Octopus Go Faster...A couple of questions regarding getting onto the tariff.

milgo

If someone would be kind enough to offer some advice or experience with 2 scenarios I would be grateful.

1...Already an Octopus customer on a duel fuel flexible tariff. Smart meters were fitted 5 days ago.

I'm interested in Octopus Go Faster tariff as I have calculated that it will save me money so will be starting the application process later today.

Q...What happens to the gas tariff that I am currently on?  Also once on the Go Faster tariff am I then able to switch my gas away to a different provider if I wished whilst remaining on Go Faster for electricity?

2...Currently with a duel fuel provider (not Octopus) and am interested in going single provider for gas and electric (likely ZOG and Octopus Go Faster)

Q...Can I switch my electric only to Octopus (whatever tariff) then transfer to Go Faster or do I need to switch both gas and electric to them in order to get onto Go Faster and then switch my gas away?

Thanks in advance

bristolleedsfan

Just need to switch Electricity to Octopus, free to switch Gas to Zog. if already with Octopus Gas would stay on existing tariff or you could choose to switch it out at any time, fixed rates are going up all the time for new signups, I would not hesitate .... Octopus £50 refer a friend applies to E only switches as well as dual fuel

slimbuck

milgo said:

If someone would be kind enough to offer some advice or experience with 2 scenarios I would be grateful.

1...Already an Octopus customer on a duel fuel flexible tariff. Smart meters were fitted 5 days ago.

I'm interested in Octopus Go Faster tariff as I have calculated that it will save me money so will be starting the application process later today.

Q...What happens to the gas tariff that I am currently on?  Also once on the Go Faster tariff am I then able to switch my gas away to a different provider if I wished whilst remaining on Go Faster for electricity?

2...Currently with a duel fuel provider (not Octopus) and am interested in going single provider for gas and electric (likely ZOG and Octopus Go Faster)

Q...Can I switch my electric only to Octopus (whatever tariff) then transfer to Go Faster or do I need to switch both gas and electric to them in order to get onto Go Faster and then switch my gas away?

Thanks in advance

I hate dealing with hypotheticals.
What is your current situation?

In the meantime, here is an existing thread about that tariff
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6228722/octopus-go-go-faster-tariffs

If they don't have any slots for you to currently take up the trial, I think they were previously saying they would add you to their waiting list (assuming you were already supplied by Octopus) - no idea if they still offer that possibility.

Here is a link to the original Octopus Go tariff (the forerunner to the Go Faster tariffs, and still available as described)
https://octopus.energy/go/

And here are some FAQ's relating to that e.g. have gas supplied by someone else
https://octopus.energy/blog/go-faqs/

niktheguru

So to answer your questions depends on what meters you have.

You say you have just had smart meters fitted. Make sure these smart meters are fully commissioned and providing readings to your current supplier first before thinking about switching. As long as they are working then you are able to switch (doing a switch when meters arent fully commissioned may put you into a world of pain)

Octopus go faster is an electricity only tariff, you dont need gas to be with octopus to move to go faster. I would actively encourage NOT having your gas with octopus as they are pretty expensive.

If you are currently with octopus (flexible tariff) then you have to call or email the smart team to ask to be moved to octopus go faster for your electricity, they'll send you an email with an online form to complete to choose your duration of off peak (3,4 or 5 hrs) and to choose your preferred timings. Once you've completed that as long as they can get smart readings from your meter then they will switch you usually within 48hrs.
The gas on the flexible tariff will stay as is (in your first scenario) - so get it switched out asap.


If you are not with octopus, then you will need to initiate a switch to one of their standard tariffs first (doesn't matter which) and then once the switch is complete you will need to do the above and contact them to move to go faster.

What you do about gas is up to you, you can move to zog or whoever whenever you like. I wouldn't suggest moving your gas to octopus then onto someone else if you already have a smart meter.

The only situation where I would suggest a dual fuel transfer to octopus is better is if you have standard meters and you want to have smart meters installed. It is always less hassle to have both meters installed by the same supplier as the gas smart meter communicates with the coms hub on the electricity smart meter. It just makes it easier and more likely that it will all work smoothly (and octopus are one of the better suppliers at making smart meters work first time). Though if you have a electric smart meter then technically any provider should be able to install a gas smart meter that will communicate with the coms hub. (though you cant have a gas smart meter without an electric smart meter already being in place)

Hope that helps.

milgo

@slimbuck Apologies for not making it more clear. 1 & 2 refer to the current situation with 2 different accounts, both of which I am interested in switching to Go Faster.

I just tried moving the Octopus electric account to Go via the customer dashboard but received a message advising that they are not quite ready to move me yet as they are still working on my newly installed smart meter.  I am seeing 30 minute readings from this meter on the dashboard so I guess that there is some stuff going on in the background to fully complete commissioning the meter.

Thanks for the links though.

niktheguru

You cant move onto go faster online. It must be via phone/email. You can email smart@octopus.energy

You can move to the standard go online and then move onto go faster (via phone/email), but that is adding an unnecessary step.

Although it is a beta tariff (basically meaning things can go wrong and they cant be blamed for it), and they have a caveat for a "finite amount of places" for each time slot I haven't heard of anyone recently being told their requested timeslot is full. People usually get their first choice. When it first started there were some issues with allocations but thats all settled. The most popular timeslot seems to be the 5hrs at 5.5p starting at 20:30pm (should give most bang for the buck for the average household) 

Also, don't forget to "refer a friend" yourself from the non octopus account, when you join. You may be able to get a double bonus if you're lucky!

milgo

@niktheguru

The recently (earlier this week) fitted meters were fitted by Octopus so this refers to scenario 1.

Elster AS300P fitted in 2016 by Scottish Power, scenario 2. They have been "dumb" since leaving SP and being with various providers since then, only recently to come alive sine a recent move to PFP so I'm hopeful that Octopus will be able to read it also if I move to them.  If not them they will have to look at updating that meter.

niktheguru

milgo said:

@niktheguru

The recently (earlier this week) fitted meters were fitted by Octopus so this refers to scenario 1.

Elster AS300P fitted in 2016 by Scottish Power, scenario 2. They have been "dumb" since leaving SP and being with various providers since then, only recently to come alive sine a recent move to PFP so I'm hopeful that Octopus will be able to read it also if I move to them.  If not them they will have to look at updating that meter.

Sure, 

so in the case of scenario 1 if you can see 30min readings on the dashboard it'll be a matter of 1-2 days to move to go faster. CALL OR EMAIL them to get the process rolling today.

In scenario 2, if PFP have been able to get smart readings from your SMETS1 meter then its almost certain its been upgraded to the DCC so they should be fine for octopus to get readings from. Again, you'll need to move to their flexible tariff first, then once moved and when they are receiving smart readings you'll be able to move to go faster.

slimbuck

milgo said:

@slimbuck Apologies for not making it more clear. 1 & 2 refer to the current situation with 2 different accounts, both of which I am interested in switching to Go Faster.

I just tried moving the Octopus electric account to Go via the customer dashboard but received a message advising that they are not quite ready to move me yet as they are still working on my newly installed smart meter.  I am seeing 30 minute readings from this meter on the dashboard so I guess that there is some stuff going on in the background to fully complete commissioning the meter.

Thanks for the links though.

Ah, in which case for option 1 (current Octopus customer) you can make a request to your supplier to go onto the trial tariff.

You seem to have chosen a different trial tariff (the original incarnation of the different Go tariffs now available) and you have received your answer. They are not in a position currently to transfer you to the tariff you requested. You'll have to wait on whatever Octopus tariff you currently have.

For Option 2, (not currently an Octopus customer) you will need to switch at least your electricity to Octopus first, onto one of their currently available tariffs. Then you will be in the position you find youself in with your other account as described in option 1.

The various trial tariffs from Octopus are for electricity only. Go is aimed at those with EVs.
You will need an electricity smart meter (for technical reasons) to apply for such a tariff.

So regarding your gas, you will either stay on the supplier's current tariff (check the terms of your current tariffs), or you will be moved to the supplier's standard default tariff, or of course you could apply for another supplier to take over the gas supply.

slimbuck

bristolleedsfan said:

.. .... Octopus £50 refer a friend applies ...

niktheguru said:

...Also, don't forget to "refer a friend" ..

@milgo , please don't be tempted by these offers of a referral.
People who refer you are not entirely independent. They want you to use their referral to help them pay their own energy bills.

That is probably the reason this site has now banned people sharing referral codes. (including via PM through this site)

Referral codes have to be paid by someone. Energy suppliers only get their income from one source usually.

Do your own comparisons. I've posted elsewhere today an example where someone could save more than £50 by changing supplier(s) from their current Octopus tariff ... and fix those new tariff(s) as well.

niktheguru

slimbuck said:

bristolleedsfan said:

.. .... Octopus £50 refer a friend applies ...

niktheguru said:

...Also, don't forget to "refer a friend" ..

@milgo , please don't be tempted by these offers of a referral.
People who refer you are not entirely independent. They want you to use their referral to help them pay their own energy bills.

That is probably the reason this site has now banned people sharing referral codes. (including via PM through this site)

Referral codes have to be paid by someone. Energy suppliers only get their income from one source usually.

Do your own comparisons. I've posted elsewhere today an example where someone could save more than £50 by changing supplier(s) from their current Octopus tariff ... and fix those new tariff(s) as well.

If you had read my comment correctly you would see that i suggested that he used refer a friend from his own current octopus account in one property to the other non octopus account in another property. Hence he'd be referring himself as he has two properties and two accounts. We don't know if the second property is his own or a family member, this way he can either save himself £100, or save himself £50 and his family member £50. This is a money saving website isn't it!  I wasn't asking for myself to refer him.

Remember the TOU tariffs from octopus aren't on comparison websites, so the tariff you've found that "saves more than £50" will probably not save the OP more than £50 on go faster, go faster is near unbeatable for all but very very low users, or people who use little to no energy in the off peak hours (i.e. between 8.30pm to 1.30am) Given that the highest peak rate (due to regional variation) is 16.7p on go faster in northern scotland compared to 18.94p and upwards on their standard tariffs the "comparison" you've done is probably a lot less than you think.

You sure you don't know someone called yelias?