Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

MatsyLR said:
Octopus by far have the best customer service I've seen out of suppliers
Enjoy the savings.
It baffles me why more and more don't jump ship and go to tracker, it's the cheapest tariff on the market for over a year and easy to switch out if needed (assuming just standard usage no cars)
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I think most customers can't understand it, and some don't know enough about the energy market and value the certainty (although there are no good fixes and the price cap will change each time it's revised after every few months). I knew of it for a few months before I joined but was hesitant because of not knowing enough about the market until reading the MoneySavingExpert page about the forecasts of the energy prices saying it's predicted to come down.

The one thing Octopus could do better is to display the historical prices on their tariff page so that some people would be able to be more confident in going that route. I found their tariff page which showed their formula about how the price is calculated from the wholesale energy price more confusing because I thought the energy sites showing historical tracker prices were the prices before they go through the Octopus formula to get the final rate, leading me to think there wasn't much saving in it.
 
moogle said:
I think most customers can't understand it, and some don't know enough about the energy market and value the certainty (although there are no good fixes and the price cap will change each time it's revised after every few months). I knew of it for a few months before I joined but was hesitant because of not knowing enough about the market until reading the MoneySavingExpert page about the forecasts of the energy prices saying it's predicted to come down.

The one thing Octopus could do better is to display the historical prices on their tariff page so that some people would be able to be more confident in going that route. I found their tariff page which showed their formula about how the price is calculated from the wholesale energy price more confusing because I thought the energy sites showing historical tracker prices were the prices before they go through the Octopus formula to get the final rate, leading me to think there wasn't much saving in it.
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To be fair, it took me almost two years of reading this thread and doing lots of bad spreadsheets to actually summon up the courage to make the switch :cry:

That tracker you linked me to definitely made a big difference in the final decision to switch :)
 
Considering switching to Octopus - but I've got an old Smets1 smart meter, which isn't listed on their site as the brand that will work with them, so will have to switch back to providing meter readings.

Has anyone moved over to Octopus recently with an old smart meter - if so, how long until they switched it out for a new one?
 
chippie said:
Considering switching to Octopus - but I've got an old Smets1 smart meter, which isn't listed on their site as the brand that will work with them, so will have to switch back to providing meter readings.

Has anyone moved over to Octopus recently with an old smart meter - if so, how long until they switched it out for a new one?
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I has a smets1 gas meter that wouldn't work.
Emailed them after switch completed to octopus and I had an appointment 2 weeks later to swap both the electric and gas (they have to be paired) then onto tracker the next day.

Will depend on engineer availability
 
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MatsyLR said:
I has a smets1 gas meter that wouldn't work.
Emailed them after switch completed to octopus and I had an appointment 2 weeks later to swap both the electric and gas (they have to be paired) then onto tracker the next day.

Will depend on engineer availability
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Thanks, that's good to know - Don't want to switch, then get stuck with a non-working smart meter, and then have to wait ages for a replacement.
 
moogle said:
The one thing Octopus could do better is to display the historical prices on their tariff page so that some people would be able to be more confident in going that route. I found their tariff page which showed their formula about how the price is calculated from the wholesale energy price more confusing because I thought the energy sites showing historical tracker prices were the prices before they go through the Octopus formula to get the final rate, leading me to think there wasn't much saving in it.
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There are two really good websites that shows this: https://energy-stats.uk/octopus-tracker-tariff/ seems to be the most popular but I actually prefer https://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/London as it shows the red line that everyone else is paying. As long as it doesn't go above the red line, I'm winning, and I've been winning for the last 6 months
 
robgmun said:
There are two really good websites that shows this: https://energy-stats.uk/octopus-tracker-tariff/ seems to be the most popular but I actually prefer https://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/London as it shows the red line that everyone else is paying. As long as it doesn't go above the red line, I'm winning, and I've been winning for the last 6 months
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Winning for the last year! Prices are on the decrease so it's a good option until that changes :)
If you haven't seen, check https://gastracker.uk it also has the price cap line (might have to turn on the SVT button to see it), albeit not red but it is dashed so easy to spot. I think I tried those other two sites and like this one better as I can add it as an app on my phone.

@MatsyLR pointed out above the other benefit of seeing tomorrow's rates which is why I use this one more.

dymetrie said:
To be fair, it took me almost two years of reading this thread and doing lots of bad spreadsheets to actually summon up the courage to make the switch :cry:

That tracker you linked me to definitely made a big difference in the final decision to switch :)
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Just like me! It was only when I discovered that the actual rate these sites show is the rate you'll pay, that it seemed less complex. I will check back in a month's time to see what the few of you who have switched are saving. This December gone by has been exceptionally cheap with it staying below 15p/kWh on most days for electricity. Gas has been quite stable at around 4-ish p/kWh

Also being subscribed to this thread is a good enough alert to know if the situation ever changes where it'd be better to switch off tracker :)
 
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moogle said:
Just like me! It was only when I discovered that the actual rate these sites show is the rate you'll pay, that it seemed less complex. I will check back in a month's time to see what the few of you who have switched are saving. This December gone by has been exceptionally cheap with it staying below 15p/kWh on most days for electricity. Gas has been quite stable at around 4-ish p/kWh

Also being subscribed to this thread is a good enough alert to know if the situation ever changes where it'd be better to switch off tracker :)
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To be fair, this December has been really mild as well so spend on gas has been cheaper anyway (for me: £115/1000kWh Dec 22 vs £63/810kWh Dec 23), but paying 2-3p less per kWh definitely something that will have even more of an impact!
 
have the energy prices dropped or something ? my bill for the entire of dec has been less than most other months leading up to dec. I cant believe my gas meter reading is still the same as the summer :) only used for the cooking hobs. I have not used the heating yet! im 'ardcore

Im sure the frost will come soon enough though
 
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DJMK4 said:
have the energy prices dropped or something ? my bill for the entire of dec has been less than most other months leading up to dec. I cant believe my gas meter reading is still the same as the summer :) only used for the cooking hobs. I have not used the heating yet! im 'ardcore

Im sure the frost will come soon enough though
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My bills seems to have gone up slightly, but that maybe due to the wife having heating on all the time
 
Furton said:
After reading about the tracker tariff on here I requested to switch over at 10pm last night. By 11:24pm last night they had switched me over, impressive.

Heating for the house is via a ASHP so the lower elec rate should help me save a decent chunk of money.
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Looking at the Octopus app, looks like I've been put on the November 2022 v1 tariff, and the December 2023 tariff I thought I would be on. Anyone else experienced this?
 
DJMK4 said:
have the energy prices dropped or something ? my bill for the entire of dec has been less than most other months leading up to dec. I cant believe my gas meter reading is still the same as the summer :) only used for the cooking hobs. I have not used the heating yet! im 'ardcore

Im sure the frost will come soon enough though
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Not dropped its just been warm for most of December.

Actually from 1st of Jan unit prices increased by roughly 5% if you are on SVR.
 
caught one of the kids sat there in the bed room using a hair dryer to keep warm, i KNEW ive heard them doing this several times, and the leci usage has been abit more than normal. that along with the constat use of an air fryer just hammer my electric cost. every body raves about cost saving with an air fryer but i find it uses 3x more than just using the oven which is gas
 
ozaudio said:
caught one of the kids sat there in the bed room using a hair dryer to keep warm, i KNEW ive heard them doing this several times, and the leci usage has been abit more than normal. that along with the constat use of an air fryer just hammer my electric cost. every body raves about cost saving with an air fryer but i find it uses 3x more than just using the oven which is gas
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Probably because most people are comparing to electric ovens. Gas is 4 times cheaper per unit than electric, the efficency of air fryers only goes so far against that.
 
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