Octopus Saving Sessions

powerful_Rogue

Signed up for this via my Octopus dashboard. Seems a good idea, especially if you have solar and can pre plan a bit!

With Saving Sessions, you could earn up to £100 by using less electricity at peak times this Winter.

 

You'll earn OctoPoints, which can be redeemed for £££'s on your account, prizes or donations. You'll earn them for every unit of power you don't use compared to normal during Saving Sessions (find out how the Sessions work below).

How does it work?

1. From November to March we'll invite you to join at least twelve

1 – 4 hour sessions. We’ll email you about each one with as much notice as possible (usually the day before). If you think you can use less power at that time, just opt in via your email or the app.

 

2. When the time comes, try and cut down what you can, but remember not to turn anything essential off – we’ll share some tips and ideas to help.

​

3. After a Session, we’ll look at your smart meter readings to work out how much you saved, and add your OctoPoints to your online account within 14 days. 

paul991

seems a good idea but cant help thinking wont help anyone who is already frugal with energy use

powerful_Rogue

paul991 said:

seems a good idea but cant help thinking wont help anyone who is already frugal with energy use

Very true.

Anyone that's just had solar installed or having it installed shortly with batteries would benefit though. Think they look at your last 6-10 weeks electric use.

carly

There was a trial  run of a very similar system last year with Octopus.  I took part but saved very little; at most a few pence each period as the sessions generally ran during periods when my normal use was already low and it was difficult for me to
 cut usage further. I do hope that it proves beneficial to others. 

Petriix

Sadly my smart meter lost a few days of data so I'm currently ineligible. 

silverwhistle

carly said:

There was a trial  run of a very similar system last year with Octopus.  I took part but saved very little; at most a few pence each period as the sessions generally ran during periods when my normal use was already low and it was difficult for me to
 cut usage further. I do hope that it proves beneficial to others. 

Similar situation here, but part of the reason for doing so is that it will be "beneficial to others" both from a security of supply viewpoint as well as ensuring less expensive generation is used.

paul991

I have  signed up but if TOU tariffs become the norm storage will be  the only way to go

Raxiel

I signed up, how well we do will depend on when the average the saving session is compared against is measured from. If it's against the same time last year we'll be set as we were already 40% down against then even before PV, if it's against the day before there's not much more we could cut.

Guess those will be the days we plan an evening meal from the slow cooker.

Magnitio

powerful_Rogue said:

paul991 said:

seems a good idea but cant help thinking wont help anyone who is already frugal with energy use

Very true.

Anyone that's just had solar installed or having it installed shortly with batteries would benefit though. Think they look at your last 6-10 weeks electric use.

Last 10 days only. See:

https://octopus.energy/saving-sessions-terms-conditions/

Exiled_Tyke

powerful_Rogue said:

paul991 said:

seems a good idea but cant help thinking wont help anyone who is already frugal with energy use

Very true.

Anyone that's just had solar installed or having it installed shortly with batteries would benefit though. Think they look at your last 6-10 weeks electric use.

Unless you are like me and have been doing everything possible to minimise peak use over the last couple of years.  I've no room to reduce peak power use and am not gong to get rewarded for my efforts now.  Surely a more effective and simply scheme would have been to simply offer reduced prices away from the evening peak? 

70sbudgie

The FAQs admit that early adopters of peak energy use reductions won't be those that benefit much. I get the impression that this scheme is designed to be attractive to others (who may not have access to PV / battery technology) - hence why there have been news reports of Octopus saying the offered compensation isn't enough to get that audience to sign up. I was interested to read that Octopus have got round this sticking point by offering a points system - it means they can get on implementing while still negotiating with NG about payment rates. 

Octopus appear to be approaching this as a green alternative to gas peaking plants - I think I saw somewhere that NG spent billions last year before the price of gas went up. I suppose there is the worry this year that the price / availability of gas may cause GPPs to take the fine instead of export.

I expect we will see an article towards the end of November about the numbers of registrations.