Octopus, have they let down their SOLR customers?

bristolleedsfan

wild666 said:

As far as I remember the fixed rates were around 24p and 5.2p which at the time I thought was expensive, I just wish I had fixed in Feb rather that keep putting it off.

Quoted post shows example of rates offered on/around 11th February- Loyal Octopus January v1 - 12 month fixed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78978939/#Comment_78978939

Elec:
Unit rate 33.46pp per kWh
Standing charge 25.66p per day

Gas:
Unit rate 8.96p per kWh
Standing charge 26.10p per day

Mstty

bristolleedsfan said:

wild666 said:

As far as I remember the fixed rates were around 24p and 5.2p which at the time I thought was expensive, I just wish I had fixed in Feb rather that keep putting it off.

Quoted post shows example of rates offered on/around 11th February- Loyal Octopus January v1 - 12 month fixed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78978939/#Comment_78978939

Elec:
Unit rate 33.46pp per kWh
Standing charge 25.66p per day

Gas:
Unit rate 8.96p per kWh
Standing charge 26.10p per day

So even then in Feb they were well above other fix rates being offered by other suppliers and well above the cap rat that came in April 2022.

Mstty

MultiFuelBurner said:

Thankyou for mentioning this.

Ever since the announcement of the October cap we have been looking for a fixed rate with Octopus. We thought we were going mad and even called them up to be frankly confused with offers of a fix that tracks daily prices?

I managed to get my mum on a great fix with British Gas so tried to transfer to them on the same fixed deal but they won't offer the same rate to new customers just existing bust company suppliers that have been with them for a while

I feel completely let down by Octopus and whoever said lottery was bang on, it was a lottery when our supplier went bust and we ended up with a frankly rubbish supplier with no decent fixed rate for us wince April this year.

Should all suppliers that took on bust supplier customers be made to offer a decent fixed rate? Or are we stuffed?

Hi there welcome to the energy forum 👍

I think you are stuck is the best way of putting it. Unless you have an electric car or are going to get one in which case the electricity rate will be fixed at 35p ish and you get I think 4 hours at 7.5p kWh to charge up your car and run as many appliances you can like washing machines, dishwasher and tumble dryers etc.

But if you don't have an EV you are stuffed and will have to bite the bullet and move to another supplier if any are taking people on then hope they offer you a decent fix before October.

JohnPo

Well I am happy with Octopus, their excellent customer service and the fact they have innovative tariffs.

The fact people round here want to lock in to expensive fixed rates is their choice when most of the advice is to stick with the price CAP. 

In fact I am so satisfied that another property I own I have started moving both supplies to Octopus onto their tracker v3 product because come the autumn it is going to save money compared to the expected SVT and any fixed deals offered by SOLR providers (EDF & BG in my case).  There might be odd day between now and then where the price is higher but usage this time of year is low and I am certain it will average out lower.

Just my take.

bristolleedsfan

MultiFuelBurner said:

Thanks for the reply no we don't have an EV. So we are absolutely stuffed with Octopus and looking round this forum 12p for gas and 43 for leccy will cripple us. 

Someone above mentioned EDF. I would bite their arm off and bake them a cake to get their deal at only 24% about current cap prices so don't know what they are talking about.

I don't know where to turn we needed a fix so that our income met expenditure which it can't not being saddled with Octopus.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79267711#Comment_79267711

MultiFuelBurner said:

Thankyou for mentioning this.

Ever since the announcement of the October cap we have been looking for a fixed rate with Octopus. We thought we were going mad and even called them up to be frankly confused with offers of a fix that tracks daily prices?

I managed to get my mum on a great fix with British Gas so tried to transfer to them on the same fixed deal but they won't offer the same rate to new customers just existing bust company suppliers that have been with them for a while

I feel completely let down by Octopus and whoever said lottery was bang on, it was a lottery when our supplier went bust and we ended up with a frankly rubbish supplier with no decent fixed rate for us wince April this year.

Should all suppliers that took on bust supplier customers be made to offer a decent fixed rate? Or are we stuffed?

During March many existing Octopus customers including some former Avro customers changed to 3 year fix considered to be below April cap with exit fees, I mentioned it on Octopus review thread, Martin Lewis mentioned about it on his twitter thread.

If you had been with Octopus years and they offered special fixed rates to AVRO SOLR customers some of whom had changed from Octopus to Avro weeks/month or so before Avro ceased to trade, no doubt you would have had something negative to say about that.

Mstty

MultiFuelBurner said:

Thanks for the reply no we don't have an EV. So we are absolutely stuffed with Octopus and looking round this forum 12p for gas and 43 for leccy will cripple us. 

Someone above mentioned EDF. I would bite their arm off and bake them a cake to get their deal at only 24% about current cap prices so don't know what they are talking about.

I don't know where to turn we needed a fix so that our income met expenditure which it can't not being saddled with Octopus.

Hi there,

If you call up Octopus and explain your situation maybe they can help. Explain income.and expenditure and that come October due to no cheaper products you will struggle or worse (sorry don't mean to pry)

Customers of Octopus say they have the best customer Service so maybe they can help you out.

I won't say this too loud but maybe mention a family member "might" be giving you their second hand Nissan Leaf on the future and maybe they will put you on their GO tariff and you can work that to your advantage. 

Or just see what they can do for you.

If you want to reply direct I have sent you a private message as I fear you may get slightly less than helpful and possibly rude responses on this thread. Or maybe start a new one for yourself?

Fingers Crossed🤞

JohnPo

MultiFuelBurner said:

Thanks for the reply no we don't have an EV. So we are absolutely stuffed with Octopus and looking round this forum 12p for gas and 43 for leccy will cripple us. 

Someone above mentioned EDF. I would bite their arm off and bake them a cake to get their deal at only 24% about current cap prices so don't know what they are talking about.

I don't know where to turn we needed a fix so that our income met expenditure which it can't not being saddled with Octopus.

So why not ask to be placed on their V3 tracker, where there is an 11p cap on gas and a 40p cap on electricity per KWhr?  Only downside is without a smart meter they ask for manual monthly readings.

You may or may not pay a little bit more between now and Oct 1st when usage is lower, and I can't see any scenario where you would not pay less the the expected Oct 1 price cap, but if it does not work out then you can switch without penalty to the price cap SVT.

Just my thoughts on what to do.

k_man

When were the most recent SOLR customers moved to Octopus?

Is this a case of customers choosing not to fix previously, and now regretting it?

Or being moved after any reasonable fixes were offered?

Ultrasonic

A different spin on this would be that Octopus are actually consciously giving favourable treatment to customers who actually chose them and are offering some benefit for loyalty of not switching away. In some ways this is actually a refreshing change. 

I went through the SOLR process to Shell, who as observed earlier in the thread had no fixed tariffs at all. I switched away to a fixed tariff with Scottish Power as soon as my switch to Shell was complete. I have though seen some recent offers for existing customers of other suppliers that may have worked out better (although I've not done the sums to be sure).

silverwhistle

There doesn't seem to be any acknowledgement from the OP that Octopus didn't want to be the SoLR and were forced to be. They designed tariffs for the customers they wanted and made purchases and forward planning in the market on that basis.

Their whole MO was based on flexible tariffs and encouraging off peak use, and frankly taking on loads of customers who wanted fixes (for some whatever the cost it would seem!) is not what they had planned for, so on that basis I feel the criticism is unwarranted. We really don't want another loss-making company!

Currently I'm on Go on 15p/5p and goodness knows what the price will be when my fix ends in September, but it may well be that I return to Agile. I certainly won't go for a fix if the SVR is cheaper at the time.