Octopus Tracker

Chrysalis

Going to look at Agile again after the formula change.  Do the maths and consider which tariff to pick as the uplift in terms of % isnt that small.

Unless the previous public formula was out of data and not accurate, they were making money on it, I expect they wanted a margin buff.  Clever as they know its still cheaper than SVR.  Free hit for them.

gt94sss2

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

In fact, I'm not sure that the information given constitutes a valid price change notification.

Even where they quote

"Changes to the formula will mean on average, daily electricity rates are generally around 2.3p/kWh higher and gas rates around 0.38 p/kWh higher"

this appears to be a national average and not specific to your region (and prices can vary dramatically between them)

Chrysalis

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

My email stated an increase of 2.3p on the unit rate for electric and 0.38p for gas.  This is a fixed increase, independent of wholesale cost.

gt94sss2

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

My email stated an increase of 2.3p on the unit rate for electric and 0.38p for gas.  This is a fixed increase, independent of wholesale cost.

It's a "national average" - not the change in your own area - hence why I think it is misleading.

Chrysalis

gt94sss2 said:

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

My email stated an increase of 2.3p on the unit rate for electric and 0.38p for gas.  This is a fixed increase, independent of wholesale cost.

It's a "national average" - not the change in your own area - hence why I think it is misleading.

Yeah they should be quoting whats relevant to the customer at hand.  Ofgem's "typical" nonsense rubbing off on everyone.

Spoonie_Turtle

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

My email stated an increase of 2.3p on the unit rate for electric and 0.38p for gas.  This is a fixed increase, independent of wholesale cost.

It's a "national average" - not the change in your own area - hence why I think it is misleading.

Yeah they should be quoting whats relevant to the customer at hand.  Ofgem's "typical" nonsense rubbing off on everyone.

I had a PDF but it only told me the standing charge, nothing about the actual formula.  EDIT: think I might have quoted the wrong post there, actually, sorry.  Can't find the one I intended to.



In terms of the 'reasonable notice' - in fairness to them i have a link twice within the e-mail to the T&Cs which themselves contain a link to the FAQs containing the formulae, and one link to their blog which contains the new formulae.

I agree it is slightly disappointing they didn't make the old and new formulae explicitly clear in the e-mail, but given that Tracker is a tariff for more … 'switched on' customers, I think someone would be hard pressed to argue a case about it.  What's reasonable for a smart tariff with which one has to engage will not be the same as for the standard, default tariff, the customers of which will include unengaged customers needing all of the information clearly presented in that main communication.

bristolleedsfan

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

Someone within Octopus Energy appears to be unaware that when Tracker became a non fixed term tariff they managed to have it qualifying for EPG discount as a variable tariff not subject to price cap as opposed variable tariff  covered by price cap.

They have always answered correctly that only Flexible tariff is subject/covered by price cap.hence Tracker tariff having a higher product cap from October 2022 version with no end date onwards.

Telegraph_Sam

Am I right - that the web site no longer has a record of past meter readings for those who do manual readings for one reason or another?

gt94sss2

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Chrysalis said:

gt94sss2 said:

Because of how Ofgem's price cap works, Tracker is becoming a 'fixed term' tariff.

Octopus mention the above in their email.

Does anyone know what it is about how the price cap operates that is causing this change now?

EDIT: I also note that they don't state the old or new pricing formula in their email/letter.. just the change in the standing charge.

While they do say you can look on their website for this information, I do find it disappointing that this key information is not included in the pdf itself.

Not what I would expect from Octopus.

My email stated an increase of 2.3p on the unit rate for electric and 0.38p for gas.  This is a fixed increase, independent of wholesale cost.

It's a "national average" - not the change in your own area - hence why I think it is misleading.

Yeah they should be quoting whats relevant to the customer at hand.  Ofgem's "typical" nonsense rubbing off on everyone.

In terms of the 'reasonable notice' - in fairness to them i have a link twice within the e-mail to the T&Cs which themselves contain a link to the FAQs containing the formulae, and one link to their blog which contains the new formulae.

I agree it is slightly disappointing they didn't make the old and new formulae explicitly clear in the e-mail, but given that Tracker is a tariff for more … 'switched on' customers, I think someone would be hard pressed to argue a case about it.  What's reasonable for a smart tariff with which one has to engage will not be the same as for the standard, default tariff, the customers of which will include unengaged customers needing all of the information clearly presented in that main communication.

I'm not personally concerned about "reasonable notice" in that we have at least two weeks notice of the change.

However, I am not sure that quoting "average" figures and expecting customers to look at an online FAQ question to get details of how the formula changes affects them is reasonable or necessarily legally compliant with how firms are expected to inform domestic customers of pricing changes - regardless of how engaged customers may or may not be (many will be unengaged even on Tracker) and across industries (not just relating to electricity prices)

PennineAcute

Since I have been on Tracker, my total usage up to and including yesterday was £192.98 inc S.C

My usage on Agile, after downloading all my hourly usage and hourly prices, would have been £222.24 inc SC

A difference of £29.26 in favour of Tracker.

In this period, I used 775.75 kWh of electricity.  My unit price has gone up 3.1p so 3.255p inc VAT

This gives me an extra £25.23.

My SC will be going up 8.16p, multiplied by 139 gives me an extra £11.34. 

So Tracker (Dec 23) over the same period would have cost me £229.65.

Leaving it £7.41 more expensive than Agile over the same period (14/9/23 - 29/1/24).

Not worth the hassle of going back onto Agile IMO, especially as I have a fishtank so heater is in use over the colder periods.