Hypocrisy of the Energy Companies

Chrysalis

BeverleyB52 said:

I live in a flat complex, which is electricity only, have storage heating and applied for an Economy 10 tariff and meter via SSE when I moved in 5 years ago.  Most people here are on Economy 7, but I prefer Economy 10 as it gives me 3 hours off peak afternoon and 2 hours off peak evening use, as well as 5 hours overnight which is so much more useful for washing, cooking, ironing, heating etc during the day as I am retired.  I have used Fixed Price Plan options in the past but was then migrated over to OVO about a year ago.  Since coming off my fixed plan earlier this year, I have had no choice but to be on their Simpler Energy variable tariff as they refuse to offer me any Fixed Price options unless I agree to having a Smart Meter.  However, if I do agree to have a Smart Meter, they then tell me I can only have access to one single tariff night and day.  This would increase my energy costs significantly and I have lost the Winter Fuel Allowance, along with many others.
Both Govt and Energy companies pretend they want clients to conserve energy and primarily use off peak if possible but they have given me absolutely no incentive whatsoever to do this - in fact, the opposite. They are penalising me and discriminating against me for having an Economy 10 meter so the majority of my use is off peak.  Because I'm on Economy 10, I cannot use any of the cheap energy clubs/switching mechanisms that other people can access.  Why are the energy companies so anti-Economy 10 and Economy 7 users?

Whenever I have looked at E7, its always looked pretty bad value.

Agile on the other hand (and especially the specialised tariffs like cosy) is usually noticeably better value in my opinion. my view is, if you value cheaper off peak, get a smart meter.   Agile doesn't give you price certainty though, Cosy does.

EssexHebridean

E7 can be a good solid option for those with storage heaters and an immersion at they need to know they can reliably make use of for a period of time overnight. Having been on Agile for a while now, it certainly wouldn’t have been a good option for us in our old home as while there have been some days where yes, the overnight stuff could have been dramatically cheaper, there have also been far more when an E7 off peak rate would have been more favourable. 

I find the beauty of Agile is based on being able to make choices around when I opt to make the bulk of our electricity use - but with NSH’s you don’t have that flexibility. 

Chrysalis

EssexHebridean said:

E7 can be a good solid option for those with storage heaters and an immersion at they need to know they can reliably make use of for a period of time overnight. Having been on Agile for a while now, it certainly wouldn’t have been a good option for us in our old home as while there have been some days where yes, the overnight stuff could have been dramatically cheaper, there have also been far more when an E7 off peak rate would have been more favourable. 

I find the beauty of Agile is based on being able to make choices around when I opt to make the bulk of our electricity use - but with NSH’s you don’t have that flexibility. 

Octopus compare app can help on that, over time when you average everything out it calculated for me Agile is cheaper and I dont load shift most of the time, although I did recently on immersion and portable heater.

The time's I do tell people to stay away from Agile though is if they consistently are heavy users between 4 and 7 pm (which I know is a lot of people).  Or if they are risk averse (also a fair amount of people).

Cosy however is a good alternative for the risk averse, the requirements seem to have been relaxed from what I remember they were initially, although still has the heavy 4pm period.

So maybe I am misjudging E7 based on personal circumstance, so I will just say load up data into octopus compare, but that of course needs a smart meter, yet another advantage of a smart meter.

MWT

Chrysalis said:

Cosy however is a good alternative for the risk averse, the requirements seem to have been relaxed from what I remember they were initially, although still has the heavy 4pm period.

Cosy still requires a heat pump or electric boiler though...

Chrysalis

MWT said:

Chrysalis said:

Cosy however is a good alternative for the risk averse, the requirements seem to have been relaxed from what I remember they were initially, although still has the heavy 4pm period.

Cosy still requires a heat pump or electric boiler though...

They allowed a friend on for electric heating, so I checked and it now says call us for other situations (or something like that), so they seemed to have opened it up a bit.

EssexHebridean

that's good to hear, as I did think when it was first launched that it would have been a good potential option for those with NSHs, except they didn't include those originally! 

Scot_39

Re Cosy.

And apologies if this hijacking thread but may be relevant to OP too.


Does anyone know if offered with NSH electrical heating  

Would Octopus configure a smart meter ALCS feature  to switch restricted circuits for the three dips ?

(I'd probably prefer 2 - well to be fair 1 the early AM as the afternoon one matches exactly in any case - of these 3 off peak periods to those of my E10.)

Or would you need to have home circuits modified to use own timer ?

ed110220

Scot_39 said:

Netexporter said:

E7 and E10 were the best that energy companies could do with dumb meters. It is outdated technology that will be phased out. If you get a smart meter you will find many more tariffs with off-peak periods. Octopus Cosy might suit as I think it has a top-up during the day.

Possibly not available to OP assuming he has conventional NSH panels - from Octopus site

"You need a heat pump or electric boiler to be eligible for Cosy Octopus."

I was on Cosy Octopus last year. I don't have a heat pump and they never asked, let alone asked for evidence of one.

QrizB

I don't think the OP ever came back, but it's interesting to know that Octopus will let you have Cosy without a heat pump.

There's also Snug which is specifically intended for storage heaters & smart meters. Six hours overnight plus a 1hr afternoon/evening boost:
https://octopus.energy/smart/snug-octopus/