Is Octopus the best?

Mazintim

I keep seeing Octopus energy advertising, and they are always rated the best.... but are they? I use both Gas and electric at home.

matelodave

Certainly not the cheapest - going with Octopus would cost me around £276 a year more than my present supplier so it depends what your priorities are

MWT

I am with Octopus and for me, it would be more expensive to move anywhere else, but I am on one of the more complex ToU tariffs which is not the best choice for everyone.

One thing I have found with them though as a general point, they have no exit fees on any tariff, and they are willing to move a current customer to any of their published tariffs at any time, so you never find yourself stuck on an old tariff while you can see people switching in on cheaper new tariffs.

Robin9

@Mazintim   Don't believe all the advertising - do your own calculations  - use comparison sites like Citizens Advice or Switch with Which?    and use separate suppliers rather than duel. 

MikeE67

MWT said:

"and they are willing to move a current customer to any of their published tariffs at any time, so you never find yourself stuck on an old tariff while you can see people switching in on cheaper new tariffs."

That's interesting. Surely that isn't the case when you are still under contract on the older (more expensive) tariff ?

I think they do allow it from your comments and if so it's a first.

I am going to be an Octopus energy customer in just over a week.

MWT

MikeE67 said:

That's interesting. Surely that isn't the case when you are still under contract on the older (more expensive) tariff ?

I think they do allow it from your comments and if so it's a first.

I am going to be an Octopus energy customer in just over a week.

There is no 'under contract' concept, you join or leave as you wish and move between tariffs if you see a better one any time you want.

The only recent limitation on that is they stopped people hopping between the more complex ToU tariffs on a day by day basis ( Go and Agile), but that is an unusual edge case.

The fixed tariffs have an expiry date of course, but you just pick a new one any time you see one cheaper than the one you are currently on.

MikeE67

MWT said:

"There is no 'under contract' concept, you join or leave as you wish and move between tariffs if you see a better one any time you want.

The fixed tariffs have an expiry date of course, but you just pick a new one any time you see one cheaper than the one you are currently on."

When I was with OVO Energy, occasionally, I was informed that I could save money by switching to a cheaper tariff (within OVO), and as an example I was informed that on average I could save £87 but by the time I had paid the 2 x £30 exit fees for leaving my contract early (unless within 49 days of the end of the contract I was on), it wasn't really worth it to save £27 !

Octopus Energy is different in this respect as you point out.

MikeE67

MWT said:

"The only recent limitation on that is they stopped people hopping between the more complex ToU tariffs on a day by day basis ( Go and Agile), but that is an unusual edge case."

I don't think I would bother with these tariffs which determine your energy price in half hourly readings as although I have a strong HAN signal, my IHD frequently displays a 'waiting for current data' error message which would affect my bill if I went on one of these tariffs (I think) ?

[Deleted User]

MikeE67 said:

MWT said:

"The only recent limitation on that is they stopped people hopping between the more complex ToU tariffs on a day by day basis ( Go and Agile), but that is an unusual edge case."

I don't think I would bother with these tariffs which determine your energy price in half hourly readings as although I have a strong HAN signal, my IHD frequently displays a 'waiting for current data' error message which would affect my bill if I went on one of these tariffs (I think) ?

No it won’t’. The IHD connects to the smart meter via a Zigbee HAN. The meter connects to the DCC via a WAN (in my case cellular). Octopus will not shift their customers onto ToU tariffs until they have checked that the meter is set up for HH metering and data is being received by the DCC. 

My IHD is presently showing ‘Gas Supply Disconnected’. My boiler is on as I post. Octopus has identified a problem and it will be changing both my meters next week. Smart meters and comms hubs have a myriad of annoying issues but Octopus is ahead of most in trying to deal with them. I used 9kWHs of electricity overnight: the total unit cost was 45p. 

MWT

MikeE67 said:

I don't think I would bother with these tariffs which determine your energy price in half hourly readings as although I have a strong HAN signal, my IHD frequently displays a 'waiting for current data' error message which would affect my bill if I went on one of these tariffs (I think) ?

As Dolor says, although having a poor IHD connection is irritating, it will have no impact on your billing.

When you go onto a tariff like 'Agile' with HH rates, the IHD loses any ability to show you the real cost of what you are using anyway as it isn't practical to update it with the new rates on a daily basis.

Talldave

Octopus are probably the best at innovation.  They actually seem to be doing interesting things with smart metering that other suppliers aren't bothering with. Personally, I think this sort of disruption is just what the market needs.