Octopus Economy 7 tariff?

ed110220

Does anyone know what the story is with Octopus and an Economy 7 tariff? A friend of mine said he has just switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. The night rate is cheaper than the 14.51p on the Octopus Flux tariff I'm on and is for a longer period (7 hours rather than 3 on Flux). I have a battery so a large majority of my import is off-peak and it would be even more if the off peak window was bigger as my inverter has a maximum charge rate of 3 kW so can get a maximum of 9 kWh into the 15 kWh battery in the 3 hour Flux period, but could easily fully charge it in 7 hours.

I called up Octopus asking to switch and they said they don't offer such a tariff. To be clear we both have smart meters not the oldfashioned E7 meters with a separate off-peak circuit so perhaps it's an issue with naming?

Here's a screenshot he sent:-

YBR

I also have an Octopus e7 tariff on a smart meter.

I previously had a traditional E7 meter, and the house previously had some storage heaters. When they fitted the new meters I continued on the same tariff (then standard variable).

Swipe

Call back and speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. Don't expect to be switched to E7 right away over the phone though as the request will likely need go to a separate team to be changed.

QrizB

Swipe said:

Call back and speak to someone who knows what they are talking about.

Yes, this.

Current rates in my region from https://octopus.energy/tariffs/ :

Flexible Octopus:

Eco 7 Electricity
    Day unit rate:31.00 p/kWh
    Night unit rate:12.90 p/kWh
    Standing charge:62.48 p/day

Compare Flux:

Electricity
    Day rate:24.62 p/kWh
    Peak rate (16:00 - 19:00):34.46 p/kWh
    Flux rate (02:00 - 05:00):14.77 p/kWh
    Standing charge:62.22 p/day

I'm sure you know your day/night split so you can work out what's best for you.

lohr500

Throwing this into the mix as well.

If you can shift most of your usage to the off-peak window and run off your batteries during the peak window, then take a look at the Utility Warehouse Economy 7 tariff.

In my region it is currently around 5p off peak / 35p peak with a 65p standing charge.
The peak rate is particularly high, but irrelevant if you don't use it, or only need to dip in very occasionally.

Or look at the Tomato Energy Lifestyle tariff that also offers a +/-5p off peak rate for 6 hours.
I had doubts though over Tomato Energy's survivability and I also had lots of problems with their billing accuracy, so I switched away from them last month. Have a look at the Tomato Energy thread on the forum to get a flavour for the issues. Also, if you have a SMETS1 meter, they won't be able to provide one of their Lifestyle tariffs.  

Qyburn

Since the OP appears to be on Flux at the moment, export rates need to be factored in as well.

I've no idea what UW pay. Tomato told me they don't pay anything (although someone on here though they offer 7p).  Worst case the OP would have to settle for Octopus' SEG at 4.1p/kWh.

QrizB

Qyburn said:

Worst case the OP would have to settle for Octopus' SEG at 4.1p/kWh.

With a conventional E7 tariff, they'd qualify for Outgoing Fixed at 15p/kWh.

Scot_39

ed110220 said:

Does anyone know what the story is with Octopus and an Economy 7 tariff? A friend of mine said he has just switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. The night rate is cheaper than the 14.51p on the Octopus Flux tariff I'm on and is for a longer period (7 hours rather than 3 on Flux). I have a battery so a large majority of my import is off-peak and it would be even more if the off peak window was bigger as my inverter has a maximum charge rate of 3 kW so can get a maximum of 9 kWh into the 15 kWh battery in the 3 hour Flux period, but could easily fully charge it in 7 hours.

I called up Octopus asking to switch and they said they don't offer such a tariff. To be clear we both have smart meters not the oldfashioned E7 meters with a separate off-peak circuit so perhaps it's an issue with naming?

Here's a screenshot he sent:-

It's tabled on their blog.


But do the maths e7 day peak is likely to hopigher than standard rate if not evening peak rate.

You need to factor use x rate across both / three rates.

Non trivial caalc for many but iirc Dont Octopus  give you a tool to compare ariffs against half hourly slots data in recent past months etc.

Spoonie_Turtle

Scot_39 said:

ed110220 said:

Does anyone know what the story is with Octopus and an Economy 7 tariff? A friend of mine said he has just switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. The night rate is cheaper than the 14.51p on the Octopus Flux tariff I'm on and is for a longer period (7 hours rather than 3 on Flux). I have a battery so a large majority of my import is off-peak and it would be even more if the off peak window was bigger as my inverter has a maximum charge rate of 3 kW so can get a maximum of 9 kWh into the 15 kWh battery in the 3 hour Flux period, but could easily fully charge it in 7 hours.

I called up Octopus asking to switch and they said they don't offer such a tariff. To be clear we both have smart meters not the oldfashioned E7 meters with a separate off-peak circuit so perhaps it's an issue with naming?

Here's a screenshot he sent:-

It's tabled on their blog.


But do the maths e7 day peak is likely to hopigher than standard rate if not evening peak rate.

You need to factor use x rate across both / three rates.

Non trivial caalc for many but iirc Dont Octopus  give you a tool to compare ariffs against half hourly slots data in recent past months etc.

There is an app, Octopus Compare, although AIUI it's not affiliated with Octopus themselves.  The free version gives the calculations for the previous day, seven days, and 30 days.

Scot_39

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Scot_39 said:

ed110220 said:

Does anyone know what the story is with Octopus and an Economy 7 tariff? A friend of mine said he has just switched to Economy 7 with Octopus. The night rate is cheaper than the 14.51p on the Octopus Flux tariff I'm on and is for a longer period (7 hours rather than 3 on Flux). I have a battery so a large majority of my import is off-peak and it would be even more if the off peak window was bigger as my inverter has a maximum charge rate of 3 kW so can get a maximum of 9 kWh into the 15 kWh battery in the 3 hour Flux period, but could easily fully charge it in 7 hours.

I called up Octopus asking to switch and they said they don't offer such a tariff. To be clear we both have smart meters not the oldfashioned E7 meters with a separate off-peak circuit so perhaps it's an issue with naming?

Here's a screenshot he sent:-

It's tabled on their blog.


But do the maths e7 day peak is likely to hopigher than standard rate if not evening peak rate.

You need to factor use x rate across both / three rates.

Non trivial caalc for many but iirc Dont Octopus  give you a tool to compare ariffs against half hourly slots data in recent past months etc.

There is an app, Octopus Compare, although AIUI it's not affiliated with Octopus themselves.  The free version gives the calculations for the previous day, seven days, and 30 days.

Thanks - the app stores say is independent - just seen others here refer to it as a useful tool.

Qyburn

QrizB said:

Qyburn said:

Worst case the OP would have to settle for Octopus' SEG at 4.1p/kWh.

With a conventional E7 tariff, they'd qualify for Outgoing Fixed at 15p/kWh.

By taking only the last part of my comment you've lost or misunderstood the context, which was in response to people's suggestions of changing to different suppliers. 

Just in case it's still unclear, if the OP moves to UW or Tomato they will no longer receive Flux export payments, and won't qualify for Octopus' 15p/kWh as an alternative.