Octopus Tracker

Spoonie_Turtle

Planeteer said:

niktheguru said:

Also worth remembering guys that you don't have to switch immediately, you can set it for a date in the near future. I set mine for the middle of the month so I can save a bit more on my current variable rate, then will move onto tracker at the agreed rate on switch day. Just accept the tariff offered and ask for a specific date for the switch to occur.

That is curious. I specifically asked them on the phone about post-dating my switch - but they said that would only happen at the rates available then, not the ones from pre-cap declaration.

When did you enquire about it?

Planeteer said:

Does someone know how to read these tracker charts and what it means for one's tariff?

It seems to mention a "daily cost" as well as a "wholesale price". What's the difference between the two, and which am I being charged?

On your account page it should show the daily unit rates in 'your tariff' information


I can't help with the graphs, unfortunately.  The wholesale price was at one time correct, but today bears no resemblance to reality!

QrizB

Planeteer said:

Does someone know how to read these tracker charts and what it means for one's tariff?

The charts show the historic and projected future wholesale price of energy. The historic data seems to be right but the forward projections are cloud cuckoo land (they might have been right less wrong once but Octopus haven't updated their model to reflect the current market conditions).

It seems to mention a "daily cost" as well as a "wholesale price". What's the difference between the two, and which am I being charged?

Neither show what you're being charged.

The wholesale price is exactly that, the daily price of wholesale energy. This is what Octopus use to calculate the Tracker retail price in accordance with the published formulas.

The daily cost is what Octopus think your bill for today will be, based on their model of your energy use (which I think is, in turn, based on your estimated annual consumption).

Planeteer

I see. So basically neither chart has any bearing on what I am actually being charged and I am essentially on the cap all the way through? There have been some considerable fluctuations in the graph though...

@Spoonie_Turtle I had asked about it on 25/8 - the day before the Ofgem declaration. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Planeteer said:

@Spoonie_Turtle I had asked about it on 25/8 - the day before the Ofgem declaration. 

Well that's odd.  Were you an existing customer or new to them?  Either way it's very unusual for them to say they wouldn't honour the price at the time of enquiry, and that was a few days before the announcement of Tracker's cap increasing anyway.

70sbudgie

How doe Flexible Octopus differ from Octopus Tracker? 

Reading this conversation has got me slightly worried about what is going to happen to my rates and if I have monumentally messed up or inadvertently given myself a way of mitigating against the effects of Friday's announcement.

I enquired about switching to Octopus outgoing Agile in June. I didn't do anything with the link I was sent as I thought it was going to switch me to import Agile and I didn't want that. 

About 2 months later (August 13), I had another go and followed the link I'd been sent. It did indeed start the process for switching me to Agile import. So I didn't take the final step and accept the T&Cs. 

I am still within my 28 days (though not by much, I think I'm on day 20/21!). 

I have always wondered why my gas and elec rates have seemed fairly tame (over the last few months), but a comment further up the conversation, that suggests the cap you sign up on applies for 12 months, seems to explain it. However, my 12 months were up in March 2022. What happens after the 12 months? Am I now on an "unprotected" cap? Would I be better off actually accepting the Agile, with an August 13 (or maybe even June?) cap? How do I find out which cap would apply?

Spoonie_Turtle

Octopus Tracker is kind of like Agile in that it follows wholesale prices, but daily rather than half-hourly.  The way wholesale prices are going, there's no guarantee unit rates will ever come back below the previous 55p cap*, so many of us are treating it like a 12-month fix at 55p and if we ever get days below that, it's a bonus.  Likewise with the new Tracker cap of 78p, by October the unit prices might be there and stay there.  But customers won't pay more than that maximum, for the 12 months they're on Tracker.

*Edit: okay, that turned out to be a bit melodramatic - today it's down into the 40s!  Who'd ever have thought 47p would be a *good* day?!

Whereas Flexible Octopus is the standard variable rate, 'protected' by Ofgem's cap which will change every 3 months.  October's looks like 52p for electricity, but the high predictions for January onwards are the reason a fair few of us have jumped to Tracker recently.  I'm not sure how the current Tracker/Agile maximum amounts compare with current predictions.

I can't answer any of your questions about your position with Agile, but on your account page it should tell you (in a white box) your current tariff and the rates you're paying.

bristolleedsfan

70sbudgie said:

I enquired about switching to Octopus outgoing Agile in June. I didn't do anything with the link I was sent as I thought it was going to switch me to import Agile and I didn't want that. 

About 2 months later (August 13), I had another go and followed the link I'd been sent. It did indeed start the process for switching me to Agile import. So I didn't take the final step and accept the T&Cs. 

I am still within my 28 days (though not by much, I think I'm on day 20/21!). 

How do I find out which cap would apply?

Cap that was in operation on August 13 would apply -55p

70sbudgie

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Octopus Tracker is kind of like Agile in that it follows wholesale prices, but daily rather than half-hourly.  The way wholesale prices are going, there's no guarantee unit rates will ever come back below the previous 55p cap*, so many of us are treating it like a 12-month fix at 55p and if we ever get days below that, it's a bonus.  Likewise with the new Tracker cap of 78p, by October the unit prices might be there and stay there.  But customers won't pay more than that maximum, for the 12 months they're on Tracker.

*Edit: okay, that turned out to be a bit melodramatic - today it's down into the 40s!  Who'd ever have thought 47p would be a *good* day?!

Whereas Flexible Octopus is the standard variable rate, 'protected' by Ofgem's cap which will change every 3 months.  October's looks like 52p for electricity, but the high predictions for January onwards are the reason a fair few of us have jumped to Tracker recently.  I'm not sure how the current Tracker/Agile maximum amounts compare with current predictions.

I can't answer any of your questions about your position with Agile, but on your account page it should tell you (in a white box) your current tariff and the rates you're paying.

bristolleedsfan said:

70sbudgie said:

I enquired about switching to Octopus outgoing Agile in June. I didn't do anything with the link I was sent as I thought it was going to switch me to import Agile and I didn't want that. 

About 2 months later (August 13), I had another go and followed the link I'd been sent. It did indeed start the process for switching me to Agile import. So I didn't take the final step and accept the T&Cs. 

I am still within my 28 days (though not by much, I think I'm on day 20/21!). 

How do I find out which cap would apply?

Cap that was in operation on August 13 would apply -55p

Thank you very much! The info you have given helps me answer the questions. I will definitely be sticking with Flexible Octopus. 

pochase

I am not sure how you get to your decision.

Flexible Octopus will have a unit rate of 90p in April if we believe the latest Auxilione prediction. And the price prediction was already far beyond £1 at the beginning of the week.

People on the old tracker with 55p cap are paying now already the more expensive rates, but it will be only 3p difference from October, and in January we have a prediction of 73p, so they will pay 18p less than those one Flexible Octopus (always assuming the predictions are half way correct).

In addition to that they will pay less should the wholesale price come down for a day.

QrizB

Spoonie_Turtle said:

*Edit: okay, that turned out to be a bit melodramatic - today it's down into the 40s!  Who'd ever have thought 47p would be a *good* day?!

Tomorrow's looking to be ~40p, almost a bargain

70sbudgie said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Cap that was in operation on August 13 would apply -55p

Thank you very much! The info you have given helps me answer the questions. I will definitely be sticking with Flexible Octopus. 

And much like Pochase, I don't quite understand how you're choosing the flexible rate rather than a 12-month 55p capped one? In four weeks Flexible will be almost the same as that cap, then it's expected to rise again in January and (perhaps) April?