Coming off an Octopus Fix, what should I do?

Jim75

Hi there,

I'm just coming off an Octopus 24M Fixed (Electricity, 25.08p/kWh, standing charge 25.66p/day and Gas 5.84p/kWh, standing charge 26.10p/day)

I'm a bit confused with all the price cap info (don't think it applies to me as I'm on a standard tariff) …should I fix again? Or should I just go on to the normal rate (which I'm assuming will get the price tariff). I've had a look at the Loyal Octopus 12M rate and that seems higher than what I'm currently on.

I'm in a family house of 4.

Any advice would be much appreciated, my fix finishes in early October.

Thanks
Jim

PennineAcute

Prices today are higher than what they were when you took the tariff two-years ago.

You can now fix (at a higher price than what you are paying now), go onto the variable tariff (which again is higher than what you are paying now) or take your chance with one of their smart tariffs.

Fix or variable, higher prices than what you are currently paying.  Smart could be cheaper than what you are currently paying (but currently much cheaper than the current variable tariff) but for how long? 

If I wanted certainty of knowing how much I was going to pay, I would fix.  If I wanted to gamble slightly, I would go onto the variable tariff.  If I was in for a big gamble (at this time of year) I would take one of their smart tariffs.

Which one you go for is entirely up to you alone.

QrizB

PennineAcute said:

If I wanted certainty of knowing how much I was going to pay, I would fix.  If I wanted to gamble slightly, I would go onto the variable tariff.  If I was in for a big gamble (at this time of year) I would take one of their smart tariffs.

You can see all the various current options at:

https://octopus.energy/tariffs/

Ignore the "get a quote" button, enter your postcode then filter on domestic tariffs.

For example, I can see:

• Flexible Octopus: elec 30.30p/kWh & 47.95p/day, gas 7.61p/kWh & 27.47p/day (will fall a bit in October)
  
• Loyal Octopus 12M Fixed Jul 2023 v1: elec 28.36p/kWh & 47.95p/day, gas 7.14p/kWh & 27.47p/day

As for smart tariffs, there's Tracker elec and gas (which change price every day), Agile elec (changes price every 30 minutes), Intelligent and Agile elec (only open to EV owners), Cosy elec (only heat pump owners) or Flux elec (only solar panel owners).

You don't have to take gas and electricity together, so you could eg. have Flexible elec and Tracker gas.

There's a useful comparison of the smart tariffs at:

https://energy-stats.uk/octopus-agile-southern-england/

(Southern is my region, there are separate pages for each region and tariff.)