Octopus Agile

Newbie_John

Smeagal said:

For those mentioning tomato I switched from agile to tomato a couple of weeks ago and my gas is still on tracker and it is still showing the 30 min gas usage readings in my octopus account since I switched.

The sc for my region was 60p soon going to 65p on agile and now 40p on tomato and 5p overnight everynight and no peak, over the last week or so it's been about 20% cheaper than agile would have been.

Yeah, recent month has been bad on Agile. Looking back I've calculated that TE Lifestyle would be 15% more expensive than Agile but I can set all the automations just once (and easier for family to remember) and also as you say - there's no peak, so I can ignore the clock for the rest of the day 😅

Bendo

Set Tomato Lifestyle rates as a custom tariff in Octopus Compare and it looks like most months I'd be a few quid better off.

Not significantly enough to make me want to jump yet but will keep an eye on it.

Telegraph_Sam

I read somewhere that Tomato works only if you have (solars and) a battery installed. That would rule it out for me and makes me think that it is only worth it if you can do significant load shifts (as with Agile). Whereas from what I can see So Energy Tulip does not have this small print. Correct me if I am wrong (still on learning curve)

I'm editing my previous post to say that I have since read some reviews of Tomato. The advice is to use a barge pole.  I'll think twice.

Spoonie_Turtle

Telegraph_Sam said:

I read somewhere that Tomato works only if you have (solars and) a battery installed. That would rule it out for me and makes me think that it is only worth it if you can do significant load shifts (as with Agile). Whereas from what I can see So Energy Tulip does not have this small print. Correct me if I am wrong (still on learning curve)

I'm editing my previous post to say that I have since read some reviews of Tomato. The advice is to use a barge pole.  I'll think twice.

That's not the case.  Rates on offer for some tariff version differ though, dependent upon solar and/or battery.  I can't remember what differences, it was a while ago I had a look and their website wasn't great on mobile.

I didn't investigate particularly thoroughly though as I had my doubts about them (and still do - briefly mentioned in the early pages of the Tomato thread).

Oscarmax

Our average import cost on Agile so far for this month 288.62 kWh £34.35 kWh just under 12 pence @ kWh.

Our export tracker  162.05 15 pence kWh = £24.31 

£10.04 for 30 days this month plus 52.31 pence standing charge £15.69 =£25.73 so far this month.

Qyburn

Telegraph_Sam said:

I read somewhere that Tomato works only if you have (solars and) a battery installed.  

If you tell Tomato you have either solar, or battery, or both then the quoted prices go up. And furthermore they don't pay anything for export.

Newbie_John

They apparently pay 7p for export now.

It's not the prices go up if you tell them you have solar or battery.. it just shows you one of 8 different lifestyle tarrifs - they vary by costs and by different cheaper periods - so pick and choose what works best for you.

I have the one with 5p at night (without battery, solar, EV) and learnt how to shift most of my usage over night thanks to Agile, and for the past two weeks averaging about 10p/kWh. 

The 5p version of Lifestyle is like Agile on a good day, like cheap E7 tariff without penalty in daytime rate, and it's also fixed for a year.

Although as a new provider they have a lot of issues, none customer service, bills won't be calculated correctly (30 minutes sides of your cheaper windows), but what's most important for me - bills will be cheap 😉

Qyburn

Newbie_John said:

They apparently pay 7p for export now.

It's not the prices go up if you tell them you have solar or battery.. it just shows you one of 8 different lifestyle tarrifs - they vary by costs and by different cheaper periods - so pick and choose what works best for you.

Thanks. I couldn't see a way to change the tariff profile except by answering those questions. In fact I still can't. It's tempting for sure, especially over Winter, but I'd be wary about signing up by declaring I don't have solar. And it would presumably mean no export payment either.

My previous assumption was they charge higher prices for customers with solar because they'll be getting less business from them.

Newbie_John

It's these questions on the right hand side that bring different prices - try playing with them and they change prices - here example if you select you're a pensioner 14p at peak times 
For people worrying about lying - they don't check, there are multiple posts on FB group where people say these are suggestions after speaking with TE.. and it seems 95% people choose the 5p at night version - but if you select the correct answer to "What's your daily routine?" [Work from home, 9-5 worker, Night Shift, Pensioner] it changes the tarriff - so everyone isn't fully honest there.

EssexHebridean

Is it only me that can't see how this pricing is going to be sustainable for Tomato?