Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

[Deleted User]

masonic said:t

Telegraph_Sam said:

I cannot account for how Octopus operates. They certainly provided me with a quote which was sufficiently attractive to persuade me to sign up even if reality works out somewhat more expensive.  I am guessing that they base their forecasts on something that they can justify. If one can "trade off" certainty against good prices then that could work out attractive. Time will tell ..

They are using pricing data from 2019 for comparisons on their Agile sign up page, so best not to assume any quotes will be accurate. The Tracker demo page looks more realistic, for my region the unit price is projected to be around 14p over the next 6 months, with the best whole of market deals (fixed and variable price) coming in at around 12p, so I wouldn't want to be on the tracker myself.

Even today's price, which is unusually low at 12.5p a unit can be beaten by other suppliers normal tariffs. Meanwhile, Agile pricing for most of today is 5-10p a unit. The Tracker worked out well for people during the first lockdown, but I don't see the attraction now.

I agree. I have been on both Tracker Gas and Electricity in the past and any estimate of costs going forward is nothing more than a guess. Anyone switching to a Tracker or Agile tariff who thinks that they have been given a quote similar to that for a fixed tariff may have signed up to the wrong product. If anything, Tracker is similar to a variable tariff where the supplier provides a quote based on the cost today but both parties recognise that the supplier has the right to increase the tariff cost at anytime. 

Umiamz

masonic said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

I cannot account for how Octopus operates. They certainly provided me with a quote which was sufficiently attractive to persuade me to sign up even if reality works out somewhat more expensive.  I am guessing that they base their forecasts on something that they can justify. If one can "trade off" certainty against good prices then that could work out attractive. Time will tell ..

They are using pricing data from 2019 for comparisons on their Agile sign up page, so best not to assume any quotes will be accurate. The Tracker demo page looks more realistic, for my region the unit price is projected to be around 14p over the next 6 months, with the best whole of market deals (fixed and variable price) coming in at around 12p, so I wouldn't want to be on the tracker myself.

Even today's price, which is unusually low at 12.5p a unit can be beaten by other suppliers normal tariffs. Meanwhile, Agile pricing for most of today is 5-10p a unit. The Tracker worked out well for people during the first lockdown, but I don't see the attraction now.

Agreed. My elderly mother did well on Tracker last year but I moved her to one of the 12-month fixed tariffs back in January, before the standing charge went up.

I'm on Agile for electricity and Tracker for gas, and gas has been slightly more expensive than any of the other tariffs for around 3 months now.

Umiamz

Just received an email from Octopus about tariff options, containing the following:

If you'd like to stick with Octopus Tracker for a further 12 months, you don't need to do anything - we'll automatically extend your tariff until May 20th 2020.

bristolleedsfan

27th February I had this  - 

If you'd like to stick with Octopus Tracker for a further 12 months, you don't need to do anything - we'll automatically extend your tariff until April 13th 2021.

Today is 14 days since Smart Meter was installed, no sign of automatic readings being taken

Does anyone know why Smart Meters installed for EDF Customers, gets connected to EDF system within an hour yet Octopus say allow 14 days

masonic

bristolleedsfan said:

Today is 14 days since Smart Meter was installed, no sign of automatic readings being taken

Does anyone know why Smart Meters installed for EDF Customers, gets connected to EDF system within an hour

FWIW, my smart meter was installed recently, it took 11 days to connect and receive my MPAN, readings seem to have been available from the following day, but my online account didn't show any sign of this, so on day 14 I tried switching to Agile anyway and lo and behold it switched me immediately and I could already browse a couple of days of half-hourly reading data. It took another 2 days for the message about not receiving readings (against my previous tariff) to go away.

I would guess than some of the provisioning of a smart meter can be done in advance if the supplier knows the meter serial number that's going to be installed. Octopus use third party installers in most cases, so perhaps cannot do this.

Umiamz

I had SMETS 1 meters fitted a couple of years ago (SMETS 2 were too unreliable in my area). The electricity meter was connected in around 7 days but the gas meter took nearly 6 weeks, due to an issue at Secure.

[Deleted User]

masonic said:

bristolleedsfan said:

Today is 14 days since Smart Meter was installed, no sign of automatic readings being taken

Does anyone know why Smart Meters installed for EDF Customers, gets connected to EDF system within an hour

FWIW, my smart meter was installed recently, it took 11 days to connect and receive my MPAN, readings seem to have been available from the following day, but my online account didn't show any sign of this, so on day 14 I tried switching to Agile anyway and lo and behold it switched me immediately and I could already browse a couple of days of half-hourly reading data. It took another 2 days for the message about not receiving readings (against my previous tariff) to go away.

I would guess than some of the provisioning of a smart meter can be done in advance if the supplier knows the meter serial number that's going to be installed. Octopus use third party installers in most cases, so perhaps cannot do this.

All one supplier can have access to a smart meter and then only in a very limited way. Once the industry procedures have transferred the asset to the new supplier then the supplier has to send out security certificates to the meters to allow them to retrieve usage data. In the case of Octopus, they have also to engage with their third-party Adaptor, TMA. 

Your MPAN is linked to your property when the first meter is installed. This never changes.

Telegraph_Sam

masonic said:

They are using pricing data from 2019 for comparisons on their Agile sign up page, so best not to assume any quotes will be accurate. The Tracker demo page looks more realistic, for my region the unit price is projected to be around 14p over the next 6 months, with the best whole of market deals (fixed and variable price) coming in at around 12p, so I wouldn't want to be on the tracker myself.

Even today's price, which is unusually low at 12.5p a unit can be beaten by other suppliers normal tariffs. Meanwhile, Agile pricing for most of today is 5-10p a unit. The Tracker worked out well for people during the first lockdown, but I don't see the attraction now.

My switch confirmation to the Tracker tariff came through almost by return today. It is very close to the quotes that I was given previously - E = 13.24, G = 2.63.   Up until today these prices were lower than the market rates published on the demo for this region. . Today for once the market rates E = 11.42 have undercut what I have been quoted. This must be the nature of the beast. Are the rates applied with a 24 hour time lag?
For the past few weeks I have been "mimicking" the theoretical results of having already been on Tracker, and comparing these with the best fixed price deals available. I have excluded Agile and the tariffs that require load shifting since these are oranges not apples. I have also excluded tariffs with high exit charges. Even including the remaining most competitive fixed rate deals  - which tend to be from those suppliers with poor customer service ratings - I reckon that for me, taking gas and electric, unit and day charges, all into account - Tracker would have been on average as good as any of them. Time will tell if reality bears this out. 
I wait to see just how Octopus converts daily charges without smart meter readings into a monthly charge.
The "Beta" Tracker option is none too obvious on their web site and one wonders just how many other customers have signed up

Umiamz

Don't forget that the quote is just a guess, even if it is educated, and you can't complain if the wholesale price goes through the roof. Today was cheap for electricity but it's back to a similar price as the past few days tomorrow.

Telegraph_Sam

Accepted. That is why I was doing the historical mimicking.