Octopus Tracker

[Deleted User]

Their public perception of being an innovative supplier with new-style tariffs and suchlike is very important to them, and a big USP compared with other suppliers.

I can see them keeping on a whole host of complexity to maintain that perceived advantage.

Chrysalis

niktheguru said:

I'm not sure why people are assuming octopus will reduce the cap of tracker? Do we have any evidence to suggest this?
My feeling was they'd reduce the flexible tariff (or more accurately increase it compared to current rates, but not by as much as it was going to be before the government intervention) Its looking like gas will go to around the 10-11p/kwh mark i'm guessing.

Why would they feel obligated to reduce tracker or any fixed rates though? Surely theyd expect customers to see if they want to carry on or move to flexible with no exit fee.
The only reason i can think of for reducing the tracker rates/caps would be if they still want many people to stay on these tariffs for "data gathering" purposes.

Am i missing something that everyone isn't?

They an energy tech company and have an interest on special tariffs that utilise smart meters, this has likely been a factor why the tariffs are usually more competitive than their fixed rate tariffs.

So I wouldnt rule out the caps on the more expensive trackers been subsidised yet, we have to wait and see to see if they do it.

On the complexity it may actually help Octopus, right now they have about 4 or 5 different trackers been used by customers due to the rapidly changing market, the most complex part of tracker tariffs is the price might change on a daily basis, if the cap is lowered via subsidy its just the same as them releasing new cap rates, and will put more customers on the same cap reducing overall complexity across their customer base.  The advantage for the government is anyone who is on a fix or capped tracker below the Oct Ofgem cap will be cheaper to subsidise as they only subsidising the gap between the EPG and the tariff. e.g. if daily gas rates drop to 7p again, there is nothing to subsidise for that day at all.

Chrysalis

Gas cheaper again today.

bristolleedsfan

Chrysalis said:

Gas cheaper again today.

More expensive today  https://energy.guylipman.com/sm/gastracker

macman

Their gas price is all over the place at present, anywhere between 9p and 13p on subsequent days.

SJMALBA

Tomorrow's electricity UR is the lowest of the month so far (which isn't saying much!), and only the second time this month it has been below the v2/v3 cap; still much more expensive than current SVT, and a little above the forthcoming EPG - for me, 34.88p/kWh

Chrysalis

macman said:

Their gas price is all over the place at present, anywhere between 9p and 13p on subsequent days.

Pretty much yeah, gas market is a mess no stability at all.  Although I am not seeing high how it goes as I just check on my dashboard which caps out at 10.99p.

Griffindog

I have been on Tracker since mid June and have unfortunately paid more than SVR for most of this time. I held out, thinking that at least a 40/11p cap would benefit me in October. I’m strongly considering going back to SVR at least for electricity, but then suddenly you get a few cheaper days.

Are these cheap days based on genuine figures or are they just dangling a carrot to keep us on Tracker? I suppose that hoping for a cap reduction would be like having our cake and eating it, so I will need to make a decision soon.

(Annual usage forecast is 3,000 electricity, 20,000 gas).

MWT

Griffindog said:

Are these cheap days based on genuine figures or are they just dangling a carrot to keep us on Tracker?

The clue is in the tariff name   It is a tracker, that tracks independently available market price data so yes, the cheap days are based on genuine figures.

milo_2020

^ and gas doesnt/rarely change price at the weekend