Octopus Tracker

pete-20-11

Spies said:

pete-20-11 said:

I'm a little worried about gas prices now, especially after recommending the tariff to a friend. 

Will have to keep the fingers crossed it stays under 7p until the need for heating has gone. 🤣

It's back to to 4p tomorrow from 4.2p so what's the worry? 

Yeah, much happier when I saw todays alert. 😀

QrizB

pete-20-11 said:

I'm a little worried about gas prices now, especially after recommending the tariff to a friend.
Will have to keep the fingers crossed it stays under 7p until the need for heating has gone. 🤣

I used nigh-on 1000kWh of gas in February, and (including standing charge) it cost me less than £50. I can't really complain

Telegraph_Sam

There's a solitary post from me, that seems to have vanished, asking if anyone with experience of both can explain the differences between Home Mini and Compare - and any other similar apps worth consideration

BootsMullery

Telegraph_Sam said:

There's a solitary post from me, that seems to have vanished, asking if anyone with experience of both can explain the differences between Home Mini and Compare - and any other similar apps worth consideration

Octopus Compare is an App that can compare the costs of any two Octopus tariffs for electricity. It seems to be able to be used with any current Octopus tariffs but only shows two at any one time. eg you can compare Tracker December 2023 v1 with Flexible April 2023 and then compare Agile December 2023 v1 with Flexible April 2023. It can't compare three tariffs all at the same time.
It can show you Yesterdays usage on a half hourly basis, the last weeks usage on a daily basis and the last months usage on a daily basis. If you want to go further, you can subscribe and will give the last years details (if available).

The Octopus mini is like an IHD without a display attached. It connects to the meters by bluetooth and also connects to the Octopus App via the Internet. It provides usage detail better than an IHD
You can find out about the mini at https://octopus.energy/octopus-home-mini-faq/. Effectively, it turns a smart phone into an IHD but it's supposed to be better than the rubbish IHDs.
I certainly use it's info from the app whereas I never bothered with the IHD. I have the App downloaded on my Chromebook.

Telegraph_Sam

Thanks, it looks like Compare is the one to go for if I don't have any particular moans with my IHD. I wouldn't put much faith in my mobile as a replacement for the latter

Spoonie_Turtle

The Mini means I can see live usage wherever I am.  Given that I'm not well enough to walk around the house at will and certainly not do the stairs very often, being able to see live usage without needing to be in the kitchen you'd think would be brilliant.  And it has been useful, but generally other than curiosity the utility of that information is fairly limited.  

The most useful thing about the Mini for me is being able to see the current day's usage in the app without needing to wait for the daily pull from the meter by Octopus, really.

Telegraph_Sam

Tks. Which I take to mean that if I can live with the "delay" associated with the IHD. I needn't bother to open the HM parcel.
Most forecasts I've heard recently are for energy prices to fall in the Spring. This should (?) benefit Agile over Tracker. Is there a what-if way of simulating this? In Compare or whatever? There was a "simple" excel graph in a post some time back now that addressed this question (as I recall)

Spoonie_Turtle

Telegraph_Sam said:

Tks. Which I take to mean that if I can live with the "delay" associated with the IHD. I needn't bother to open the HM parcel.

Is that an idiom or do you mean you actually have one and don't know whether it's worth setting up? 
If the latter then I'd ask Octopus about sending it back so they can send it to someone who does want it.

Telegraph_Sam

I should have added ".. when it arrives .."

BootsMullery

Telegraph_Sam said:

Tks. Which I take to mean that if I can live with the "delay" associated with the IHD. I needn't bother to open the HM parcel.
Most forecasts I've heard recently are for energy prices to fall in the Spring. This should (?) benefit Agile over Tracker. Is there a what-if way of simulating this? In Compare or whatever? There was a "simple" excel graph in a post some time back now that addressed this question (as I recall)

It wouldn't hurt to set up the mini and try it for a few days and then decide which one you prefer.