Switching - which of these companies would you choose?

matelodave

All they could do is try and average out the consumption and the prices over the billing or even reading periods so you'd need to be very diligent about sending in regular readings and checking their pricing but I really cant see that they'd offer a tracker without insisting on a smart meter.

For those who want to know about how the Octopus TOU pricing works, there's someone who's put a lot of effort into extracting data from the Octpus Agile & Go tariffs, you can download the historical  data for your region from this site - https://www.energy-stats.uk/download-historical-pricing-data/ It seems you could save quite a bit of money but you have to really change your consumption profile to get maximum benefit. However that said, A simple average of the pricing since it started shows an average price per/kwh of just under 12p which is what I'm paying with Symbio without all the faffing around 

Whats lacking and I cant find it anywhere is daily data for Octopus's tracking tariff to see how it compares

brewerdave

matelodave said:

All they could do is try and average out the consumption and the prices over the billing or even reading periods so you'd need to be very diligent about sending in regular readings and checking their pricing but I really cant see that they'd offer a tracker without insisting on a smart meter.

I agree - otherwise the customer could carry on using power as before. 

MWT

matelodave said:

... but I really cant see that they'd offer a tracker without insisting on a smart meter.

... yet they do and have done since the beginning of that tariff.

As for the Agile tariff, the degree to which you have to "really change your consumption profile" depends a lot on what that profile is before you change.

For us, we made no changes to our usage profile at all, but we immediately saw a 25% drop in our costs.

Since being on Agile we've made a few small adjustments, mostly just being more conscious of avoiding the 4-7pm period for optional use like washing/drying and not baking during that time and we now regularly save around 40% against the 'Go' tariff.

We still cook in the 4-7pm period as we have not moved our normal meal time from 7pm so really nothing dramatic at all.

We could probably squeeze out a bit more of a saving by moving our meal time to 7:30pm for example, but that really is about it.

So we've saved a lot with almost no changes, but so much depends on where you start from...

bristolleedsfan

nadsat said:

Those rates from bristolleedsfan are obviously terrific but have they said what company it is? 

I'm puzzled about how the Octopus tracker works - we don't have a smart meter so how do they calculate the cost as the tariffs change. 

We are in London N1 which might explain why rates are on the higher side. We always seem to pay more in central London for most things. 

I put a random N1 postcode, tracker rates shown are : ( Standing charges are the same as you quoted, looks to me as if Gas kwh rate that you quoted a few pages back was misquoted or maybe you were given a historical average for illustration purposes, Electricity kwh rate will vary in line with rate that you posted a few pages back)

Octopus Tracker v1

Electricity
Unit rate:	7.54 p/kWh
Standing charge:	17.87 p/day

Gas
Unit rate:	1.65 p/kWh
Standing charge:	15.09 p/day

I give meter readings every day, if meter readings are given monthly they average out the daily tracker rates.  "The more readings you give us, the more accurate the daily apportionment of your consumption will be"

Whilst people can go on tracker tariff without a smart meter a condition of going on tracker tariff  " I understand this tariff requires the submission of monthly meter readings, and may require the future installation of a smart meter. I understand Octopus Energy reserve the right to switch me to another tariff if I am unable or unwilling to comply with this requirement."

Just for info https://mylondonpower.com/ operated/powered by Octopus Energy, very competitive rates for London

nadsat

bristolleedsfan said:

I put a random N1 postcode, tracker rates shown are : 

I give meter readings every day,

So are you on Octopus? Those Octopus rates you've checked are amazing and I'll have to follow up with them to see what exactly they have switched us to as the online account is still showing the old flexible tariffs, but the online document trail shows it's been switched. 

What time of day do you submit the readings. No problem for me to do it although we have an old dial electricity meter which is a bit of a pain to access and read. 

bristolleedsfan

nadsat said:

bristolleedsfan said:

I put a random N1 postcode, tracker rates shown are : 

I give meter readings every day,

So are you on Octopus? Those Octopus rates you've checked are amazing and I'll have to follow up with them to wee what exactly they have switched us to as the online account is still showing the old flexible tariffs, but the online document trail shows it's been switched. 

What time of day do you submit the readings. No problem for me to do it although we have an old dial electricity meter which is a bit of a pain to access and read. 

Yes I am on Octopus Tracker, makes no difference what time submit readings as relates to day before. e.g when I submitted a reading this morning the reading automatically covered the period up until the end of yesterday, no need to submit them every day if inconvenient to do so, is easy for me to do so.

"The more readings you give us, the more accurate the daily apportionment of your consumption will be"

nadsat

bristolleedsfan said:

Yes I am on Octopus Tracker, makes no difference what time submit readings as relates to day before. e.g when I submitted a reading this morning the reading automatically covered the period up until the end of yesterday, no need to submit them every day if inconvenient to do so, is easy for me to do so.

"The more readings you give us, the more accurate the daily apportionment of your consumption will be"

Thanks. The message on our account says:

Reference	SILVER-2017-1
Starts from	12:00 AM, 23rd May 2020

Says it is Octopus Tracker and cites the rates I gave earlier. There's no update to the account details yet.

bristolleedsfan

nadsat said:

bristolleedsfan said:

Yes I am on Octopus Tracker, makes no difference what time submit readings as relates to day before. e.g when I submitted a reading this morning the reading automatically covered the period up until the end of yesterday, no need to submit them every day if inconvenient to do so, is easy for me to do so.

"The more readings you give us, the more accurate the daily apportionment of your consumption will be"

Thanks. The message on our account says:

Reference	SILVER-2017-1
Starts from	12:00 AM, 23rd May 2020

Says it is Octopus Tracker and cites the rates I gave earlier. There's no update to the account details yet.

Just checked Random N1 postcode again, Tracker rates listed within All Tariffs have now been updated, these are todays rates for your Region ( checked mine and match dashboard rates)

Octopus Tracker v1

Current tariff

Electricity
Unit rate:	9.94 p/kWh
Standing charge:	17.87 p/day

Gas
Unit rate:	1.65 p/kWh
Standing charge:	15.09 p/day

Smodlet

These unit rates look like fiction to me.  I have tried every filter in the CEC and cannot get anything better than those I already have from a Big 6 supplier on a fixed tariff.  It does not matter if I get rid of the WHD, accept variable tariffs, go for separate suppliers; nothing makes any difference.   Must be a London thing, or something.

MWT

Smodlet said:

These unit rates look like fiction to me.  I have tried every filter in the CEC and cannot get anything better than those I already have from a Big 6 supplier on a fixed tariff.  It does not matter if I get rid of the WHD, accept variable tariffs, go for separate suppliers; nothing makes any difference.   Must be a London thing, or something.

Not everything can be found through the CEC...

Go have a look for yourself... https://octopus.energy/tariffs/

Ignore the 'quote' option and just enter your postcode at the bottom of the page then scroll down a bit to get to the Tracker tariff.

This isn't one you can switch to, but once you are with Octopus you can ask to be moved to it... Doesn't even require a smart meter for Tracker, but I would say it is better if you do have one.