Octopus Smart PAYG tariff

Harry_Hardup

Currently on Flexible Octopus for electricity and gas and getting into debt. Asked for help, provided a budget, and Octopus have offered an electric blanket and a one-off credit to give a Standing Charge Holiday for 6 months and suggested I would find that the Smart PAYG tariff "offers more flexibility than a fixed direct debit".

I cannot find the tariff, and consequently the charges, for it. I have asked Octopus but they're a little slow to respond lately. Anyone here know? 

victor2

Harry_Hardup said:

Currently on Flexible Octopus for electricity and gas and getting into debt. Asked for help, provided a budget, and Octopus have offered an electric blanket and a one-off credit to give a Standing Charge Holiday for 6 months and suggested I would find that the Smart PAYG tariff "offers more flexibility than a fixed direct debit".

I cannot find the tariff, and consequently the charges, for it. I have asked Octopus but they're a little slow to respond lately. Anyone here know? 

Welcome to the forum!
I think what Octopus are suggesting is that you get a standard Direct Debit tariff but then ask them to change the payment method to a variable direct debit. In my experience, that has to be done after the account is up and running.
Smart meters means they will get accurate readings and bill you for what you have actually used. it does mean you'll have larger bills in the winter and much smaller ones on the summer. That's my interpretation of PAYG anyway.
Might make this summer more manageable, but will hit you hard next winter if you're not able to put money aside to cover the heating bills.

bristolleedsfan

victor2 said:

Harry_Hardup said:

Currently on Flexible Octopus for electricity and gas and getting into debt. Asked for help, provided a budget, and Octopus have offered an electric blanket and a one-off credit to give a Standing Charge Holiday for 6 months and suggested I would find that the Smart PAYG tariff "offers more flexibility than a fixed direct debit".

I cannot find the tariff, and consequently the charges, for it. I have asked Octopus but they're a little slow to respond lately. Anyone here know? 

Welcome to the forum!
I think what Octopus are suggesting is that you get a standard Direct Debit tariff but then ask them to change the payment method to a variable direct debit. In my experience, that has to be done after the account is up and running.
Smart meters means they will get accurate readings and bill you for what you have actually used. it does mean you'll have larger bills in the winter and much smaller ones on the summer. That's my interpretation of PAYG anyway.
Might make this summer more manageable, but will hit you hard next winter if you're not able to put money aside to cover the heating bills.

Smart PAYG tariff is prepayment smart meter, they do not have tariff rates listed for this within all tariff rate listings

https://octopus.energy/policies/prepayment-meters/

Spoonie_Turtle

Rates here, second table https://octopus.energy/blog/energy-price-cap-oct-2022/

Harry_Hardup

Southern Region	Electricity	Unit Rate	Gas	Unit Rate
	Standing Charge	KW/Hour	Standing Charge	KW/Hour
Flexible Octopus	42.77	34.23	26.84	10.46
Smart PAYG	48.43	34.92	32.17	10.62
Difference	5.66	0.69	5.33	0.15
% increase of switch	13.23	2.02	19.86	1.53

I put the table above together from figures I found following Spoonie_Turtle's link.

Why would I want to switch to a more expensive tariff when I can afford the one I'm on?

Can I be forced to switch?

Harry_Hardup

Can't afford the one I'm on?

Mstty

Hello Harry,

Out of interest what is your energy usage? Maybe you could benefit from some advice on cutting back there.

I know you have already contacted Octopus but have you read this page of theirs.

https://octopus.energy/blog/struggling-to-pay/

victor2

Harry_Hardup said:

Can't afford the one I'm on?

In the budget it was announced that the rates on prepayment meters will be bought into line with DD tariffs, but if you want to stay on your current tariff, ask Octopus to change your DD to paying only for what you use instead of a fixed monthly amount. As I previously warned though, it will mean lower summer bills, BUT much bigger bills when you have the heating on next winter. It should give you some short term relief though.

bristolleedsfan

https://twitter.com/g__j/status/1621559267332325376

"Octopus smart prepay is cheaper than standard tariffs"  Octo Chief

TheElectricCow

Harry_Hardup said:

Why would I want to switch to a more expensive tariff when I can afford the one I'm on?

Can I be forced to switch?

Octopus seems to have suggested this under the advantage of being a more “flexible” option, rather than the tariff itself being cheaper. What they mean in this sense is that you’d be able to pay whatever amount of money you wanted each day/week/month and then you’d be unable to use more energy than you can afford and would not be able to build up a large debt through continued use.

Whether or not that’s something that would benefit you in any way is more for you to decide - it can be very useful for people who perhaps struggle with budgeting or managing their energy use, but if you’re already on top of things there it may not be worth anything. The costs side is also a little up in the air at the moment, in some regions prepayment electric works out to have  cheaper unit rates than direct debit and others it can be more expensive. Although this is expected to change once some (poorly defined at the moment) changes come in which should in theory make prepayment costs the same as DD.

Being forced to switch, while possible, would be highly unlikely at this stage, especially as you’re actively engaging with the supplier. You’d usually have to continue building up debt on the account and not be paying it off for a number of months before they would go down that route, if they do at all. If you’re particularly worried about that aspect of things potentially coming up then, short of finding more money, the only semi-practical alternative would be to consider more drastic measures in cutting down your usage to repaying any debts if the situation doesn’t improve as is.

MWT

 

Harry_Hardup said:

Southern Region	Electricity	Unit Rate	Gas	Unit Rate
	Standing Charge	KW/Hour	Standing Charge	KW/Hour
Flexible Octopus	42.77	34.23	26.84	10.46
Smart PAYG	48.43	34.92	32.17	10.62
Difference	5.66	0.69	5.33	0.15
% increase of switch	13.23	2.02	19.86	1.53

I put the table above together from figures I found following Spoonie_Turtle's link.

Why would I want to switch to a more expensive tariff when I can afford the one I'm on?

Can I be forced to switch?

The Octopus PAYG tariff is shown on their normal tariff page: https://octopus.energy/tariffs/

Just scroll down to the bottom and enter your post code, then look for "Flexible Octopus Key and Card October 2018 v1"

You should find that the electricity will be cheaper than the standard variable rate as long as you are using more than around 1.5kWh each day, but the gas would be a little more expensive.