Octopus Tracker

stripling

redjumpa said:

I'm on the Octopus tracker but confused on the info i get from them. In the pic below
I assumed the rate I paid was 24 .81p/kwh Elec and 6.22p/kwh Gas.
I'm not getting info via the app yet as i've only been on it a week.

 I really don't understand The "Today's Octopus Tracker costs" of Elec £3.76  and Gas £8.59

Can anyone enlighten me please?

Those are the day ahead wholesale prices that suppliers pay. (Although suppliers usually buy well in advance and hedge against prices changing). The idea of Tracker is to get people to think about energy the way we think about things like petrol.

Car drivers usually know the litre price of petrol and local variations and we all know that when there's some OPEC argy bargy or a fuel tax increase it's going to show at the pump. Keeping an eye on markets gives you a bit of a clue about whether your gas or electric is likely to be heading up or down. 

If you want serious energy geekery you could even start stalking traders and analysts on Twitter. 😁

Spoonie_Turtle

stripling said:

redjumpa said:

I'm on the Octopus tracker but confused on the info i get from them. In the pic below
I assumed the rate I paid was 24 .81p/kwh Elec and 6.22p/kwh Gas.
I'm not getting info via the app yet as i've only been on it a week.

 I really don't understand The "Today's Octopus Tracker costs" of Elec £3.76  and Gas £8.59

Can anyone enlighten me please?

Those are the day ahead wholesale prices that suppliers pay.

That's not correct.  The prices are based on wholesale costs but the retail unit price factors in other costs and a small amount of profit - calculations for each region are here under the 'how are prices calculated?' question https://octopus.energy/tracker-faqs/

'Today's costs' seem to be based on the day's unit rate plus an estimate of what your usage for the day will be.

Alnat1

Ignore the "todays costs" bit, it never is what you actually pay, it's pretty pointless and misleading.

You can guess more accurately yourself what you will likely use each day once you've seen the kWh prices.

redjumpa

Update..... Today the gas price on my Octopus Tracker has leapt from 05.19 p/kwh to 14.82 p/kwh Don't think I'll be using much gas today!!

[Deleted User]

redjumpa said:

Update..... Today the gas price on my Octopus Tracker has leapt from 05.19 p/kwh to 14.82 p/kwh Don't think I'll be using much gas today!!

It is a bug which should be resolved shortly according to those on another forum that understand these things. The gas price today is similar to yesterday.

t0rt0ise

Fixed now! Back to yesterday's price.

redjumpa

Anyone know how long the Tracker Tariff is likely to run for. Noted they have stopped the Saver Sessions this week. 

[Deleted User]

redjumpa said:

Anyone know how long the Tracker Tariff is likely to run for. Noted they have stopped the Saver Sessions this week. 

Tracker has been available since 2017 and it is not linked in anyway to Saver Sessions which was a National Grid initiative to get us through Winter. The only time-of-use tariff that has been withdrawn recently is Octopus Go Faster.  Octopus has recently introduced Cosy and Flux.

Telegraph_Sam

I have just been swapped from Go Faster to Tracker.   Is there a "smart" way of monitoring the relationship or difference between Tracker (G & E prices) and appropriate "yardsticks", say one alternative fixed and one variable tariff? Ideally in see-at-a-glance graphical format.  Last time the relative positions were reversed I waited much too long before exiting Tracker and suffered the consequences as a result.
Granted that swings & roundabouts are inevitable, and one is never going to get the timing spot on, monitoring the differences should at least provide an exercise in damage limitation (I hope) 

Qyburn

Something like this ...