Octopus Tracker

masonic

It appears that once the renewal email is received, you may be able to line up your next Tracker and if a new version comes out between then and expiry of your existing version, you would lock in the one you agreed. However, this will be of little benefit to most of us with a new version coming in about a month and our year being up a month or so later.

I think most of the debasement of the Tracker formula has already been done. It is already enough to put me off renewing, but I don't expect the next one to be materially worse than the current one.

crumpet_man

Telegraph_Sam said:

I don't want to appear pedantic but to talk of a Tracker "fix" risks confusion with fixed rate tariffs which Tracker ain't. Or I have missed a trick.

Each version of the tracker is fixed in as much as the formula will not change and there is an end date.

Doc_N

Each version successively more unattractive than the last, with the intention I'm sure of driving enough customers away to allow Octopus to ditch it altogether without attracting too much negative publicity. It did its job - pulling in new customers who wouldn't otherwise have come. Now it can quietly disappear. I certainly won't be taking anything offering a poorer deal than December 23.

northernstar007

Doc_N said:

Each version successively more unattractive than the last, with the intention I'm sure of driving enough customers away to allow Octopus to ditch it altogether without attracting too much negative publicity. It did its job - pulling in new customers who wouldn't otherwise have come. Now it can quietly disappear. I certainly won't be taking anything offering a poorer deal than December 23.

also came off tracker in sept, oct & nov on agile avg 20p kwh so on par with tracker

Spoonie_Turtle

Doc_N said:

Each version successively more unattractive than the last, with the intention I'm sure of driving enough customers away to allow Octopus to ditch it altogether without attracting too much negative publicity. 

Regional dependant to be fair.  October 24 formula for Eastern is marginally lower than July 24.  (If I've remembered the versions correctly.  Definitely one was better than a preceding version.)

masonic

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Doc_N said:

Each version successively more unattractive than the last, with the intention I'm sure of driving enough customers away to allow Octopus to ditch it altogether without attracting too much negative publicity. 

Regional dependant to be fair.  October 24 formula for Eastern is marginally lower than July 24.  (If I've remembered the versions correctly.  Definitely one was better than a preceding version.)

Was the same for a few other regions too. Since the big ones in late December and April, the changes have been small and seem consistent with the stated aim to track changes in things like distribution and network costs.

Griffindog

I’d love to know how many new customers were acquired with the lure of Tracker. I would think most have stuck with Octopus although I’m seeing a few being tempted by fixes elsewhere more recently.

Tracker was a good marketing tactic really.  Now that it has done its job they can make it less attractive. The smaller savings on the good days are no longer worth the risk of the bad days. Back in the days when the caps were 40/11p and flexible was almost the same it was well worth paying the extra penny here and there because the good days more than made up for it. I’ve probably saved £1500-£2000 over my time on Tracker. It was nice while it lasted.

bristolleedsfan

October 24 version - North West - Tuesday -  28.02pkWh

masonic

Griffindog said:

I’d love to know how many new customers were acquired with the lure of Tracker. I would think most have stuck with Octopus although I’m seeing a few being tempted by fixes elsewhere more recently.

Tracker was a good marketing tactic really.  Now that it has done its job they can make it less attractive. The smaller savings on the good days are no longer worth the risk of the bad days. Back in the days when the caps were 40/11p and flexible was almost the same it was well worth paying the extra penny here and there because the good days more than made up for it. I’ve probably saved £1500-£2000 over my time on Tracker. It was nice while it lasted.

It's been around since 2017 (or is that 2016?), and was not changed for about 5 years. During most of that time it was quite niche, not really promoted, and I doubt it gained them even a double digit percent of their incoming customers. It was only when it blew up on social media during the energy crisis that customers really flooded in to get on it, and Octopus responded by slamming down the shutters. So I'm not sure that was intended. Suspect they could have changed the formula in those days and still drawn in crowds, because the alternatives were so much worse than they are today.

Telegraph_Sam

".. the alternatives were so much worse than they are today" 
That is the $64 K question as mid Feb 2025 approaches