Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

Chris Wilson said:
But are they actually a "supplier"? Who owns the generating stations? Who owns the distribution infrastructure? I have no idea if it's like BT owning the majority of the telecoms infrastructure and other players just being more cost effective / running lower margins on collecting the dosh or what. How do these players like Octopus operate?
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Octopus is a generator and supplier. Their customer base is far greater than the amount of electricity they produce. Also octopus don’t produce any gas what so ever. They purchase at wholesale price like every other supplier.

I think octopus is way ahead on their tariff and their customer services is pretty darn good ie phone calls are answered within 10min rather than 1hr or no one answers in the case of British Gas (sorry the phone is too busy today, try again tomorrow, hang up).

They also had like a billion dollar investment from some hedge fund last year to expand their wind farms globally. It’s interesting.

Their ROI on their investment must be like 3-5yrs max atm based on current UK electricity prices which is insane.

Also what octopus is encouraging is off-peak usage ie encouraging people to get batteries or energy storages. A) new business B) helps the grid to off load. I think it’s clever as well as financially savvy. Let’s face it the Tory government is not gonna incentivise switch to greener technologies. The only to drive it is through financial incentives and what better than saving ££££/yr through off peak energy storage for day time use. Yes your home is complex in term of electricity wiring and you need to keep an eye on things and also have the hive capital cost up front as well as the potential of having to replace parts of the system. But long term savings is not something to be ignored.
 
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pc-guy said:
Octopus is a generator and supplier. Their customer base is far greater than the amount of electricity they produce. Also octopus don’t produce any gas what so ever. They purchase at wholesale price like every other supplier.

I think octopus is way ahead on their tariff and their customer services is pretty darn good ie phone calls are answered within 10min rather than 1hr or no one answers in the case of British Gas (sorry the phone is too busy today, try again tomorrow, hang up).

They also had like a billion dollar investment from some hedge fund last year to expand their wind farms globally. It’s interesting.

Their ROI on their investment must be like 3-5yrs max atm based on current UK electricity prices which is insane.

Also what octopus is encouraging is off-peak usage ie encouraging people to get batteries or energy storages. A) new business B) helps the grid to off load. I think it’s clever as well as financially savvy
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Thanks for the detailed reply pc-guy, appreciated! I haven't kept track of all this change, I'll be honest...
 
Octopus renewables is a separate company ... any indication to hmrc that they provide preferential hedges to octopus energy, to the benefit of octopus energy directors share holding, would be dimly looked on.

Stu999 said:
Get in the bin Octopus. 1 star Trustpilot review for this (/s):
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is their add a dig at tesla, and their powerwall / exclusive energy plans ? ... but , rather ridiculous to suggest people(genuine clients) might thing they'd have to install the panels,
maybe they'll give more extensive electricity benefits&tarifs to those taking an octopus ev.
 
110% said:
That money could have just been paid to them as a bonus, but instead they had to go on holiday with their work colleagues.
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If additional (incentive) money is paid out as a cash bonus, the cost to the company and the employees in income tax and NI will be huge. If the company instead holds a business trip in a nice location, it's likely a great way to spend company money without having tons of taxes to pay.
 
LOL - you can't provide excessive perks non business related to your employees tax free, or dress up activities to look business related -
(recent case about ceo corruption with a renumeration of accomodation/cars/education/trips delivered surreptitiously )
but, one rule for us, another for the MP's/lords expenses.
 
jpaul said:
LOL - you can't provide excessive perks non business related to your employees tax free, or dress up activities to look business related -
(recent case about ceo corruption with a renumeration of accomodation/cars/education/trips delivered surreptitiously )
but, one rule for us, another for the MP's/lords expenses.
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Yes you can. Unsurprisingly, there are different tax rules for different things (who'd have thunk it? :rolleyes: )

Case in point, last Christmas, due to covid, my employer gave all employees a £150 allowance to take their family out for a Christmas meal, rather than risk mixing everyone in the company for the usual Christmas party. £150 was chosen because this is the maximum tax exempt amount per head for events like this.

Turns out that because it was done individually rather than together, it wasn't exempt. So literally the exact same cash value of "benefit" to the employee incurs tax in one situation where it wouldn't have in another.

Also, if you'd actually read the article, you'd have noticed that the "employees" in this case are actually self-employed, so any tax/NI rules relating to employees are completely irrelevant. Essentially in this case it's a business to business transaction, nothing to do with personal income tax.
 
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jpaul said:
LOL - you can't provide excessive perks non business related to your employees tax free, or dress up activities to look business related -
(recent case about ceo corruption with a renumeration of accomodation/cars/education/trips delivered surreptitiously )
but, one rule for us, another for the MP's/lords expenses.
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You can. If you do something on a case-by-case individual basis then it is demeed a benefit in kind and you pay taxes etc. But do it for a sufficiently large group of employees (I think the definition of that is a grey area) then it becomes a business expenditure and isn't subject to being seen as disguised income. It's this reason why if you've ever been invited to a works Christmas party or the boss has invited everyone to drinks at a bar to celebrate something you've never had to think about declaring it on your tax return. This "holiday" is the same but just a whole lot more extravagant (notwithstanding they're not even employees)
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
unfortunately not what we thought from the other day

Octopus Flux

The UK's most awarded energy supplier. We're doing energy better - for you and the environment.
octopus.energy octopus.energy
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Interesting how much Octopus changed from the details I saw.

On the downside
  • They split the day rate into two elements : 3 hour Peak (47p) and day (34p)
  • Off-peak : they reduced it from 10 hours to just 3 hours, at a higher cost.
On the up-side
  • The export payments are better

Looks like they reduced the off-peak time period, to limit the amount you can charge a storage battery, about 10 kWh in 3 hours (20.4p), to reduce the 'profiteering' for export later at peak (36.5p)
 
SDK^ said:
Interesting how much Octopus changed from the details I saw.

On the downside
  • They split the day rate into two elements : 3 hour Peak (47p) and day (34p)
  • Off-peak : they reduced it from 10 hours to just 3 hours, at a higher cost.
On the up-side
  • The export payments are better

Looks like they reduced the off-peak time period, to limit the amount you can charge a storage battery, about 10 kWh in 3 hours (20.4p), to reduce the 'profiteering' for export later at peak (36.5p)
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Yeah quite different.
In theory I could charge 16.5kwh in 3 hours, my batteries will charge at 5.5kw. However in really cold spells they take some time to ramp up and only go to high charge rates later, as such even the 4 hour go window a few times they didn't hit 100%

As long as you can go to a more normal scheme for winter I think its good though.
Only other consideration, savings sessions, needs to not be excluded for any reason!
 
My term with eon ends in March, but they only seem to be offering the Nextflex package, which can go up and down like a yoyo, should I get out and look for a another supplier?
 
Haze said:
My term with eon ends in March, but they only seem to be offering the Nextflex package, which can go up and down like a yoyo, should I get out and look for a another supplier?
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Is that not fixed at all?

If so and you want fixed then most here would recommend Octopus.
Have a look around and ask your F&F etc but if none are customers pick one of the many on here who are Octopus customers and ask for a referral will net you £50 on switching

Switching is quick now, usually a couple of working days
 
Most of the fixes are terrible at the moment still.

Octopus had a good tracker but looks like you can't get on it now, limited signups allowed and a long wait list.

If you moved to any supplier you're probably better off being sat on the SVR for now, which shouldn't change price daily but be linked to the gov cap rates.

Saying all of the above I like Octopus, they seem to be a good supplier and are pushing change rather than sitting back.
 
Haze said:
Nope flexible package, don't understand why they are not offering fixed packages
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Should be said though, most fixed right now are basically not really fixed as they are capped by the price cap.

If you see that report I posted above its talking of a wave of switching. Its expected second half of the year as thats when they expect the real price to fall below the government cap.
 
If I were switching I'd jump on Octopus now.

Who knows. Maybe when the prices drop and real. Switching gets underway octopus won't be able to handle the influx.

That's just what I would do if I was switching now
 
fixed 12month package through upcoming 23 winter might be attractive, if, the suppliers have a good crystal ball, Rough's fully availible etc.
ofgen, first, need to re-open the market so supplier have to open tarifs to everyone.

( Smart water meter being installed today, reset to zero, apparently they are networked to one another and app will give reading maybe hourly on 24 hour delay )
 
Haze said:
Just getting a quick online quote from Octop, and they are only offering flexible?
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I'm not sure anyone is offering fixed deals right now, aside from some specialist tariffs (e.g. EV tariffs).

With Octopus introducing a waiting list for Tracker, the EPG-discounted SVR is likely the best deal most people can get until later in the year (and that hinges on energy prices continuing to tumble).
 
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