Octopus Tracker

masonic

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

Griffindog

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

In that case they should have put me on December 23 tariff with compensation as they did with others. 

masonic

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

In that case they should have put me on December 23 tariff with compensation as they did with others. 

Octopus let itself be pressured by some customers into giving those customers what they asked for. Those customers have made their bed, some happy with what they chose, some not. All are financially better off than the majority who weren't given a special deal and went along with recommended course of action, which was to be moved to the Dec 23 tariff without compensation.

I would have done things very differently if I were in charge. Step 1, send out a notice of variation under the T&Cs bringing all versions of Tracker into alignment on price. Step 2, communicate an update to the T&Cs to add a clause protecting customers from further changes for a period of 1 year by reintroducing fixed terms. If customers already have a fixed term, they have the choice of extending it to 1 year to lock in the most pricing for a full year, or take their chances with an earlier renewal at their existing end date.

Griffindog

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

In that case they should have put me on December 23 tariff with compensation as they did with others. 

Octopus let itself be pressured by some customers into giving those customers what they asked for. Those customers have made their bed, some happy with what they chose, some not. All are financially better off than the majority who weren't given a special deal and went along with recommended course of action, which was to be moved to the Dec 23 tariff without compensation.

I would have done things very differently if I were in charge. Step 1, send out a notice of variation under the T&Cs bringing all versions of Tracker into alignment on price. Step 2, communicate an update to the T&Cs to add a clause protecting customers from further changes for a period of 1 year by reintroducing fixed terms. If customers already have a fixed term, they have the choice of extending it to 1 year to lock in the most pricing for a full year, or take their chances with an earlier renewal at their existing end date.

If they had changed the terms I would have accepted December 23 as there would have been nothing to gain from sticking on the old tariff and I would have accepted the increase. They messed up, firstly by giving some people on Nov 22 fixed terms, secondly by not changing the terms (as they could have done) and thirdly not having a consistent plan for those affected. 

masonic

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

In that case they should have put me on December 23 tariff with compensation as they did with others. 

Octopus let itself be pressured by some customers into giving those customers what they asked for. Those customers have made their bed, some happy with what they chose, some not. All are financially better off than the majority who weren't given a special deal and went along with recommended course of action, which was to be moved to the Dec 23 tariff without compensation.

I would have done things very differently if I were in charge. Step 1, send out a notice of variation under the T&Cs bringing all versions of Tracker into alignment on price. Step 2, communicate an update to the T&Cs to add a clause protecting customers from further changes for a period of 1 year by reintroducing fixed terms. If customers already have a fixed term, they have the choice of extending it to 1 year to lock in the most pricing for a full year, or take their chances with an earlier renewal at their existing end date.

If they had changed the terms I would have accepted December 23 as there would have been nothing to gain from sticking on the old tariff and I would have accepted the increase. They messed up, firstly by giving some people on Nov 22 fixed terms, secondly by not changing the terms (as they could have done) and thirdly not having a consistent plan for those affected. 

Exactly. They need to learn to be more savvy about such things. Recent changes to the T&Cs suggest they are slowly learning.

Bendo

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

@stripling I found that my emails were not being responded to in February, we were going round in circles - when asked why they had taken me off a fixed period they said it was “because everyone needs to be on a fixed period” but I already was, just a different date and different tariff to the ones they were trying to impose. I asked for the issue to be escalated to a complaint and it was resolved within hours. I am now two months without a bill because they “are not able to get [my] electricity figures”. The readings are coming through fine on the app so I can only imagine that the daily rates for Nov 22 are not available (I can’t find them either). This will be escalated to a complaint next week if no bill appears.

The daily rates are still available at Octopus and multiple third party sources have them, as was pointed out when you last mentioned this. The billing issue will be unrelated to the availability of tariff information. It may be related to whatever jiggery-pokery they had to do to prevent you being rolled onto the current tariff with everyone else in the same cohort. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem rights itself when your current contract expires.

I have no doubt that it will all be fixed when I go on a new tariff but the daily rates should be available. They aren’t on the Octopus app or website, nor are they on My Smart Energy which is where Octopus told me to look. The most recent price I can see on there is Thursday. I get the Dec 23 rates emailed by Gas Tracker daily so I have a rough idea what I will be paying but Octopus really should be providing the correct information.

I'm not actually sure that Octopus warrant to make available pricing for defunct tariffs, so would not be reasonable to expect it to be available through your online account when you come off-piste like you have. The other issue is that the precise tariff you were on never existed, as there was no Nov 22 fixed tariff, only flex. The coverage on My Smart Energy does seem a bit patchy, so they are perhaps doing something manual behind the scenes for Nov 22. Gas is up to date but elec is a day or two behind. But Jul 22 is up to date and uses the same formula as Dec 22.

This is all a side effect of insisting to remain on a tariff that doesn't exist, tied to one Octopus created to exploit a Government support loophole, which apparently Ofgem took exception to and made them shut down. The daily unit rate can be calculated easily enough from the published wholesale rate if you are so inclined. So, the question is are the savings you are currently enjoying worth putting up with the inconvenience of going to a different website or plugging a wholesale rate into Excel compared with allowing yourself to be moved with everyone else to Dec23 and a continuation of normal service? If so, then going straight to the source for the wholesale price is what I'd do. You'll then have tomorrow's price a little after 10am the previous day, which is quicker than any other source of the data. They'll have to bill you eventually, but as this is likely to be a manual process it makes sense to do so once at the end rather than monthly. They will have already expended effort on the dialogue around the switch, followed by money through relenting and letting you remain on the defunct tariff, so they'll no doubt be trying to limit any further expenditure of resources.

In that case they should have put me on December 23 tariff with compensation as they did with others. 

Alternatively they shouldn't have paid anyone any compensation as it was perfectly clear in their terms they they could chop and change the tariff as they wished.

Qyburn

From what I read and what was posted here, Octopus said that all customers would be moved to the new tariff.

Griffindog

Qyburn said:

From what I read and what was posted here, Octopus said that all customers would be moved to the new tariff.

I believe they did, with the reasoning that they had to put people on a fixed term. A number of us were already on fixed terms on earlier tariffs so they had to acknowledge the exiting fixed end date and deal with it one way or another. People either retained that date or changed to a new tariff and got compensation.

masonic

Griffindog said:

Qyburn said:

From what I read and what was posted here, Octopus said that all customers would be moved to the new tariff.

I believe they did, with the reasoning that they had to put people on a fixed term. A number of us were already on fixed terms on earlier tariffs so they had to acknowledge the exiting fixed end date and deal with it one way or another. People either retained that date or changed to a new tariff and got compensation.

No, compensation was only paid out in a few isolated incidences, and it was not all about whether a fixed end date was mistakenly included on their account, it was related to how persistently they complained. Ultimately it is cheaper to pay some customers off whether or not they have a justified complaint, rather than bear the cost of them pushing it all the way to the Ombudsman, as some made it quite clear they were prepared to do. 

The vast majority of customers simply changed to the new tariff without making any fuss and did not get any compensation. I am sure this included some who mistakenly had an end date added to their account.

Griffindog

masonic said:

Griffindog said:

Qyburn said:

From what I read and what was posted here, Octopus said that all customers would be moved to the new tariff.

I believe they did, with the reasoning that they had to put people on a fixed term. A number of us were already on fixed terms on earlier tariffs so they had to acknowledge the exiting fixed end date and deal with it one way or another. People either retained that date or changed to a new tariff and got compensation.

No, compensation was only paid out in a few isolated incidences, and it was not all about whether a fixed end date was mistakenly included on their account, it was related to how persistently they complained. Ultimately it is cheaper to pay some customers off whether or not they have a justified complaint, rather than bear the cost of them pushing it all the way to the Ombudsman, as some made it quite clear they were prepared to do. 

The vast majority of customers simply changed to the new tariff without making any fuss and did not get any compensation. I am sure this included some who mistakenly had an end date added to their account.

So if they wrote to you now and told you that they were switching you to a new tariff half way through your fixed term and it was going to result in you paying over £100 more would you just say OK and accept that?  Whether the fixed date was a mistake or not, it happened so I asked them to honour it. I don’t think that is unreasonable.