Octopus Energy tariffs

[joe90]

2 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Have you dealt with their email service?

Not recently. 

 

3 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

they're using customer balances to finance their operations instead of ring-fencing them like a solicitors have to.

But from other people’s comments they don’t appear to be generally!

4 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

It depends whose morals/efficiency you're comparing against.

Other suppliers (I have used various suppliers in the past and found Octopus the best) 

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

>>> 

>>>

Do you have problems quoting text?

Noticed this in many of your posts when you reply to someone.

[jack]

55 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

 Have you dealt with their email service? - it seems to have a random reply generator at the other end.

 

I've done so a couple of times. It takes longer for them to reply than they suggested would be the case, but otherwise no issues.

 

2 hours ago, Bramco said:

We've been in debt to Octopus for about a grand since last winter and they've never asked us to increase our £50 monthly charge.  We've paid it off now but I wonder how long they would have let us keep building up the debt.

 

I had exactly the same situation a couple of years back. I was genuinely surprised they let the number get so high.

 

Additional plug: if anyone's thinking of moving to Octopus, you can help fund BuildHub and earn £50 for yourself:

 

 

[TonyT]

If you ask a technical question they don’t answer quickly.

 

standard direct debit type questions answered quickly songuess they just go for the low hanging fruit

[Alan Ambrose]

@SteamyTea

 

>>>Do you have problems quoting text?

 

 

Sorry if it bothers you. It is a bit idiosyncratic but I find it more compact and more specific. I use it in email too

 

One of things about the email service was that every reply seemed to be by a different person, so a slightly more involved conversation went round in circles - like talking to a person with no memory at all. The phone service I found better. 

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Sorry if it bothers you.

Not that, just seemed an odd thing to do.

9 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

every reply seemed to be by a different person

By quoting properly, everyone can see it, and who it was from/to and the original poster gets notified, so they get a chance to answer or clarify.

Edited February 3 by SteamyTea

[TonyT]

1 hour ago, Alan Ambrose said:

@SteamyTea

 

>>>Do you have problems quoting text?

 

 

Sorry if it bothers you. It is a bit idiosyncratic but I find it more compact and more specific. I use it in email too

 

One of things about the email service was that every reply seemed to be by a different person, so a slightly more involved conversation went round in circles - like talking to a person with no memory at all. The phone service I found better. 

Although it’s a different person, I found it was the same email thread, just that the  email handler was unable to read/digest several emails before replying and just go with email reply 1.

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

Anyone know what happens to the leccy market - Agile seems to flip between two 'regimes' - near zero or a bit negative overnight (yay, fill ur boots) occasionally and then say 15p overnight. Haven't seen anything else over the last 3 months.

[Adsibob]

Been offered "Octopus 12M Fixed" as follows:

 

Any thoughts on whether this is a tariff worth fixing into for the next 12 months?

[JohnMo]

If you look at the T&C's they may say it's free to opt out at any time - it does say on your post zero early exit fee. I signed up on that basis, then there is nothing to loose if prices dip, you just revert to standard tariff.

[Adsibob]

6 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

If you look at the T&C's they may say it's free to opt out at any time - it does say on your post zero early exit fee. I signed up on that basis, then there is nothing to loose if prices dip, you just revert to standard tariff.

You are correct that one is free to end the contract and move to another provider. But you cannot end the contract prior to 12months AND move to another Octopus tarriff. The termination provision provides:

 

11.1 You may end this Contract by giving us 28 days’ notice provided that:

11.1.1 Either another supplier takes over supplying Energy to the Premises by the end of your notice period, or the supply has been disconnected by this date; and

11.1.2 All sums due by you to us have been paid.

 

I'm quite loyal to Octopus as I think their customer service is very good, so I'm not sure I would be happy to just switch to another provider, unless there was a big saving.

[Alan Ambrose]

Maybe take a look at Agile? I have not done a full analysis but I’m getting an average of 17p.

[JohnMo]

7 hours ago, Adsibob said:

You are correct that one is free to end the contract and move to another provider. But you cannot end the contract prior to 12months AND move to another Octopus tarriff. The termination provision provides

This what they said to me, your quoting the bit about moving elsewhere, I was reading the bit about staying with octopus but changing tariff.

 

"We’ve also removed exit fees from our Loyal Octopus tariff — so if prices do continue falling in July and beyond, you can simply choose another tariff in your online account."

[Russdl]

Not answering your question @Adsibob but it’s the standing charge that perplexes me. Apparently set by OFGEM?

 

If so, why are there such large variations? We’re electric only and our standing charge is 61.27p/day - why not 61p or 62p? Are the decimals there to make it look scientific? And then you look at Adsibob’s quote and the standing charge for electricity is 47.85p/day, around to thirds of ours - thats not fair!

 

(Wait, I’ve not finished.)

 

But then you look at the standing charge for gas and his quote is 28.95p/day for that, total daily standing charge of 76.8p/day! That’s not fair - to Adsibob.
 

I believe the standing charge has been ramped up to fill the hole in the Government/Energy Suppliers coffers caused by recent events but why is there such a variation? Is it to keep us all permanently perplexed? Certainly working for me. 

[Alan Ambrose]

I think the standing charge does (at least in theory) pay for the losses caused by the bust suppliers and the fixed charges of running the network. But … in practice the suppliers can set the rates how they like. So a bit like the multiple mobile tariffs, you can choose whether you pay a large fixed fee and a smaller per GB charge for data or a smaller fixed amount and a larger per GB charge. Don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.

[PNAmble]

The standing charge is limited/set by ofgem per region as well as the usage price cap

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region-0

 

it (the electricity SC) not only funds the failed companies but is also loaded with the green levies including those to encourage the use of electricity over gas 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

 

The standing charge is a regressive tax and should be abolished.  

Edited May 18 by PNAmble

[MikeSharp01]

9 minutes ago, PNAmble said:

The standing charge is limited/set by ofgem per region as well as the usage price cap

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region-0

 

That is an interesting link - we live right on the boarder of London, 120m to London from here, and the overhead line that feeds us comes from London, yet we pay 16p a day more than our neighbors who do live in London and they pay slightly more per unit than we do. All a little bit mad. I must try and find out how this is calculated. 

[Russdl]

2 hours ago, PNAmble said:

 

The standing charge is limited/set by ofgem per region as well as the usage price cap

 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/get-energy-price-cap-standing-charges-and-unit-rates-region-0

 

That is nuts! 30p/day difference between the highest and lowest standing charge. 
 

It baffles me how those figures are calculated. 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> The standing charges are the maximum costs a supplier can charge a customer who has not used any energy. Suppliers can also charge less than the limit for either standing charge or unit rate.

 

So, theoretically, at least, you can be charged less than the cap.

[PNAmble]

3 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

So, theoretically, at least, you can be charged less than the cap.

In Northumberland Octopus charge a standing charge of a couple of pence less than the ofgem max.   
 

Our Plot had a smart meter pre installed. We used no / little power for 6 months, and Eon next refunded all standing charges during that period. 

[SteamyTea]

On 17/05/2024 at 21:05, Alan Ambrose said:

Maybe take a look at Agile? I have not done a full analysis but I’m getting an average of 17p

First 4 months of this year I am paying 18p/kWh, once taxes and rental added, 23p/kWh.

Most of my usage is at night though.

So Octopus are not really offering much if your figures include the VAT and meter rental.

[JohnMo]

On 17/05/2024 at 14:09, Adsibob said:

n offered "Octopus 12M Fixed" as follows

Not sure if you fixed or not, but 7% reduction coming as everyone is aware, but a 12% hike expected for winter.

 

I will stay on my fixed tariff (until March 2025) on current prices, take a small hit in summer when consumption is low and take the discount in winter when heat pump usage drives consumption up.

[TerryE]

In my way of looking at it, in a fixed price contract, the supplier gets some value in that they are locking in customer loyalty for a fixed term, but they are also selling energy futures which comes at a risk and this comes at a (insurance) premium which you have to pay for.  We can afford to self-insure for future price risks, so in our case this doesn't make sense.

 

Also because our house spec and heating solution (lots of posts elsewhere) half-hourly pricing works really well for us. Since moving to Octopus (Agile), our bills have roughly halved.

[JohnMo]

4 minutes ago, TerryE said:

Since moving to Octopus (Agile)

That was my plan with the battery and big chunk of concrete, but smart meters just don't communicate here, so limited to E7 or standard tariff.

[PNAmble]

On 19/05/2024 at 08:34, SteamyTea said:

rental added

What’s rental, assume you aren’t England based as meter rental went out with the arc.