Octopus Flux April 25 - Ouch

Officer_Dibble

Though I can see that IOF might well work for some people I can't think of a single scenario where Flux couldn't be improved on by another tariff - even if it's from another supplier. Eon Nextdrive's 6.7p/kWh import for 7 hours overnight, 16.5p/kWh export all day, fixed for a year. No messing about and it's available for all EV or PV+battery users, no fussing about battery types. So far the customer service has beaten Octopus (in their more recent times) too.

mmmmikey

Officer_Dibble said:

Though I can see that IOF might well work for some people I can't think of a single scenario where Flux couldn't be improved on by another tariff - even if it's from another supplier. Eon Nextdrive's 6.7p/kWh import for 7 hours overnight, 16.5p/kWh export all day, fixed for a year. No messing about and it's available for all EV or PV+battery users, no fussing about battery types. So far the customer service has beaten Octopus (in their more recent times) too.

Thanks, that's a good tip - will check it out :-)

EDIT: Wow! The ability to get an EV tariff without having an EV is a game changer for me. I used a lot more electricity for heating over last winter. Over the course of last year, I imported 6600kWh at an average cost of 15.35p/kWh on Flux and exported 2700kWh at an average of 18.26p/kWh, so a net cost of £518.76. At those rates at the same level of usage I'd make a net income of £3.30. A huge difference - my battery is big enough to easily cope with meeting my energy needs from 7 a.m. to midnight. And ridiculously easy to manage - just set up a schedule to put the battery on force charge from midnight to 7 a.m., set the water heating and night storage heaters to work during that period then forget about it for a year

Does anyone know if Eon offer a pay the full balance monthly by direct debit option? And is the SEG income shown on the same bill as the import? If the only option is fixed monthly direct debit, how easy is it to withdraw your money? Thanks, Mike - and thanks again @Officer_Dibble for pointing me towards this.

mmmmikey

Hmmm - trying to confirm that you can go on the Next Drive tariff without an EV but getting the run around from EOn customer services. The website says you can, but when you try to apply it asks for EV details, so I thought I'd check and asked this question:

"Thanks XYZ - can you also confirm that I don't need an EV to go on to the Next Drive tariff is I have a PV and battery system (subject to the checks of course)?"

The reply was:

"This link might explain things better https://community.eonnext.com/threads/9338-Rumoured-new-E-ON-Next-‘Solar-Boost’-Tariff?p=57433 (https://community.eonnext.com/threads/9338-Rumoured-new-E-ON-Next-‘Solar-Boost’-Tariff?p=57433)

The EV tariff eligibility is changing however it's still being tested."

So I followed up with:

"Sorry, I'm confused 🙂 What's the situation as of now? Can I join Next Drive or is that no longer an option pending the introduction of the new tariff? I can't see any reference to the new tariff on your main website - is that because it's not available yet?"

Will let you know the outcome, but not looking hopeful.

Anyone know of similar tariffs from other suppliers?

Officer_Dibble

You definitely don't need an EV for Nextdrive. Version 5 specifically disallowed Solar pending a PV-specific tariff. They tried and failed to launch one of those (rather half-heartedly) now v6 specifically allows it.

As I've been told off for posting links round here before (grr) I won't, but if you google "NEW Next drive fixed V6 is now live!" you should find their announcement on the community forum. Some of the T&Cs wording in the sign up process needs updating, but that v6 announcement is very much official so trumps everything as far as I'm concerned. Information from customer services seems to depend very much on who you talk to and how up-to-date they are.

mmmmikey

Officer_Dibble said:

You definitely don't need an EV for Nextdrive. Version 5 specifically disallowed Solar pending a PV-specific tariff. They tried and failed to launch one of those (rather half-heartedly) now v6 specifically allows it.

As I've been told off for posting links round here before (grr) I won't, but if you google NEW "Next drive fixed V6 is now live!" you should find their announcement on the community forum. Some of the T&Cs wording in the sign up process needs updating, but that v6 announcement is very much official so trumps everything as far as I'm concerned. Information from customer services seems to depend very much on who you talk to and how up-to-date they are.

Thanks - a real roller-coaster of an afternoon - will dig out the T's and C's which as you say should be definitive and take it from there. A £500 per annum saving is more than enough to make it worth persevering

debitcardmayhem

mmmmikey said:

Officer_Dibble said:

You definitely don't need an EV for Nextdrive. Version 5 specifically disallowed Solar pending a PV-specific tariff. They tried and failed to launch one of those (rather half-heartedly) now v6 specifically allows it.

As I've been told off for posting links round here before (grr) I won't, but if you google NEW "Next drive fixed V6 is now live!" you should find their announcement on the community forum. Some of the T&Cs wording in the sign up process needs updating, but that v6 announcement is very much official so trumps everything as far as I'm concerned. Information from customer services seems to depend very much on who you talk to and how up-to-date they are.

Thanks - a real roller-coaster of an afternoon - will dig out the T's and C's which as you say should be definitive and take it from there. A £500 per annum saving is more than enough to make it worth persevering

Well I can’t find any mention of solar in those T&Cs only EVs

EDIT can’t find any PV tariffs there either, are there any energy companies that make life easier ? Octopus is as bad 🤬

Officer_Dibble

Signing up for v5 of Nextdrive for PV did involve an element of risk - it specifically was for EV only, but they didn't check and no one was refused. Personally I waited until the v6 announcement which included the line "Some changes will be included in comparison to the Next drive V5, with one change including that this tariff's eligibility will also include Solar Storage Customers!" - can't get clearer than that.

mmmmikey

I've just applied for Next Drive v6 - will let you know how I get on. This evening's job is digging out the paperwork so I can switch the export to them as well. From what I can see, I'll have to pay by fixed monthly direct debit for the import without the option of paying the full amount, but I'll check that out further later. If that's the way it is, not my preference but not a deal breaker. It also look like export is paid annually, again I'd prefer monthly like it is with Octopus but again not a deal breaker.

EDIT: just got this confirmation from EOn which is clear enough:

"Hello, yes - you can go onto the Next drive v6 with solar batteries.

Regards,

ABC"

Officer_Dibble

See your mailbox re export mmmmikey! You can get paid quarterly - it's not great, but I'm sure they'll sort it before too long. It's run by their old FIT team apparently in the same way they run FIT, so predating smart meters. The DD is a bit of a pain to start with - they estimate based on house size and don't take into account most of the import being at 6.7p/kWh, then they'll only allow you to reduce their suggested DD by 10% a go. They can probably sort it by Whatsapp - that seems to be their most effective customer service team. Good luck!

bristolleedsfan

mmmmikey said:

 From what I can see, I'll have to pay by fixed monthly direct debit for the import without the option of paying the full amount, but I'll check that out further later. 

Have to contact them to change to VDD

https://www.eonnext.com/blog/135-how-direct-debits-are-calculated