Very pushy replacement energy meter calls

BarelySentientAI

prowla said:

Netexporter said:

As commented, they do say the Agile tariff is designed for users with batteries who can save by charging off-peak.

That isn't true. I don't have batteries or solar and I paid an average of just over 9p/kWh for my last billing period. The highest average I've ever paid on Agile is under 20p, and that was when the SVT was about 30p, so a 33% saving.

I checked and misquoted their site; it says "best suited", not "designed for" and mentions shifting usage along with solar and batteries:

You'll obviously be able to get the best results with totally flexible load, like having so many batteries that you only need to use the grid at the absolute cheapest prices, but most people have some things they can shift (when to do laundry, batch cooking, even vacuuming or ironing) to get some benefit.

Although despite my advocacy for smart tariffs and things, I still don't have one.  Mainly inertia and being fortunate enough to not need to count each penny just yet.

Spoonie_Turtle

Chrysalis said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Chrysalis said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

MP1995 said:

Marvel1 said:

MP1995 said:

We have become a greener user of electricity since changing to Agile.

This benefits the world and also in turn benefits us with really cheap electricity like 10-12p kwh......pre price hike(s) prices.

I do find these anti smart meter posts funny but am happy for those that don't want one to carry on.

However......... do this somewhere else.........this is a money saving site and surely the money saving option is to get a smart meter?

Surely a smart meter is meant to do what it is suppose to do and send regular readings through out the day to save money in the first place.

However, when you have one fitted, I believe you should get cheaper rates even if it is not communicating as effectively as required. Might not be the exact savings of 30 min load shifting that some can do but once fitted it should be able to say take advantage of a tariff like tracker with manual readings sent if necessary.

I believe that is almost the case for Tracker.  As long as it communicates with Octopus to start with, if it then fails they don't boot you off the tariff because half-hourly data isn't necessary to bill like it is for Agile. 

(And with them being consistently inconsistent, someone with a smart meter fitted that doesn't communicate from the start might think it worth asking to join Tracker anyway, on the off-chance an individual rep might agree with the principle of it … )

I think even Agile has a fallback, I remember reading on the Octopus website that when 30 minute data is not available they will assume a certain usage spread based on common usage pattern.

As far as I'm aware the fallback for Agile is billing based on the SVT.  What you describe sounds like what they do for Tracker, using an industry formula to apportion usage across the days between readings.

I recall what I read very clearly, there is/was a graph on their website which they use as kind of a emulated usage pattern if they dont have access to the 30 minute data.  So they take the daily usage and then apply a certain % of it for each slot, with most of it going to peak hours.

There would be no point on the tracker as the tracker is not a TOU tariff, it doesnt matter what time of day you use the energy.

I just spent 5 minutes to see if I could find the page but cannot, so it may have changed now or its just a pain to find the information.

I just meant apportion to the days, not times within the day.

Please let us know if you are able to find it again; I've not dug into the minutiae of Agile (as currently Tracker is a good compromise for us between savings and mental bandwidth) but if they do do that instead of billing based on SVT rates that could be really useful for others to know.

prowla

FYI, I'm having Smart Meters installed this week; I hadn't seen the need before, but the ability to have dials and graphs on an app might be fun.

My water and heating is gas, which was 7.16p/kWh on my last bill, with my electric being 27.42p/kWh; I don't know if I'll be able to do anything significant about my usage, but maybe my one dishwasher run and one clothes wash per week shifting to an of-peak tariff might save me a few pennies.

MeteredOut

prowla said:

FYI, I'm having Smart Meters installed this week; I hadn't seen the need before, but the ability to have dials and graphs on an app might be fun.

My water and heating is gas, which was 7.16p/kWh on my last bill, with my electric being 27.42p/kWh; I don't know if I'll be able to do anything significant about my usage, but maybe my one dishwasher run and one clothes wash per week shifting to an of-peak tariff might save me a few pennies.

Those look like pre-April rates. The price cap reduced these from April 1st.

mmmmikey

prowla said:

mmmmikey said:

prowla said:

I took a look at Octopus' Agile offering and they say:

Agile Octopus is one of our innovative beta smart tariffs, helping bring cheaper and greener power to all our customers, but is directly impacted by wholesale market volatility.

Agile prices can spike up to 100 p/kWh any time - although a typical household in Winter '22-'23 paid around 35 p/kWh average.

This tariff is best suited to customers who can shift large amounts of their energy use to avoid these expensive peaks, often by using smart home technologies like solar and batteries.

That 35p/kWh dosn't seem very attractive?

Also, I don't have a battery, so couldn't do that shift to charge it during cheaper times.

This screenshot from the Octopus Watch app taken just now might be of interest. It shows import only and compares what I actually paid over the last 12 months and what I would have paid on various Octopus tarriffs. The one that may be of most interest to you is Tracker which doesn't need any load shifting and still shows a £400+ saving over the standard variable rate.

That's an interesting graph - very useful info!

As commented, they do say the Agile tariff is designed for users with batteries who can save by charging off-peak.

You've got solar and battery, so i would expect your readings to be significanty lower than I might achieve with neither.

I'm not in a position to have either of those, so we're somewhat comparing apples and pears.

Sure, yes, you're correct in relation to Agile - no point in comparing my usage to yours. The sentence in my post that perhaps I should have emphasised more was:

"The one that may be of most interest to you is Tracker which doesn't need any load shifting and still shows a £400+ saving over the standard variable rate."

There are a number of different TOU tarriffs that you can benefit from - the best one depends on your specific use pattern.

The point is that you don't need solar or batteries or do any load shifting at all to benefit from the £400 Tracker saving. Anyone on SVR in the East Midlands paying £100 or so per month for electricity would have paid £30 or so per month less if they had chosen to change to Tracker a year ago. YMMV but there are definitely savings out there to be had that you can benefit from if you have a smart meter. As this is first and foremost a money saving website you can understand why most folks here are so enthusiastic about them.

Netexporter

Another bonus of having a smart meter is being able to take part in the winter energy saving sessions, getting paid up to £4/kWh for what you don't use.

mmmmikey

prowla said:

FYI, I'm having Smart Meters installed this week; I hadn't seen the need before, but the ability to have dials and graphs on an app might be fun.

My water and heating is gas, which was 7.16p/kWh on my last bill, with my electric being 27.42p/kWh; I don't know if I'll be able to do anything significant about my usage, but maybe my one dishwasher run and one clothes wash per week shifting to an of-peak tariff might save me a few pennies.

That's great - be good if you can feed back your experiences, positive or negative, as you get it all set up.

prowla

mmmmikey said:

prowla said:

FYI, I'm having Smart Meters installed this week; I hadn't seen the need before, but the ability to have dials and graphs on an app might be fun.

My water and heating is gas, which was 7.16p/kWh on my last bill, with my electric being 27.42p/kWh; I don't know if I'll be able to do anything significant about my usage, but maybe my one dishwasher run and one clothes wash per week shifting to an of-peak tariff might save me a few pennies.

That's great - be good if you can feed back your experiences, positive or negative, as you get it all set up.

Will do; I'm not expecting to be able to retire to the Seychelles on the proceeds, but we'll see how it goes.

mmmmikey

prowla said:

mmmmikey said:

prowla said:

FYI, I'm having Smart Meters installed this week; I hadn't seen the need before, but the ability to have dials and graphs on an app might be fun.

My water and heating is gas, which was 7.16p/kWh on my last bill, with my electric being 27.42p/kWh; I don't know if I'll be able to do anything significant about my usage, but maybe my one dishwasher run and one clothes wash per week shifting to an of-peak tariff might save me a few pennies.

That's great - be good if you can feed back your experiences, positive or negative, as you get it all set up.

Will do; I'm not expecting to be able to retire to the Seychelles on the proceeds, but we'll see how it goes.

Well you might get enough for a weekend in Skegness after a couple of years - what's not to like

Eldi_Dos

Netexporter said:

prowla said:

I took a look at Octopus' Agile offering and they say:

Agile Octopus is one of our innovative beta smart tariffs, helping bring cheaper and greener power to all our customers, but is directly impacted by wholesale market volatility.

Agile prices can spike up to 100 p/kWh any time - although a typical household in Winter '22-'23 paid around 35 p/kWh average.

This tariff is best suited to customers who can shift large amounts of their energy use to avoid these expensive peaks, often by using smart home technologies like solar and batteries.

That 35p/kWh dosn't seem very attractive?

Also, I don't have a battery, so couldn't do that shift to charge it during cheaper times.

You just minimise your usage between 16:00 and 19:00. I don't have a battery or solar but I always pay far less than the SVT.

As someone who lived through the rolling blackouts of the 1970,s that sounds very unappealing, no matter what the saving in unit rates.