Octopus Energy Collective

[SporranMcDonald]

Thanks all, for flagging-up the Octopus Collective.

Before committing any £, I'll be looking at a possible alternative :-
Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust plc (ORIT) which invests in international renewable opportunities.
Thus, diversified, tradeable, ISA-able.

How do you hold this in an ISA?
When I looked at a SIPP-type thing I found that the finance company's "management" fees would wipe out any tax gain saving I might make...

Portfolio transaction 0.50% costs = The impact of the costs of us buying and selling underlying investments for the product.
Other ongoing costs 1.15% = The impact of annual costs associated with the Company, including 0.95% management plus director remuneration, registrar fees, and audit fees.

Thanks for this. I failed to include this in my (above) comparison. Definitely a significant factor.
I'm remembering that Investment Trusts tend to have (much) higher underlying costs that Unit Trusts, ETFs, etc. I think I was focused upon the final return.

Historic : I bought my ORIT holding within my shares ISA a/c. No special procedure.

[Joeboy]

I like that straight off the bat they've got a Blue Peter.type counter on each fans investment status..

[Joeboy]

The fans are filling up fast for anyone holding back?

We put our second whack in today and hopefully still some availability on Thursday when our 7 day notice account money lands.

The speed and non advertising of the offer caught me off guard. Lesson learned, hold more liquid funds.

[cojmh]

I have not looked into this myself as the house is currently sucking us dry .... but one question did cross my mind (or perhaps I am just suspicious by nature).

- Octopus have owned the turbines since 2020 (apparently) ... so why are they now looking to put it up for community buy in? Looks like they are trying to raise capital for something else without selling anything directly but it just seems very small for an organisation the size of Octopus and for the amounts of money involved is it worth the overhead in manging it etc.

I am not saying anything untoward is happening but I am genuinely interested as it would be something I consider in the future.

[Fueltheburn]

I have not looked into this myself as the house is currently sucking us dry .... but one question did cross my mind (or perhaps I am just suspicious by nature).

- Octopus have owned the turbines since 2020 (apparently) ... so why are they now looking to put it up for community buy in? Looks like they are trying to raise capital for something else without selling anything directly but it just seems very small for an organisation the size of Octopus and for the amounts of money involved is it worth the overhead in manging it etc.

I am not saying anything untoward is happening but I am genuinely interested as it would be something I consider in the future.

I see this a bit like the Dartford Crossing bridge. The company who paid for it in the first place promised to make the bridge free once the financing had been paid off. Once the financing was paid off....they sold the bridge. The new investment company then said that they needed their money back and the toll remained as a result. Octopus have probably already made their money back from generation and subsidies...now they are selling off some of their liability - good business.

For clarity - I have bought a small stake in Fan #1. I think the 6% return may be on the pessimistic side.

[nowty]

.... but one question did cross my mind (or perhaps I am just suspicious by nature).

- Octopus have owned the turbines since 2020 (apparently) ... so why are they now looking to put it up for community buy in? Looks like they are trying to raise capital for something else without selling anything directly but it just seems very small for an organisation the size of Octopus and for the amounts of money involved is it worth the overhead in manging it etc.

I am not saying anything untoward is happening but I am genuinely interested as it would be something I consider in the future.

You hit the nail on the head, £1m is nothing to Octopus.

Octopus want this to compete with the likes of Abundance, Energy4all, Ethex, Triodos Bank and Ripple in terms of raising funds for 3rd party renewable projects.

The current offers which are being underwritten by Octopus (unlikely to happen in future projects) are just no brainer seeder projects to get the ball rolling.

They are even using the same Sharein platform that some of the others use to handle clients money.
https://www.sharein.com/

The government wants massive upscaling of community energy but most community projects are relatively small. Ripple has been the only one to dabble with the larger projects but they are finding it difficult to raise big funds in a timely manor. Octopus brings in enormous economies of scale, a massive consumer base and trusted name to the party.

[nowty]

For clarity - I have bought a small stake in Fan #1. I think the 6% return may be on the pessimistic side.

For greater clarity, 6% is the maximum return, these are time limited preference shares (like a short term loan) paying a fixed 6%, Octopus will still cream off any excess returns as equity owners.

[nowty]

A surprisingly reasonable write up by the Daily Express about the Octopus Collective, of course the comments from their readership aren't likely to be as pleasing.
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/perso ... een-energy

[Joeboy]

I have not looked into this myself as the house is currently sucking us dry .... but one question did cross my mind (or perhaps I am just suspicious by nature).

- Octopus have owned the turbines since 2020 (apparently) ... so why are they now looking to put it up for community buy in? Looks like they are trying to raise capital for something else without selling anything directly but it just seems very small for an organisation the size of Octopus and for the amounts of money involved is it worth the overhead in manging it etc.

I am not saying anything untoward is happening but I am genuinely interested as it would be something I consider in the future.

Maybe it's a "suck it and see" test with an existing owned asset? After going through the Ripple process multiple times this seems more coherent and streamlined in execution. I applaud that.

[Fueltheburn]

Oh well. 6% is 6%.
I take it, in the future there will be more offerings as there is a portfolio on the webpage so I would assume there will be different assets such as they have in Ripple