How do you change from one Octopus fixed tariff to another Octopus fixed tariff?

2013yearofthehouse

My mum is currently on fixed rate tariff with Octopus (due to end in May with no exit fees), but she would like to switch to the 16 month fixed rate loyalty tariff that Octopus are now offering and she thought she would be able to do this, since there are no exit fees on her current tariff. 

Using the Octopus app, she selects the ‘change tariff’ option on her account, which opens a webpage with the options for changing her tariff. She selects the 16 month loyalty tariff option and it quotes the prices (and a comparison with current tariff). She then presses where it says ‘review terms and confirm renewal’, which takes her to a page where she ticks the box to say she’s read the T&Cs and then selects ‘update tariff’ to confirm. However, she then gets a message saying “Your tariff isn't up for renewal yet. Come back closer to your tariff end date.”. 

Why is she getting this message, when it seems as though every other step suggests she already has the option to change tariff? I thought since there are no exit fees, that she would be able to change tariff whenever she wants to? I have seen several posts on this forum from other people saying they have switched from one Octopus fixed tariff to another Octopus fixed tariff (long before the usual 49 day allowance at the end of term, because there are no exit fees) or that they are considering doing so soon. Is there a different method for doing this? Or should it be working on the website? I’m not sure what we’re doing wrong/different to others?

Thank you

QrizB

Whenever I've wanted to change tariff with Octopus, and it hasn't been the end of my current deal, I've emailed hello@octopus.energy and the CS reps have sorted it out for me.

There might be other options but that one has always worked.

Alnat1

A phone call also works well, they make the switch while you're chatting to them. Usually answered in less than 5 minutes too.

Sea_Shell

QrizB said:

Whenever I've wanted to change tariff with Octopus, and it hasn't been the end of my current deal, I've emailed hello@octopus.energy and the CS reps have sorted it out for me.

There might be other options but that one has always worked.

Do they usually honour any enquiries on switching mid-term if the current tariff changes whilst you crunch the numbers.

eg  Will the current June25 V1 be replaced next week, by July25 V1, and may be more expensive?   

QrizB

Sea_Shell said:

QrizB said:

Whenever I've wanted to change tariff with Octopus, and it hasn't been the end of my current deal, I've emailed hello@octopus.energy and the CS reps have sorted it out for me.

There might be other options but that one has always worked.

Do they usually honour any enquiries on switching mid-term if the current tariff changes whilst you crunch the numbers.

Not in my experience, no.

One of my tariffs changed in the period between me emailing and asking to be switched and CS reading the email and acting on it.

I asked if I could be put on the older version but they said no.

QrizB

Sea_Shell said:

QrizB said:

Whenever I've wanted to change tariff with Octopus, and it hasn't been the end of my current deal, I've emailed hello@octopus.energy and the CS reps have sorted it out for me.

There might be other options but that one has always worked.

Do they usually honour any enquiries on switching mid-term if the current tariff changes whilst you crunch the numbers.

Not in my experience, no.

One of my tariffs changed in the period between me emailing and asking to be switched and CS reading the email and acting on it.

I asked if I could be put on the older version but they said no.

HillStreetBlues

I find the best way is to use https://octopus.energy/dashboard/accounts/youraccountnumber/tariff-renewal/#/ replacing "youraccountnumber" with the actual account number
Might give the same results as above, but could be worth a shot.

Sea_Shell

HillStreetBlues said:

I find the best way is to use https://octopus.energy/dashboard/accounts/youraccountnumber/tariff-renewal/#/ replacing "youraccountnumber" with the actual account number
Might give the same results as above, but could be worth a shot.

That worked, thanks.   It gave same answer as uSwitch 😉

I'll crunch some more numbers and then hit the button, as jumping ship from current fix is likely to give peace of mind over the winter, and likely save a few £££ overall.

Hopefully they won't change before month end.


ETA - Button pressed.   

2013yearofthehouse

Sorry, I completely forgot to come back and add a follow up to this thread!

In the end, the fixed rate she had been trying to switch to disappeared (and was replaced by the offer of a more expensive one), so she decided to wait (rather than phoning/emailing) and it turned out to be a good thing, because about 6 weeks later, there was an even lower fixed rate available and this time switching online did work. Although, she thought she would be switched to the new tariff straight away, as that's what the website said, until after she agreed to the switch and then the confirmation screen/email both said she would not actually be switched to the new fixed rate until after her current fixed rate ended (which was about 8 weeks later). Anyway, the switch is all done now and so far the rates are lower than what is now being offered, so hopefully no need to try switching again for a while at least.

HillStreetBlues said:

I find the best way is to use https://octopus.energy/dashboard/accounts/youraccountnumber/tariff-renewal/#/ replacing "youraccountnumber" with the actual account number
Might give the same results as above, but could be worth a shot

Where I wrote in the first post of this thread "Using the Octopus app, she selects the ‘change tariff’ option on her account, which opens a webpage with the options for changing her tariff." it was/is that webpage https://octopus.energy/dashboard/accounts/youraccountnumber/tariff-renewal/#/ (with the youraccountnumber replaced with actual account number) that the link from the app leads to, so that was the method/webpage my mum was using to try to switch. Perhaps it was just a temporary glitch when it wasn't working for her or perhaps there is still another reason it wouldn't work at that time - I don't know - will have to wait and see what happens next time she tries to use it. 

Thanks  

EssexHebridean

I'm specific when I email - I say that I want to switch to currently available X tariff which will give me X unit rate and X SC - that way if they are slow answering the email they already have all the details to hand, and I can then say "no - your lack of action is a you problem, and I shouldn't lose out as a result" - that said, I've never needed to do that with Octopus as they've never been that slow that the issue has arisen! I have used that method successfully elsewhere though and had a previous (now closed) offer honoured. 

If you were thinking about it, and the offer was pulled before you made the contact, not only would I not expect them to honour it, I'd question why any would think they would! 

Like Qriz - I've always just emailed to change and it's been done really efficiently.