Octopus Energy reviews: Give your feedback

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

That was the tentative conclusion I was coming to: You can't compare Smart with non- Smart consumption without jumping through a lot of hoops.
That said, I wouldn't object to paying a bit more than Symbio but it would be interesting to. be able to compare  and monitor Tracker with the Go's even if it meant making some assumptions along the way. Get a feel for what incentive there would be to go smart. Is there a practical way of doing this?

Yes, assume your usage during the cheap period is zero. That way Go / Go Faster is just a single rate tariff. Work out your maximum annual cost by multiplying kWh x 0.1293 for the North East region (or whatever the cost is for your region), then add £91.25 for the standing charges and compare with the figures from the comparison sites generated from the same annual usage. In reality some of your usage will fall in the cheap period, so you'll pay less than estimated, but the tariff should be competitive even without factoring in the cheap rate.

If you are more of a night owl, then the evening Go Faster options may suit you.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

That was the tentative conclusion I was coming to: You can't compare Smart with non- Smart consumption without jumping through a lot of hoops.
That said, I wouldn't object to paying a bit more than Symbio but it would be interesting to. be able to compare  and monitor Tracker with the Go's even if it meant making some assumptions along the way. Get a feel for what incentive there would be to go smart. Is there a practical way of doing this?

The only hoop you really need to jump is to have a smart meter.
if you wanted an accurate picture then just take meter readings first thing in morning and last thing at night every night for a week. That way you’d be able to roughly work out what usage you’d have in peak and off peak hours and can then extrapolate and compare against other tariffs.

another poster said the beis had commissioned for a comparison tool that would allow comparisons between tou tariffs in the search engines, but I’d guess that would be for people who can upload their smart meter date to be able to do that.

Telegraph_Sam

There are a number of Go Faster 2019 "current" tariffs listed - briefly - within "All Our Tariffs". Is this the best source for making guesstimates from? I couldn't see any reference to Go's. I have a feeling that there must be a more detailed source somewhere. But 12.93 p with no strings does have its attraction for us in the North East.

Telegraph_Sam

niktheguru said:

The only hoop you really need to jump is to have a smart meter.

The other hoop is making sense of

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-go-tariff/
 and 
https://www.energy-stats.uk/dashboards/

Not for the faint hearted.

masonic

Telegraph_Sam said:

niktheguru said:

The only hoop you really need to jump is to have a smart meter.

The other hoop is making sense of

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-go-tariff/
 and 
https://www.energy-stats.uk/dashboards/

Not for the faint hearted.

There's a lot of information on the dashboard, but it's quite easy to use. Go to this page: https://dashboards.energy-stats.uk/d/y9iWNjZMz/user-dashboard?orgId=1&var-area_name=North_Eastern_England

Then scroll down to the Agile vs Go data or Go Faster tariff data and click on one of the tariffs in the legend to see the pricing graph for just that tariff.

Go and Go Faster tariffs are less complex than the Tracker - they do exactly the same thing every day and there you'll only pay one of two prices depending on what time of day it is. You also have certainty of pricing for a year from the date you switch, unlike the Tracker where you only have a few hours notice of what you will be charged the following day.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

niktheguru said:

The only hoop you really need to jump is to have a smart meter.

The other hoop is making sense of

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-go-tariff/
 and 
https://www.energy-stats.uk/dashboards/

Not for the faint hearted.

Not really, I’ve already explained how it works to you many pages ago.
if you are not a night time user and you aren’t interested in adapting your energy usage the best tariff is likely to be the go faster tariff with 5hrs off peak starting at 8.30pm at 5.5p/kWh (or 4hrs at 5p/kWh starting at 8.30pm). That way you have a low rate in the evening and the rest of the time the rate at 12-14p depending on where you live is still more competitive than most other fixed/variable rates. It really is a no brainer at the moment. If tracker becomes cheaper at any point you could always move back to that with no exit fee.

the only stumbling block you have is your apprehension of getting a smart meter.

it really is no more complicated than that.

[Deleted User]

Consumers need to accept that as more and more wholesale price-based or time-of-use tariffs are rolled out,  the present system of a supplier or a PCW providing a quote for the annual cost for a given amount of energy will no longer apply. Smart meters offer a way for consumers to apply their historic pattern of daily usage to all the tariffs that are on offer from which ESTIMATES rather than quotes will be offered. It will then be up to the individual consumers to calculate how much can be saved by demand shifting. Personally, I doubt that tariffs like Agile or Tracker will have widespread appeal as they require - in the case of Agile - almost daily consumer scrutiny. Time-of-use tariffs that offer peak; mid peak and offpeak rates will become the norm as is the case in many other countries. Consumers who opt for smart meters now - on 30 minute usage monitoring - will have a bigger database of usage to use for future tariff comparisons. The new PCW tools are already being developed by BEIS and others.

milgo

1st time for me to look at energy plans other than 12 months fixed due to the increase seen in rates over the past 12 months since taking out my current plan in July 2020 with Avro dual fuel, The Octopus discussions have piqued my interest.  As @niktheguru has kindly explained, currently, Octopus Go Faster is a competitive tariff rate-wise even without taking into consideration the reduced cost timeslots.  Does Octopus offer something similar to Go/Go Faster but for gas?  If not would it be a case of switching my electricity to an Octopus fixed electric tariff then asking to be switched to Go or Go Faster and switching the gas to another provider

I'm based in the southeast SL4 postcode. My current annual energy usage is circa 21k for gas and 4k for electricity.

Thanks

Gerry1

milgo said:

Does Octopus offer something similar to Go/Go Faster but for gas?

No-one will offer a Time of Use tariff for gas. It's not possible to store electricity in network sized amounts: it has to be generated at the time it is used. Fluctuating demand is a problem, which is why penalties / incentives are use to even out demand.

However, gas can be stored so there's no reason to vary the price at different times.

bristolleedsfan

milgo said:

1st time for me to look at energy plans other than 12 months fixed due to the increase seen in rates over the past 12 months since taking out my current plan in July 2020 with Avro dual fuel, The Octopus discussions have piqued my interest.  As @niktheguru has kindly explained, currently, Octopus Go Faster is a competitive tariff rate-wise even without taking into consideration the reduced cost timeslots.  Does Octopus offer something similar to Go/Go Faster but for gas?  If not would it be a case of switching my electricity to an Octopus fixed electric tariff then asking to be switched to Go or Go Faster and switching the gas to another provider

I'm based in the southeast SL4 postcode. My current annual energy usage is circa 21k for gas and 4k for electricity.

Thanks

You would go onto either flexible variable, tracker tariff or 12 month fixed tariff until they connect to your E smart meter, when Electricity go over to Go Tariff, Gas can be on either of those tariffs or you can choose seperate supplier for Gas -

Tracker tariff has been expensive for gas since turn of the year albeit lower standing charge which might be useful during summer months. 3.73 p/kWh yesterday and today, my region