Octopus Tracker

Spoonie_Turtle

I'm pretty much sold on Tracker v3 but hoping prices drop back down soon before taking the leap.  The cap is lower than the Loyalty Octopus fix on offer, which itself is 40% above the SVT. 

I know we can't wait too long before they'll likely replace it with v4, but at the same time it's incredibly difficult to convince myself (and my parents - they have to be on board as it's their house) to take the leap while prices are higher than what we're currently paying.  Break-even point is when wholesale is 17.23p/kWh (give or take Octopus deciding to use a different average for the day).

Alnat1

Do you know your monthly use during the summer months?

You could work out what it will cost you on Flexi and what it would cost you at the max price on Tracker. The standing charges are the same so only need maths on the energy use. This will give you the absolute maximum extra that it could cost if you went to V3. See if this figure is acceptable, bearing in mind that Tracker over winter could be cheaper than the Oct SVT.

Alnat1

Sorry, for the above I mean for between now and the Oct price rise.

Spoonie_Turtle

Alnat1 said:

Do you know your monthly use during the summer months?

You could work out what it will cost you on Flexi and what it would cost you at the max price on Tracker. The standing charges are the same so only need maths on the energy use. This will give you the absolute maximum extra that it could cost if you went to V3. See if this figure is acceptable, bearing in mind that Tracker over winter could be cheaper than the Oct SVT.

Thanks, that's a good suggestion.  I had already intended to crunch the numbers for the offered fix to see if it might be acceptable (before realising Tracker might be feasible even without a smart meter) so I hope to give it proper attention soon.  Annoying thing is, we're all electric with annual usage of ~10,000kWh so it's all expensive anyway.

QrizB

Mstty said:

Is it now time for those.on tracker to move to SVT or ride it out to hopefully be capped at 11p and 40p?

I'm staying for the ride.

I'm currently using less than 6kWh/day of gas and 2kWh/day of electricity, so even if Tracker V3 rises to the cap it should only cost me an extra 45p/day vs. the SVT.

Alnat1

Same as QrizB. I'm using around 0.4kWh/day on electric and less than 4kWh/day on gas so it's no biggy. while it's warm and the sun keeps shining.

k_man

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I'm pretty much sold on Tracker v3 but hoping prices drop back down soon before taking the leap.  The cap is lower than the Loyalty Octopus fix on offer, which itself is 40% above the SVT. 

I know we can't wait too long before they'll likely replace it with v4, but at the same time it's incredibly difficult to convince myself (and my parents - they have to be on board as it's their house) to take the leap while prices are higher than what we're currently paying.  Break-even point is when wholesale is 17.23p/kWh (give or take Octopus deciding to use a different average for the day).

Be aware that there will no warning before the release of v4, no last chance to get V3 sale!

One day V3 will just be gone for new customers.. like V2 was.

Then you will kick yourself.

Spoonie_Turtle

k_man said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I'm pretty much sold on Tracker v3 but hoping prices drop back down soon before taking the leap.  The cap is lower than the Loyalty Octopus fix on offer, which itself is 40% above the SVT. 

I know we can't wait too long before they'll likely replace it with v4, but at the same time it's incredibly difficult to convince myself (and my parents - they have to be on board as it's their house) to take the leap while prices are higher than what we're currently paying.  Break-even point is when wholesale is 17.23p/kWh (give or take Octopus deciding to use a different average for the day).

Be aware that there will no warning before the release of v4, no last chance to get V3 sale!

One day V3 will just be gone for new customers.. like V2 was.

Then you will kick yourself.

That is an excellent point, and exactly what I'm afraid of.  I ought to at least get a cursory calculation done ASAP.  Thanks for giving me the kick to do it.

Edit:  ooooof.  Based on an average of 2020 and 2021 readings, June-October then October-April (difficult to determine what extra was lockdown and what was weather), maximum we would pay extra is 242.  The minimum we'd save, again as an average, is 284.  With potential to save more from not paying the maximum now.

Based on last year's readings, it's a clear winner. But, based on 2020 readings, we'd pay more than we save, so it seems to depend on the weather!

Using 35p/kWh before winter balances it much more in favour, I don't know how realistic that is as a potential average though.

*sigh*

Spies

Spies said:

Another expensive day tomorrow, looking like around 8.7p

Actually 7.97p in my region, why is it so hard to calculate! 

tlcgrantham

QrizB said:

Mstty said:

Is it now time for those.on tracker to move to SVT or ride it out to hopefully be capped at 11p and 40p?

I'm staying for the ride.

I'm currently using less than 6kWh/day of gas and 2kWh/day of electricity, so even if Tracker V3 rises to the cap it should only cost me an extra 45p/day vs. the SVT.

Likewise for me. I’m only using 3kwh/day of gas as when price exceeds 5.5pkw/h I can load shift some water heating to electricity. I’m on Go Faster 5hrs from 8:30pm so can do same with some heating.