Switching away from Octopus - smart meter question

Annie1612

I was checking the MSE energy club and alternative tariffs. The British Gas tariff would save me £123 a year (possibly) on my current Octopus fix so I am considering this. I recently had Octopus fit new smart meters and I have that square, pink, plastic thing that connects to an app to monitor usage/costs etc. I assume this won’t work anymore once I switch since I guess it will only work with Octopus app. Has anyone switched supplier with one of these and what happens about your smart meter display/monitor?

debitcardmayhem

If you have an IHD it should still work, the Octopus mini won’t work because it is tied to your account with Octopus. Nevertheless you can still read your meter(s)from the meter cupboard.

MattMattMattUK

Annie1612 said:

I was checking the MSE energy club and alternative tariffs. The British Gas tariff would save me £123 a year (possibly) on my current Octopus fix so I am considering this. I recently had Octopus fit new smart meters and I have that square, pink, plastic thing that connects to an app to monitor usage/costs etc. I assume this won’t work anymore once I switch since I guess it will only work with Octopus app. Has anyone switched supplier with one of these and what happens about your smart meter display/monitor?

Do your own sums, your actual usage times unit rates plus standing charge, sometimes those calculations do seem to be a bit wonky. 

DCM is absolutely right on the Mini. 

Annie1612

debitcardmayhem said:

If you have an IHD it should still work, the Octopus mini won’t work because it is tied to your account with Octopus. Nevertheless you can still read your meter(s)from the meter cupboard.

Yes, we have the octopus mini. Not as good as the IHD but better than nothing. 

bob2302

FWIW, my Octopus Mini stopped working entirely when I moved just electricity.

Spoonie_Turtle

You should still be able to connect to a third-party app like Bright to see your usage data - well, you should be able to see your usage data in your British Gas account too, but third-party apps are supplier-agnostic - but it would not be live data like the Octopus Mini or a standard IHD.

I believe there was a company making IHDs you could buy yourself and connect to the smart meter (Hildebrand?  Chameleon?) but I don't know if they still are and of course they do/did cost money.  It depends how important it is to you to have the live information available. 
[I know it would be annoying for me not having the live or same-day information (we also have the mini) but I don't know if it would be annoying enough, for me, to spend money on a device.]

Dogbyte009

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I believe there was a company making IHDs you could buy yourself and connect to the smart meter (Hildebrand?  Chameleon?) but I don't know if they still are and of course they do/did cost money.  It depends how important it is to you to have the live information available. 

Ivie Bud will cost you £50 https://ivie.co.uk/product/ivie-bud/

The_Green_Hornet

Spoonie_Turtle said:

I believe there was a company making IHDs you could buy yourself and connect to the smart meter (Hildebrand?  Chameleon?) but I don't know if they still are and of course they do/did cost money.  It depends how important it is to you to have the live information available. 

Hildebrand Glow Display with CAD will cost you £69.99 Glow Display and CAD – Glow from Hildebrand

mta999

Switching from Octopus to British Gas? I suppose there's a first time for everything! 

Doc_N

mta999 said:

Switching from Octopus to British Gas? I suppose there's a first time for everything! 

Does seem odd, doesn’t it. But when Octopus becomes one of the pricier options and BG one of the cheaper options, these things happen. My gas has gone from Octopus to Ecotricity.

Annie1612

mta999 said:

Switching from Octopus to British Gas? I suppose there's a first time for everything! 

Octopus gas and electricity isn’t a superior quality to BG gas and electricity. It’s the same stuff, only quite a bit more expensive.