Octopus night rate times always GMT/UTC

vienna28

Swipe said:

I think I'm then going to risk it and go with Utility Warehouse in October for the half price night rate. Their current rates are approx 37p/5p and 50p standing charge as 90% of my winter usage is on night rate with my storage heaters.

You may recall me last week (on Rosie's thread) saying that I was going to move to "Good energy" to try their "heat pump tariff" because the 12p cheap rate was 5am-9am and 1pm -4pm?   Anyway it was disastrous because like you and Scot_39 predicted I was still stuck in E7 timings.

Anyway I couldn't hang around because of the £75 exit fee, so I said I had changed my mind and wanted to use the 14 day cooling off period.

They gave me three choices, two of them going back to Octopus or I could find a new supplier.

So looking around for a new supplier I looked at UW and I put in my details.  I had always assumed I needed phone bundle to get the cheap rate or be an homeowner (which I'm not) but after putting my details in a few times (to make sure) they offered me this for the East Midlands:

Energy is the only service I took.  There is no exit fee.  Of course being a variable rate there is no guarantee of low night rate from October onwards.

It's the first energy company I've known to do an "hard credit search" on me but I guess they have high hopes I will eventually take other services from them (I won't! 😆). 

"Good energy" earlier today emailed and said my supply with them would end on 30th July.  So although UW haven't emailed me yet, I am assuming I will switch to them either 30th or 31st.  I would love a 5p night rate for winter because like you in winter I am around 90% usage on night rate. 

 

MWT

HotTubBobOhYeah said:

HotTubBobOhYeah said:

We're on an Octopus fixed rate which offers a night rate of 11.31 p/kWh between 00.30 and 07.30. BUT, that is only between October and March when the UK is not on British summer time.  During the period March to October, when the clocks go forward, the night rate is between 01.30 to 08.30.
They don't tell people this. We were only informed of this when our smart meter stopped recording night usage completely and they said it was because we weren't using any electricity at night! After 3 months of emails and us providing evidence, they admitted it was the meter's fault. 
Just thought people might like to know, because for ages we've been setting the washing machine and dishwasher to come on 00.30 thinking we were getting night rate, but weren't. 

We're not on E-7 and have never been on E-7. We have never heated our home using electricity, and the meter is a smart meter. We used to be on a standard rate, which was the same price all day, but Octopus put us on this different rate a year or so ago. I dont know why, but it's cheaper at night which works for us as we can use it for the D/W, W/M and heat the hot tub. The time difference during BST was NEVER made clear to us, and why would I look at an announcement about E-7 times when we are on their Fixed Rate deal, not E-7?

Octopus would not have just changed you to E7 without either being asked to do so or perhaps your meter was registered as an E7 meter...

Similarly the tariff you are on has both standard flat rate and E7 versions so again your tariff name is correct.

Swipe

vienna28 said:

Swipe said:

I think I'm then going to risk it and go with Utility Warehouse in October for the half price night rate. Their current rates are approx 37p/5p and 50p standing charge as 90% of my winter usage is on night rate with my storage heaters.

You may recall me last week (on Rosie's thread) saying that I was going to move to "Good energy" to try their "heat pump tariff" because the 12p cheap rate was 5am-9am and 1pm -4pm?   Anyway it was disastrous because like you and Scot_39 predicted I was still stuck in E7 timings.

Anyway I couldn't hang around because of the £75 exit fee, so I said I had changed my mind and wanted to use the 14 day cooling off period.

They gave me three choices, two of them going back to Octopus or I could find a new supplier.

So looking around for a new supplier I looked at UW and I put in my details.  I had always assumed I needed phone bundle to get the cheap rate or be an homeowner (which I'm not) but after putting my details in a few times (to make sure) they offered me this for the East Midlands:

Energy is the only service I took.  There is no exit fee.  Of course being a variable rate there is no guarantee of low night rate from October onwards.

It's the first energy company I've known to do an "hard credit search" on me but I guess they have high hopes I will eventually take other services from them (I won't! 😆). 

"Good energy" earlier today emailed and said my supply with them would end on 30th July.  So although UW haven't emailed me yet, I am assuming I will switch to them either 30th or 31st.  I would love a 5p night rate for winter because like you in winter I am around 90% usage on night rate. 

 

I did wonder. Even if it goes up a couple of pence, UW is still going to work out cheaper than Snug. I was considering Snug but, the more I thought about it, the more I realised it's probably not ideal for me. Not only did the ALCS sync issues put me off, I also like to make use of the last hour of cheap rate until 7:30/8:30am and I'm not sure a 6 hour block ending at 6:30am is long enough to heat my living room heater first thing during really cold snaps as sometimes, I need to supplement a 7 hour charge for the last hour with a fan heater.

vienna28

Yes I did like "snug" but if UWs night prices are similar from October onwards then my storage heaters could be on near permanently when it starts to get cold and of course my electricity bills would be much lower.  And like you I do like that the E7 cheap rate goes later in the morning than snug.

Remember it will be the UW "value" tariff you will want if you are not interested in other services.  Those who take other services I believe can fix the low rates for a year.  Though I am happy with taking the no exit fee variable and hoping we still get low prices from October.

Here is the UW "Value" tariff area prices:

Scot_39

I wonder if those rates will stay - I remember iirc EDF giving sub 10p rates mid crisis in some regions.

IIRC EM lasted one or 2 caps later than others - and one forumite managed to get it locked on a 12m fix, and another complaining when his rate jumped about 7p in his region on a cap change.