Octopus Tracker

Telegraph_Sam

One could say that now is the worst possible time to switch since this "locks in" the price rise and excludes the consumer from any correction downwards later. Assuming that current price levels as they are won't become the new norm for the foreseeable future - correction - for the next 12 months.

BargainBear

QrizB said:

BargainBear said:

QrizB said:

BargainBear said:

I would strongly recommend reading the small print of any "EV" tariff prior to signing on the dotted line; I imagine they sneak in their right to access the energy within the batteries there.  I haven't checked the small print of their current EV tariffs, but it wouldn't suprise me if it's already in there.

You're just spreading FUD now.

matt_drummer said:

It won't be happening to me. There's always a way to stop it.
Don't plug it in until you need to charge, then they wont have the opportunity.

It's physically impossible to extract grid-synchronised AC from an EV battery without a bidirectional charger (which includes a similar inverter to a grid-tie solar one). The only vast majority of UK EV chargers don't include this ability. There is zero possibility of eg. Octopus extracting electricity from an EV battery using a conventional EV home charging point.

BargainBear said:

My concern would be the degradation of said batteries which would ultimately effect their lifespan.

Experience with the various V2G trials has shown that gentle charging and discharging (as you'd get from V2G, where you're limited to 7kW) *increases* the life of EV batteries, rather than degrades them. Its driving your EV and using fast chargers that does the damage.
@michaels is/was in the Octopus V2G trial and might have more info?

It's not FUD if it's true.

But it's not true, is it?

Your exact words were:

"I would strongly recommend reading the small print of any "EV" tariff prior to signing on the dotted line; I imagine they sneak in their right to access the energy within the batteries there.  I haven't checked the small print of their current EV tariffs, but it wouldn't suprise me if it's already in there."

It is impossible to "access the energy within the batteries" via a normal home EV charging point. Your statement is entirely without merit.

It's not impossible though, is it; we've already established that earlier on in this thread. Octopus wouldn't offer an add on tariff specifically for that if they couldn't.

I've also just laid out the sections of their various tariff T&C's proving that they've written in to them that they can access and use the energy within PV system batteries. as well as electric vehicle batteries how they see fit.  With no legal ramifications if they degrade or damage your system in any way shape or form.

It even states in one of the sections that they don't guarantee they'll charge your vehicle when you request them to, but they'll try their best after they've drained said battery for their own benefit.

I akin it to how local councils use private landlords to cover the shortfall of social housing, and then force said landlords to incur legal costs and financial loss during the lengthy process to remove the tenants legally from their property; it's just not worth it in the long run.

BargainBear

Telegraph_Sam said:

One could say that now is the worst possible time to switch since this "locks in" the price rise and excludes the consumer from any correction downwards later. Assuming that current price levels as they are won't become the new norm for the foreseeable future - correction - for the next 12 months.

This is true. Although if the correction were to head downwards, I would expect to see the fixed tariffs on offer follow suit.  Unfortunately at present they're indicative of the opposite.

Locking in a fix earlier provides a level of protection, and affords the ability to frog leap from lower fix to lower fix if/when they materialise without penalty; at least that's my plan.

Chrysalis

Gas Tracker is back down a bit (dec 2023), so I am paying less again vs if they had moved me as requested to the Jan fixed immediately.

Telegraph_Sam

You could say that something like that is / was predictable.
Search is on to see what good fixes the market can offer between now and 15 Feb.
Out of interest I have been trying to locate the conversion formula for Dec 2023. So far no joy

BootsMullery

Telegraph_Sam said:

You could say that something like that is / was predictable.
Search is on to see what good fixes the market can offer between now and 15 Feb.
Out of interest I have been trying to locate the conversion formula for Dec 2023. So far no joy

Presumably it's the bottom one of the 5 in the Q&A's. i.e.

Here's the formula if you joined or renewed before 3 April 10am GST

That seems to say that it was always the same formula until it first changed from 3rd April and they said that it needed to change as they had always been running at a loss.

Spoonie_Turtle

BootsMullery said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

You could say that something like that is / was predictable.
Search is on to see what good fixes the market can offer between now and 15 Feb.
Out of interest I have been trying to locate the conversion formula for Dec 2023. So far no joy

Presumably it's the bottom one of the 5 in the Q&A's. i.e.

Here's the formula if you joined or renewed before 3 April 10am GST

That seems to say that it was always the same formula until it first changed from 3rd April and they said that it needed to change as they had always been running at a loss.

It's not, but they're not publishing formulae of tariffs that nobody should be on any more.  Everyone was supposed to be moved from an older version to Dec 23 by mid-Feb last year.  So if there are still the odd one here and there on a previous tariff (such as Nov 22), it's only because of customer service mistakes.

Dec 23 was I think the first of the recent versions to have a 12-month fixed term*, so the earliest people on it will have come off now.  The rest of us who were put onto it (or joined) after Dec 23 and before Apr 24 don't have long left to go, so it'll be a defunct tariff in a few months and probably drop off the FAQs page.

*The original versions, v1/2/3 all had fixed term but IIRC when the EPG came in they changed to open-ended, naming the different versions with their changed formulae on the month they were introduced.

Chrysalis

Telegraph_Sam said:

You could say that something like that is / was predictable.
Search is on to see what good fixes the market can offer between now and 15 Feb.
Out of interest I have been trying to locate the conversion formula for Dec 2023. So far no joy

I will still probably send an email to try and get a dec 2024 tariff, but now I think I will leave the change over date regardless if they change it or not to feb 15.  The way I see it, this is kind of best of all worlds, if fixes start going up which seems expected, I have one locked in, if better fixes come I can switch as I have no exit penalty, if tracker improves, I can switch back to it, because if I let it naturally expire, there is no cool down, so this seems best way forward now.  I also have the option if tracker gets pretty bad before the end date of moving the fix forward.

Chrysalis

BootsMullery said:

Telegraph_Sam said:

You could say that something like that is / was predictable.
Search is on to see what good fixes the market can offer between now and 15 Feb.
Out of interest I have been trying to locate the conversion formula for Dec 2023. So far no joy

Presumably it's the bottom one of the 5 in the Q&A's. i.e.

Here's the formula if you joined or renewed before 3 April 10am GST

That seems to say that it was always the same formula until it first changed from 3rd April and they said that it needed to change as they had always been running at a loss.

I believe this was the case and prior to that only changes were to the cap and SC.  I am curious if the dec 2024 formula is better than april and july 2024, as the site I was using to check rates showed dec 2024 about mid way between july 2024 and dec 2023 unit rates.

Telegraph_Sam

So presumably the answer to my question is that Dec 2023 = 3rd April 10.am as far as the formula is concerned, notwithstanding a few odd balls that don't fit into the spec.