Are you thinking of joining octopus for electricity?

[Martimart]

This is because you are an existing customer who has already got a fixed rate!

There rates are not available to new customers, and you will also see a huge increase with Octopus (probably £500+ per year) when your fixed rate period ends, at current wholesale market prices.

So the rate for new customers for my postcode at Octopus is; £0.05p at night, so a slight increase, your quite correct the daytime rate has doubled to £0.24p but the daily standing charge has dropped by £0.03p a day.

 

[Boston Bees]

So the rate for new customers for my postcode at Octopus is; £0.05p at night,

Even if this is true, 24p during the day is way over the price cap, and most people do use gas too, and have you seen Octopus's gas rate? .... gulp

Octopus are charging 24p for electricity and 6p for gas, whereas the Ofgem price cap is around 20p for electricity and 3.9p for gas .... so for all but the hermits who only come out at night, and don't use gas, switching to them is akin to keeping warm by burning £10 notes on the fire.

 

[Murox]

The National Grid kept on saying we had enough capacity for EVs.

Now the National Grid say they will use Smart Meters to switch off power to charging EVs at peak usage .
(EVs charged on a separate circuit)

Point 1 -
Point 2 - thats why they are smart - they know how to screw you.

 

[Martimart]

https://octopus.energy/go/rates/

 

[enrico]

What tariff?

They aren't even quoting tariffs on their website anymore as wholesale prices have got so stupid, so I am not sure where you are getting those figures. When you try to click through to see their tariffs you get this...

View attachment 28632

and this ...


View attachment 28631

And even USwitch, whose whole business model is predicated on earning money by persuading people to switch, is strongly recommending that you don't, and is offering ZERO new deals from any supplier, even if you do:

Something we never thought we'd say... (uswitch.com)

No point in arguing, I could explain it all but I really can't be bothered! Totally your choice!
Cheers

 

[oliver90owner]

Enrico is not insane. I expect he is on the ‘Octopus Go’ tariff.

Unfortunately my wife refuses to even think about time of use rates. I reluctantly had a smart meter fitted when my fixed rate tariff came to an end, so have reverted to a variable tariff (to avoid any exit fees), expecting to move to Octopus.

I would prefer the cheap rate to be until 08:30 in the morning, but I will likely at least change my leccy to Octopus as soon as this energy upheaval settles down. There are other things to consider - like broadband/dual fuel discounts, etc - so it is not a simple calculation. 3p difference on the standing charge could be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

At present our leecy take from the grid is minimal, or zero, while there is good sunny conditions, but that will change as winter approaches…

 

[enrico]

Enrico is not insane. I expect he is on the ‘Octopus Go’ tariff.

Unfortunately my wife refuses to even think about time of use rates. I reluctantly had a smart meter fitted when my fixed rate tariff came to an end, so have reverted to a variable tariff (to avoid any exit fees), expecting to move to Octopus.

I would prefer the cheap rate to be until 08:30 in the morning, but I will likely at least change my leccy to Octopus as soon as this energy upheaval settles down. There are other things to consider - like broadband/dual fuel discounts, etc - so it is not a simple calculation. 3p difference on the standing charge could be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

At present our leecy take from the grid is minimal, or zero, while there is good sunny conditions, but that will change as winter approaches…

Thanks RAB.don't forget to use my referral code!
I am on a go faster rate which starts earlier than the go rate and saw the writing on the wall. Renewed my rate early as it fixes it for a year and got in a few days before they doubled the peak rate. I am 5.5p for five hours and 17p for the rest of the time so I am fine for a year when hopefully it will all have died down. I was on the agile rate when lockdown started and they were paying me to use my electricity. The only ones on that now are those that export. They are getting over a £1 a unit! Sadly the agile rate is now running at its highest for most of the day at 35p so most of us have moved to the go rates! A good face book page is octopus smart tariff chat, if you are thinking of moving there are some good geeks on there!I know you are into the electric side of things! Seen you on a couple of other forums! Best of luck.
E

 

[oliver90owner]

Enrico,

I (almost inadvertently) joined up to twitface (second part of that word) recently when I needed to contact a company, but simply will not go on it.

I am thinking of only changing my leccy to Octopus. Virtually all the gas charges since April have been standing charges - the boiler/gas fire are not yet turned on this autumn (but soon will, I expect - so my energy usage is very much skewed towards the winter months. Currently only the hob uses gas. The terrynaccky thingunuminigig has been used a lot for cooking evening meals, since buying it late July. The wok and slow cooker also get fairly regular use.

I am all the while fighting against a wife who refuses to switch anything off! Or even consider the cost of using energy at any particular time.

 

[Amari]

Enrico,

I am all the while fighting against a wife who refuses to switch anything off! Or even consider the cost of using energy at any particular time.

Two possibilities:
1. Wife resents being told what to do so ploughs her own furrow to maintain independence. You are rather prone to lecture us.
2. She shares my mindset: I haven’t got the bandwidth to search and continuously monitor and swap between Several energy suppliers. Admittedly i’m In an older age group and want to keep my affairs simple, nor am I on the breadline.

 

[Boston Bees]

Charging electric cars at certain times of day is one thing, but I would never want to get to the point where I obsess about what time of day to put the washing machine on.

 

[enrico]

Charging electric cars at certain times of day is one thing, but I would never want to get to the point where I obsess about what time of day to put the washing machine on.

It's not a question of obsessing. It's just a question of turning on washing machines and dishwashers etc at 8.30 pm. If it saves me 12p per kW and I use 25 kW on all my appliances and vehicle that is £3 a day that's over £100 a year. That's a few bottles of wine!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That's a few bottles of wine!

Which you'll need to get pashed enough to sleep through the washing machine banging along in spin cycle.

 

[enrico]

Which you'll need to get pashed enough to sleep through the washing machine banging along in spin cycle.

It finishes by .10pm. we have quicker washing machines in England!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

It's not a question of obsessing. It's just a question of turning on washing machines and dishwashers etc at 8.30 pm. If it saves me 12p per kW and I use 25 kW on all my appliances and vehicle that is £3 a day that's over £100 a year. That's a few bottles of wine!

Surely it's more energy efficient to take your washing down to the big flat stone down at the edge of the water in the river?

 

[Wilco]

Surely it's more energy efficient to take your washing down to the big flat stone down at the edge of the water in the river?

Judging by the state of some of the rivers and streams this way, it may be more efficient but it probably isn't as effective!

 

[Repwoc]

Email received from Scottish Power (who took over our energy account when Yorkshire Energy went bust):

Why do you need a new meter?

The type of meters you have in your home are being phased out and will soon be obsolete. As an energy supplier, we're obligated to install smart meters in our customers' homes, so we need you to book your appointment today.

Is this just hogwash? Or are dumb meters really soon to be obsolete?

 

[user 20297]

Email received from Scottish Power (who took over our energy account when Yorkshire Energy went bust):



Is this just hogwash? Or are dumb meters really soon to be obsolete?

There's no general obligation to have a smartmeter fitted, although it may be on the small print of the contract you have with your supplier. Some smartmeters fitted in the first wave are now obsolete as their software is incompatible with all suppliers. We will probably all have them fitted eventually, but I've constantly resisted as I see them as having no benefit to me and potentially lots of benefits to the suppliers. The supplier may eventually have the knowledge and ability to use gleaned information to my disadvantage. But who am I? But a cynical (tautology?) beekeeper.

 

[Boston Bees]

" The type of meters you have in your home are being phased out and will soon be obsolete. As an energy supplier, we're obligated to install smart meters in our customers' homes, so we need you to book your appointment today. "

Is this just hogwash? Or are dumb meters really soon to be obsolete?

Basically hogwash, yes. Your dumb meter will continue to work perfectly well.

But I would recommend getting a smart meter fitted now that they have fixed the initial teething problems. Why wouldn't you want access to the cheapest tariffs (which tend to require one), and to know that the meter readings on your bills are exactly right and not subject to wildly inaccurate estimates?

 

[Apiarisnt]

Basically hogwash, yes. Your dumb meter will continue to work perfectly well.

But I would recommend getting a smart meter fitted now that they have fixed the initial teething problems. Why wouldn't you want access to the cheapest tariffs (which tend to require one), and to know that the meter readings on your bills are exactly right and not subject to wildly inaccurate estimates?

"Energy suppliers are required to take all reasonable steps to rollout smart meters to all of their domestic and small business customers by the end of December 2021.

From January 2022 all gas and electricity suppliers will have binding annual installation targets to roll out smart and advanced meters to their remaining non-smart customers by the end of 2025. " Ofgem

 

[user 819]

My meter was fitted by SSE 4 years go, then I switched to Shell energy on a much cheaper 1 year deal. They ' Shell'' said the meter was now no use for smart readings so had to give manual monthly. In July the 1 year deal ended so switched again to a cheaper deal with PurePlanet fixed for 2 years, they have no problem taking accurate readings via the smart meter. Just a case now if PP can withstand the market turmoil.