Octopus (bait and) switch?

MWT

SouthernBlue said:

Luring people to switch with low numbers and then charging dramatically more is a dubious business practice and I would expect better from them.

The DD payment is not your bill, and all suppliers had to change their tariff details from April 1st at short notice due to the Government involvement in the price support...

Look at the tariff rates and compare those with your previous or alternative suppliers, changing just to get a lower DD estimate is a pointless exercise...

TheElectricCow

SouthernBlue said:

I think I have fallen for the same bait and switch by Octopus.  

My Flexible Octopus account for Gas and Electricity was opened on 31 March but the monies they are collecting bear no resemblance to either quote provided (£282.96 per month) or to the new pricing info they supplied me on 24 March (£3749.49 per annum) to start 1 April.

Without explanation other than stating they are doing it, I was told also on 24 March my first payment would be £476.28 on 31 March and the same monthly thereafter. By my calculation £3749.49 per annum should be £312.46 per month.

There is nothing transparent about this despite their "personal" email from Greg Jackson, their CEO.  

Frankly I changed from British Gas because £282 was lower than what I was paying there and they had awful customer service.

Given the complete lack of response on the their email accounts, I begin to doubt Octopus too.

I am in the new contract cooling off period but if I do not have adequate explanation and resolution shortly I will activate the clause and revert the account to another supplier.

Luring people to switch with low numbers and then charging dramatically more is a dubious business practice and I would expect better from them.

Unless you actually do anything different to reduce your energy consumption the bill will end up being exactly the same whether you stayed with BG or switched to Octopus, excluding any potential minor variations in tariffs.

The amount of money they collect each month is just that - the amount they collect. What you actually pay for is based entirely on your own consumption, so if they haven’t collected enough you’ll end up having to pay in the difference and if they collect too much you’ll get that money back. Any “quotes” or annual pricing information they may have sent would have only been an estimate.

The one advantage you have with Octopus here is you can choose your own direct debit amount for them to collect each month, and this will only take around 30 seconds to do if you log into your account online with no need to involve customer services. 

But as a word of warning, if you don’t know what your actual energy use/cost is then it wouldn’t be advisable to set this below their recommendation until you’re able to work it out for yourself, as you’d risk building up a large debt on the account if you do get it wrong.

Might also be a very good idea to watch out for the final bill from British Gas once you receive it, as if you haven’t been paying attention to these things previously it’s possible that your payments were not covering the use with them and you could be in for a nasty surprise. Naturally on the other side of things they may in fact owe you a credit, so either way it’s in your interest to try and work out what you’ve actually used rather than looking only at monthly payments.

Qyburn

With Octopus you can pay by variable Direct Debit so no argument or guesswork about the monthly payment. You do need to be prepared for bigger bills in Winter.

RedDwarf82

I have actually changed from E.ON Next to Octopus too. I also did it just before the 1st April changes (the actual switch was on 29 March). I knew it was coming, but it's true they didn't mention it during the switch process.

Still, the fact is that:

- E.ON Next refused to install a smart meter because I have an Economy 7 meter (which I use with a single rate tariff). I already have an appointment to get a Smart Meter via Octopus.

- Octopus _is_ cheaper. At least in the East Midlands.

As right now, the maximum legal rates in East Midlands (used by E.ON Next) are:

- Electricity

Standing charge: £174.88/year (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/default-tariff-cap-level-1-april-2023-30-june-2023)

Unit rate: 30.86p/kWh (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates-april-to-june-2023)

- Gas

Standing charge: £101.20/year (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/default-tariff-cap-level-1-april-2023-30-june-2023)
Unit rate: 9.70p/kWh (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates/energy-price-guarantee-regional-rates-april-to-june-2023)

(plus 5% VAT)

Octopus emailed me on 29 March, the day of the switch, clearly specifying the new rates (VAT included)

- Electricity
48.664p/day (the legal maximum is 174.88*1.05 / 365 = 50.31 p/day)
32.4 p/kWh (the legal maximum is 30.86 * 1.05 = 32.403 p/kWh)

- Gas
27.468p/day (the legal maximum is 101.20*1.05 / 365 = 29.11 p/day)
10.184p/kWh (the legal maximum is 9.70 * 1.05 = 10.185 p/kWh)

So the unit rate is basically the Energy Price Guarantee one. But the standing charge is lower than the Ofgem default tariff cap.

Specifically, I save

- Electricity: £174.88 * 1.05 - 48.664 p/100×365 = £183.624 - £177.6236 = £6.0004

- Gas: £101.20 * 1.05 -27.468 p/100×365 = £106.26 - £100.2582 = £6.0018

So Octopus is £6/year per fuel cheaper. £12/year, £1/month, cheaper on dual fuel. At least on the East Midlands.

Apparently they have had a 4% discount on the standing charge for half a year (https://octopus.energy/press/octopus-takes-stand-against-standing-charges-with-40m-package/). Right now, in the East Midlands, it's a 6.0004 / 183.624 = 3.27% for electricity and 6.0018 / 106.26 = 5.65% for gas. A 4.14% on average for dual fuel.

Add the 2x£50 referral bonus (https://octopus.energy/blog/octopus-referrals/) and... no complaints.