Electric meter faulty - energy supplier wants to fit smart meters

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Dolor said:
You can see the prices by region on this website:

https://www.guylipman.com/octopus/formulas.html

Did I read somewhere that with these tariffs there is a (universal) daily charge of 25 p not shown on the rates table?

Yes that’s just the usual daily standing charge and not an extra charge.

Also the quote for the standard go tariff is easily available on the octopus website. Do a standard quote, then when it presents u with the fixed, variable quotes there’s a button for “innovative tariffs”. There you’ll see the go tariff information page. There you can reinput your postcode and it gives your local go rates.

Be aware that if you don’t have a smart meter you will have to go on a standard tariff until they fit you with one, the standard rate is higher than the peak rate on octopus go. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a smart meter straight away. So may be stuck on a higher tariff for a few months. Saying that it’ll prob be offset by the 50quid referral fee you’ll get for signing up. So really you can’t lose.

im prob gonna go that route when my symbio fixed deal ends in a couple of months. But then it’s a no brainier for me as I have an EV to charge.

Telegraph_Sam

Tks for the clarification.  I had resigned myself to the need to get a Smart Meter to access these tariffs  and this would be one factor that would put me off (though not so much with Octopus who seem to be relatively au fait with the technology). I would not want to switch until my current favourable fixed tariff ends early April (no referral reward?). 
I could see no reference to the Go Faster tariffs alongside the  others on the Octopus website
Funnily enough for me the attraction would be not the 5 p off peak rate but the 12.93 p peak rate for this area which compares well with fixed tariff rates (assuming that Go is the same as Go Faster).

niktheguru

Prob no point looking now then if you aren't going to switch till end April. Go faster is a beta tariff so you need to contact them directly to see if you can move into it and if they have space. Have you emailed/spoken to them yet. Also bear in mind all the go tariffs are variable, so prices can change at any point.

The referral offers seem to be on most of the time. Usually 50 quid for referrer and referee each. Look at the referring board and you'll find loads of people begging to share their code!

ASavvyBuyer

niktheguru said:

 Also bear in mind all the go tariffs are variable, so prices can change at any point.

Although they could change before you sign up, once you are on the Octopus Go or one of the Go Faster tariffs, they are fixed at that price for at least a year.

bristolleedsfan

niktheguru said:

Prob no point looking now then if you aren't going to switch till end April. Go faster is a beta tariff so you need to contact them directly to see if you can move into it and if they have space. Have you emailed/spoken to them yet. Also bear in mind all the go tariffs are variable, so prices can change at any point.

The referral offers seem to be on most of the time. Usually 50 quid for referrer and referee each. Look at the referring board and you'll find loads of people begging to share their code!

Person that you have replied to posted his Octopus referral link on referral board nearly a month ago

niktheguru

ASavvyBuyer said:

niktheguru said:

 Also bear in mind all the go tariffs are variable, so prices can change at any point.

Although they could change before you sign up, once you are on the Octopus Go or one of the Go Faster tariffs, they are fixed at that price for at least a year.

Ah that’s good to know. I was under the impression it was variable rate. Thanks.

[Deleted User]

It is worth making the point that Octopus offers all its Time of Use tariffs as beta products. These tariffs require HH usage data for billing purposes rather than meter readings. Agile/Go/Go Faster are all single register metered which makes it easier if you decide to switch back to a fixed tariff. Sadly, if Octopus fails to recover just one of the 48 HH usage data periods in any given day then this can result in a billing failure. Smart meters retain import data for 13 months and export data for 3 months and, Octopus through its Adaptor provider TMA/CGI, can issue a request to retrieve any meter data that is missing. It follows that Time of Use tariffs are not ‘switch and forget’: it is necessary from time to time to give the smart team at Octopus a nudge to initiate data retrieval.

Telegraph_Sam

[Deleted User] said:
It follows that Time of Use tariffs are not ‘switch and forget’: it is necessary from time to time to give the smart team at Octopus a nudge to initiate data retrieval.

Hmmm. As someone who has yet to be convinced of the benefits of Smart Meters what you say does little to stoke up my enthusiasm. All the more so when combined with ToU tariffs and something fails.

niktheguru

Telegraph_Sam said:

Dolor said:
It follows that Time of Use tariffs are not ‘switch and forget’: it is necessary from time to time to give the smart team at Octopus a nudge to initiate data retrieval.

Hmmm. As someone who has yet to be convinced of the benefits of Smart Meters what you say does little to stoke up my enthusiasm. All the more so when combined with ToU tariffs and something fails.

Given this, it’s prob best for you to just stay on the cheapest fixed tariff you can find rather than use one of these tariffs, as you seem to be too on the fence trying to convince yourself if it may benefit.

if you prefer not to worry about energy usage and know you are paying a certain amount at any given time, especially as you don’t have an EV, these tariffs sound like they’re too much hassle for you. (From what you’ve been saying)

Telegraph_Sam

That's my present thinking whilst keeping an open mind on the topic