Octopus, have they let down their SOLR customers?

Mstty

I would have mentioned this if Octopus were the only energy firm to have to take on customers through the SOLR process but they weren't and as already explained other energy firms have offered a lot more in the area of fixed deals. I won't repeat all that again as to why I feel they have let down people (a good percentage of people down in this area)

Maybe with their specific values and MO they shouldn't have taken on any SOLR customers?

Again I can't stress enough how good they are in other areas but feel this will be lost in the mist.

I am currently messaging a quite distraught Octopus customer (not the one in this post) where she sees post after post on here of fixed for mid 30p for elec and 9p gas but can't get any deal like that despite being on the case since the money saving expert newsletter came out about fixes to consider before the massive increase in October. They have failed her and it was a lottery where she could have got a decent fix elsewhere. I think at this point she is trapped. Not good and actually it's angering me a lot and making quite sad to learn what people are going through now the realisation of what is going to happen has occurred to them. This truly is heat or eat.

QrizB

Mstty said:

They have failed her

They have not "failed her".

I think at this point she is trapped.

She is not "trapped".

You will know (because it's been mentioned several times on the forum and is specifically named on the regularly-updated MSE article) that Ovo have an open-market fix on offer that is cheaper than the expected October cap.

k_man said:

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?

Octopus took on one tranche of SoLR customers, from Avro. Avro went buston the 222nd of September 2021, although anyone paying attention to such will have seen it coming a little while before then.

At the time you could get a decent 2-year fix with EON or Sainsbury's (an EON white-label) - tariff info here. This particular deal was pulled around the time Avro went bust but (again) it was there for people who could see Avro's failure coming.

Ultrasonic

QrizB said:

You will know (because it's been mentioned several times on the forum and is specifically named on the regularly-updated MSE article) that Ovo have an open-market fix on offer that is cheaper than the expected October cap.

Interesting to see from that link that apparently Shell now are offering a fixed tariff, very similar to OVO's.

Mstty

Been through it all gas central heating and hot water and the OVO open to any customer deal is over 11p kWh for gas. Simply not going to work for her budget (Talking low figures here so no savings apparent to be made on the gas side) elec is below 2000 kWh so doing well there it's simply income v expenditure and no deal to plan the next year on available that's affordable.

Someone has failed her perhaps it was her previous energy company or Ofgem but right now it's where she is that is failing her at this point in time.

Meanwhile eon next just offered our neighbours, as we both joined Symbio for cheap electricity, their loyal customer discount deal so they have fixed at approx 14% increase in kWh price for electricity over the current cap despite being an SOLR Symbio customer Eon see then as a loyal customer to offer a great fix to. Go figure 

QrizB

Ultrasonic said:

QrizB said:

You will know (because it's been mentioned several times on the forum and is specifically named on the regularly-updated MSE article) that Ovo have an open-market fix on offer that is cheaper than the expected October cap.

Interesting to see from that link that apparently Shell now are offering a fixed tariff, very similar to OVO's.

I'm quite impressed by the way MSE have turned that webpage into an at-a-glance guide to let people know where they are likely to find a fix worth having, and that they are updating it daily.

Ultrasonic

Mstty said:

Someone has failed her perhaps it was her previous energy company or Ofgem but right now it's where she is that is failing her at this point in time.

Meanwhile eon next just offered our neighbours, as we both joined Symbio for cheap electricity, their loyal customer discount deal so they have fixed at approx 14% increase in kWh price for electricity over the current cap despite being an SOLR Symbio customer Eon see then as a loyal customer to offer a great fix to. Go figure 

Arguably Vladimir Putin is the most significant person/entity 'failing' people right now. In terms of the immediate crisis we then get into the details of the government support offered.

I do understand your frustration with Octopus when you're also aware of fixes like that e-one Next one (although standing charges and the gas costs matter too). I slightly wonder how apparently cheap fixes are available to anyone right now. Possibly they're targeted at particular customers based on their usage rather than to all?

johnbhoy70

To be fair i don't think it was an easy decision in September to leave Avro. Hindsight is great and if it hadn't been for the fact that Sainburys offered free exit i'm not sure i would have jumped. This is a moneysaving site after all and i didn't fancy paying an extra £120 over the following 4 months when Avro may have just hung on. Remember this was a time when Symbio and especially Neon Reef especially seemed as if they were going to go on forever somehow and there was a fair bit of smugness from a minority about how little they were paying. I actually got a response to carry on paying my high high prices with Avro when i suggested i might join Neon Reef but weighed it up and thought it too risky!!

Ultrasonic

I wouldn't have switched from Avro if I thought they were about to go bust for the same reason I personally didn't from Pure Planet: the risk of problems and hassle from complicating the SOLR process. 

johnbhoy70

Exactly!! Problems with an SOLR process were/are the last thing any of us need. I was with the co-op years ago and bailed pretty quickly beacuse even though they had decent prices they obviously hadn't expected the inlfux they got. I just want an easy life.
I got the Sainsburys confirmation pretty quickly and that was the ball rolling and when Avro went a few days later i was all in. Made my mind up for me.Still had the get out of no fees if prices had unfathomably started dropping.

k_man

Mstty said:

I would have mentioned this if Octopus were the only energy firm to have to take on customers through the SOLR process but they weren't and as already explained other energy firms have offered a lot more in the area of fixed deals. I won't repeat all that again as to why I feel they have let down people (a good percentage of people down in this area)

Maybe with their specific values and MO they shouldn't have taken on any SOLR customers?

Again I can't stress enough how good they are in other areas but feel this will be lost in the mist.

I am currently messaging a quite distraught Octopus customer (not the one in this post) where she sees post after post on here of fixed for mid 30p for elec and 9p gas but can't get any deal like that despite being on the case since the money saving expert newsletter came out about fixes to consider before the massive increase in October. They have failed her and it was a lottery where she could have got a decent fix elsewhere. I think at this point she is trapped. Not good and actually it's angering me a lot and making quite sad to learn what people are going through now the realisation of what is going to happen has occurred to them. This truly is heat or eat.

OFGEM decide where to move SOLR customers to, I don't think the receiving provider has much choice/impact.