Octopus Tracker

tomp2494

I'm going to sign up to this for both gas and electricity, then revert to the standard when the prices start going up

JohnPo

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

Spies

Do you think it will still be possible to jump on to the current Tracker after the new SVR prices are announced? Or will there be another new tracker from October going forward? 

masonic

QrizB said:

Spies said:

I can't seem to find a page with the gas prices on Marex, at least not on my phone. 

Marex don't publish it, unlike Nordpool for electric. I'm sure they'd be happy to sell you a subscription but I think it's quite expensive ...

Is it not here? https://www.marex.com/services/data-advisory/market-data/market-data-indices/
Sorry, don't have gas so not familiar with exactly which value is used, but under natural gas it is showing an all weekend index value, and already has a day ahead value for Monday.

k_man

JohnPo said:

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

The potential lose, is if Octopus raise/remove the cap, or force a change of Tracker version (not that they have yet) any fixes at around the current cap are no longer available.

Mstty

JohnPo said:

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

Not necessarily as of course other providers (not Octopus) are and have been offering some very good fixed deals around the 33-35p for elec and 9-10p for gas.

The difference with Octopus is their fixed rates are not competitive at all so if you are with them I think tracker v3 is the only viable option unless you have an EV etc.

So it's more a win/win given the options are limited.

SJMALBA

k_man said:

JohnPo said:

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

The potential lose, is if Octopus raise/remove the cap, or force a change of Tracker version (not that they have yet) any fixes at around the current cap are no longer available.

Not an expert in these things, but as far as I can see, Octopus don't seem to have been very interested in offering any fixes worth considering (IMO) in recent months, with the April fix around the currently projected October 'cap' (I think?), so you'd be paying more over the summer for little/no benefit over the winter (even with higher use over winter), when you could, if Tracker changes 'demanded it', switch to SVT?

k_man

SJMALBA said:

k_man said:

JohnPo said:

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

The potential lose, is if Octopus raise/remove the cap, or force a change of Tracker version (not that they have yet) any fixes at around the current cap are no longer available.

Not an expert in these things, but as far as I can see, Octopus don't seem to have been very interested in offering any fixes worth considering (IMO) in recent months, with the April fix around the currently projected October 'cap' (I think?), so you'd be paying more over the summer for little/no benefit over the winter (even with higher use over winter), when you could, if Tracker changes 'demanded it', switch to SVT?

I wasn't thinking just about Octopus' fixes. 

More just highlighting that the Tracker is good right now, but may mean missing out on some of the other fixes currently available, for what may be a only a few months of saving (and during lower use period).
Only time will tell of course, and isn't much different to the do I fix now vs SVT question.

So Tracker vs SVT? Can't see a downside of Tracker.

Tracker Vs current fixes (if including other providers)? 
Will tell you in year or so!

SJMALBA

k_man said:

SJMALBA said:

k_man said:

JohnPo said:

Don't think you will need to as the 11p Kwh gas cap and the 40p Kwh elec cap will probably be lower than the SVT for both Oct and Jan next year, but if the deal all falls apart then at no notice you can switch without penalty to the SVT.

So heads you win and tails you also win.

The potential lose, is if Octopus raise/remove the cap, or force a change of Tracker version (not that they have yet) any fixes at around the current cap are no longer available.

Not an expert in these things, but as far as I can see, Octopus don't seem to have been very interested in offering any fixes worth considering (IMO) in recent months, with the April fix around the currently projected October 'cap' (I think?), so you'd be paying more over the summer for little/no benefit over the winter (even with higher use over winter), when you could, if Tracker changes 'demanded it', switch to SVT?

I wasn't thinking just about Octopus' fixes. 

More just highlighting that the Tracker is good right now, but may mean missing out on some of the other fixes currently available, for what may be a only a few months of saving (and during lower use period).
Only time will tell of course, and isn't much different to the do I fix now vs SVT question.

So Tracker vs SVT? Can't see a downside of Tracker.

Tracker Vs current fixes (if including other providers)? 
Will tell you in year or so!

I was under the (mistaken?) impression that any ‘good’ fixes weren't available on the open market, only to existing customers?

tlcgrantham

Tracker can and does vary considerably from day to day. Therefore it’s unlikely to remain at or above the cap. So if for example the actual wholesale price for gas is 5pkw/h one day and 15pkw/h the next the the billing average would be 8pkw/h not 10pkw/h. This is what makes Tracker tariffs so attractive to me.