rules, PCWs will only be granted data access - with consumer approval - if they are properly accredited/ secure DCC Users. Clearly, the Meerkats have a lot of studying to do!

As said above, these tools do require profiled actual usage data not just kWhs/year: hence the need for a smart meter set to 30 minute usage.

Telegraph_Sam

I reckon that the ToU comparison tool will be irrelevant to me as long as I resist going Smart. On the other hand I did have an interesting conversation yesterday with the gent in charge of Octopus pricing would you believe. There are still some beta bugs to be sorted out with Tracker but they are working on them. I think I will have to get used to thinking in terms of monthly averages rather than daily rates as pointed out in the last but 2 posts above. That said I believe that the projected results are as good as / better than anything else on the market at present  (excluding Go / Go Faster / Agile)
Are the daily standing charges not included in Guy Lipman's tables?