Octopus Energy

Revoraman

Can someone who is a bit more au fait than me, kindly help?  I am currently with Utilita Energy after I switched from E.ON Next whose Customer Services were totally abysmal. But Utilita have a rather dubious 'fishing hook' ploy. They initially tout No Standing Charges, then once they have the customer, 3 months later Standing Charges are introduced, and so-called 'Cheaper Tariffs' are in fact charged at a higher price!

Last week, I spotted an Octopus Energy salesman in our local shopping centre, who at first quoted £117.11. Four days later, he re-quoted £55.88 for Electricity only, despite telling him at first quote that I only wanted Electricity. When queried, he said he'd quoted mistakenly for Dual Energy. The variance between 1st and 2nd quotes makes no sense to me

If I do opt for the 2nd quote 12m Fixed, are Octopus Energy all of a sudden going to pull another Utilita ruse and it shoots up from £55,88 per month to some silly figure?

TheMilkmansDad

depends on the figures used to come to that amount. What tariff rates have been offered and how much energy (KwH) do you use per year? Do the math's yourself.

£55.88 is a monthly contribution to your bills - if you use more you'll pay more and the DD will increase.

Nearlyold

What are those quotes based on. Are they educated guesses based on typical use for your situation or based on your historical actual consumption as evidenced by your previous bills?

MWT

Revoraman said:

Last week, I spotted an Octopus Energy salesman in our local shopping centre, who at first quoted £117.11. Four days later, he re-quoted £55.88 for Electricity only, despite telling him at first quote that I only wanted Electricity. When queried, he said he'd quoted mistakenly for Dual Energy. The variance between 1st and 2nd quotes makes no sense to me

If I do opt for the 2nd quote 12m Fixed, are Octopus Energy all of a sudden going to pull another Utilita ruse and it shoots up from £55,88 per month to some silly figure?

That was probably not an actual Octopus employee. merely someone working on commission.

What you are getting are not 'quotes' just a rough estimate based on who knows what...

Nothing about that £55.88 figure is fixed at all, what you need to do is look at the kWh and daily standing charges for the tariff they are offering and compare those to what you are paying now...

EssexHebridean

If going across to Octopus, remember that a referral code from an existing customer will gain you (and them) a £50 bill credit . A quick enquiry around family & friends will probably see them beating a path to your door for this! 

WiserMiser

The only way to compare energy tariffs is by doing the sums based on your annual kWh usage derived from actual meter readings 12 months apart (Smart, Customer or Meter Reader).  You can get a few comparison sites to do this, but always check their workings carefully; there are thousands of tariffs and they change all the time, so their figures are sometimes out of date.

Even then, it's only approximate (unless it's a fixed rate deal) because Ofgem change the Price Cap every three months.

Never rely on so-called Fixed DD amounts. It's only a contribution to a kitty that may or may not turn out to have enough in the jam jar to pay the bill.  Any dodgy salesman can dream up an absurdly low DD just to sign you up.  A month or two later you'll find that the DD was insufficient so it'll rocket to a more realistic rate (plus a bit more to reclaim the arrears).  But by then the salesman will have bagged his commission and be long gone.

luci

Years ago, I had one of those sales people tell me they could save me money on my energy. I asked how he could say that without knowing how much I was paying. Off he went, knowing he was on a hiding to nothing.

Swipe

luci said:

Years ago, I had one of those sales people tell me they could save me money on my energy. I asked how he could say that without knowing how much I was paying. Off he went, knowing he was on a hiding to nothing.

The problem is, unfortunately, it works on most people.

Revoraman

Nearlyold said:

What are those quotes based on. Are they educated guesses based on typical use for your situation or based on your historical actual consumption as evidenced by your previous bills?

Thanks. That quote was off-the-cuff despite that salesman saying he'd garnered the information from his iPad. But today after showing another sales pitch guy at a different town, the newly-received Utilita bill, that quote changed from £55.88 to £139.66

Revoraman

MWT said:

Revoraman said:

Last week, I spotted an Octopus Energy salesman in our local shopping centre, who at first quoted £117.11. Four days later, he re-quoted £55.88 for Electricity only, despite telling him at first quote that I only wanted Electricity. When queried, he said he'd quoted mistakenly for Dual Energy. The variance between 1st and 2nd quotes makes no sense to me

If I do opt for the 2nd quote 12m Fixed, are Octopus Energy all of a sudden going to pull another Utilita ruse and it shoots up from £55,88 per month to some silly figure?

That was probably not an actual Octopus employee. merely someone working on commission.

What you are getting are not 'quotes' just a rough estimate based on who knows what...

Nothing about that £55.88 figure is fixed at all, what you need to do is look at the kWh and daily standing charges for the tariff they are offering and compare those to what you are paying now...

Thanks. But he had official Octopus business card which gave me and had access to Octopus's official webpage on his iPad. So, I naturally thought he was kosher!

Revoraman

EssexHebridean said:

If going across to Octopus, remember that a referral code from an existing customer will gain you (and them) a £50 bill credit . A quick enquiry around family & friends will probably see them beating a path to your door for this! 

Thanks. My friend,already an existing Octopus customer told me that and the sales-guy seen today confirmed that