Octopus Agile vs Tracker

morgmonster

Backlit5584 said:

morgmonster said:

Ah this is fantastic - I hadn't tried that one thanks. It's run the comparison on my usage data. Difference in the past 30 days is a couple of quid to benefit of Tracker so good to know everything has been broadly equivalent. I could have done a bit more to move usage but also I don't think it's that realistic I would do that every day of the year. 

I'll make up some ground today and yesterday I'm sure. I guess it means it's probably not a particularly big deal for me which is selected.

Did you notice that they will backdate the start of Tracker to yesterday (July 1st) if we switch, so all the hours of cheap / negative electricity this weekend will be wasted- consider if it you’re someone who’s gone crazy using as much electricity as you could! (Just reading the other thread about people using fan heaters and AC all day!)

[Deleted User]

Does anyone know of an app or site where I can look at our daily hour-to-hour usage averaged over a month or whatever to try and work out whether the savings made being able to shift the tumble drying will offset having higher rates 4-9pm?

Try Octopus Compare

[Deleted User]

But as for Agile - sheesh, I can see those who don’t understand the tariff getting burnt with that and then Octopus needing to defend themselves in the media.

The risks are pretty clear. If consumers are not prepared to read the small print or monitor daily costs etc then they are better off staying on a standard variable or fixed tariff. Octopus mitigates the risk to the consumer by capping the future liability and by providing same day (midnight) switching with no exit fees. Agile was brought in 5 years ago to see if consumer energy use behaviour could be changed:

https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-report/

morgmonster

[Deleted User] said:

Does anyone know of an app or site where I can look at our daily hour-to-hour usage averaged over a month or whatever to try and work out whether the savings made being able to shift the tumble drying will offset having higher rates 4-9pm?

Try Octopus Compare

I already have this app, unfortunately it doesn’t include Tracker, but I’ll look again to see if it does the average 24 hour use thing 

masonic

morgmonster said:

Dolor said:

Does anyone know of an app or site where I can look at our daily hour-to-hour usage averaged over a month or whatever to try and work out whether the savings made being able to shift the tumble drying will offset having higher rates 4-9pm?

Try Octopus Compare

I already have this app, unfortunately it doesn’t include Tracker, but I’ll look again to see if it does the average 24 hour use thing 

It does give you the average unit price for a particular day if you swipe left on the table of half hourly usage. Today and yesterday will be atypical, but if you pick some dates in June you'll get a guide to the normal situation.

mmmmikey

[Deleted User] said:

But as for Agile - sheesh, I can see those who don’t understand the tariff getting burnt with that and then Octopus needing to defend themselves in the media.

The risks are pretty clear. If consumers are not prepared to read the small print or monitor daily costs etc then they are better off staying on a standard variable or fixed tariff. Octopus mitigates the risk to the consumer by capping the future liability and by providing same day (midnight) switching with no exit fees. Agile was brought in 5 years ago to see if consumer energy use behaviour could be changed:

https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-report/

Agree with all of this. You don't even need to read the small print to get a good understanding of what Agile is - it's all there in front of you on the website.

But that's the way it should be and I suspect the way it actually is may be very different, with large numbers of people having signed up without a basic knowledge of what they have signed up for. Sadly we're living in a time where I suspect many of these customers will want to blame Octopus rather than take personal responsibility for their errors if it doesn't work out for them. So I fear that Octopus will end up needing to defend themselves, not because I think that is right or fair, but because that's where things seem to be at the moment.

masonic

mmmmikey said:

[Deleted User] said:

But as for Agile - sheesh, I can see those who don’t understand the tariff getting burnt with that and then Octopus needing to defend themselves in the media.

The risks are pretty clear. If consumers are not prepared to read the small print or monitor daily costs etc then they are better off staying on a standard variable or fixed tariff. Octopus mitigates the risk to the consumer by capping the future liability and by providing same day (midnight) switching with no exit fees. Agile was brought in 5 years ago to see if consumer energy use behaviour could be changed:

https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-report/

Agree with all of this. You don't even need to read the small print to get a good understanding of what Agile is - it's all there in front of you on the website.

But that's the way it should be and I suspect the way it actually is may be very different, with large numbers of people having signed up without a basic knowledge of what they have signed up for. Sadly we're living in a time where I suspect many of these customers will want to blame Octopus rather than take personal responsibility for their errors if it doesn't work out for them. So I fear that Octopus will end up needing to defend themselves, not because I think that is right or fair, but because that's where things seem to be at the moment.

I don't think there's any way they can avoid this unfortunately, even if they required customers to pass a quiz before being allowed on the tariff, there is still the risk they will see red when the potential high prices happen to them in reality. Part and parcel of offering services to consumers.

[Deleted User]

Perhaps this website can take a share of any blame ( not that I think there will be any):

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2023/02/wholesale-energy-prices-are-falling---is-it-worth-switching-to-o/

NonGeographicalMan

The main reason I'm moving to Octopus and going for Tracker and not Agile is because two thirds of my energy use by cost is gas rather than electricity and there is no Agile Gas tariff.  Therefore for me Tracker works better than Agile in apparently generally offering lower cost gas prices and not having to worry about time of day of electricity use, which in the main I am not in a great position to shift to other times of day although I am often out and not at home in the peak electricity cost period.

It is however a shame that Octopus doesn't offer a time of day related gas tariff as even though readings only come through every two hours surely that's still enough to get customers to use less in the peak gas periods and more in the off peak ones.  However I believe the argument is that gas is just sitting there in storage waiting to be used so there is no advantage to people using less at peak times and shifting their use in to the off peak unlike electricity generation and more peak winter use having to be provided by coal fired power stations in the middle of the winter.

I could only save appreciable amounts on electricity by putting a timer on my fridge and freezer and shutting them off for 4 hours in the peak price period, which might be inadvisable for food safety, especially on the freezer side....

I may still take fright of Tracker and move over to Octopus's standard variable capped tariffs depending what actually happens with prices going in to the winter months...............

QrizB

NonGeographicalMan said:

The main reason I'm moving to Octopus and going for Tracker and not Agile is because two thirds of my energy use by cost is gas rather than electricity and there is no Agile Gas tariff.

You can have Agile electricity and Tracker gas. Octopus will let you mix & match tariffs.

NonGeographicalMan said:

It is however a shame that Octopus doesn't offer a time of day related gas tariff

Wholesale gas is priced daily, not half-hourly. As gas can be stored, there's no need for a more granular wholesale market.