Energy Tariffs

[Thebeeman]

The Boss of Octopus was on the R4 Today prog. this morning at about 8.05 and it was an interesting listen.

[Oldgreybeard]

Octopus

Giving away free electric blankets.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/20038304 ... ts-winter/

My mother in law relies very much on one of those electric throws, rather than turn the heating up too high. She finds it very comfortable, snuggled on a sofa surrounded by a heated blanket. Her guests find it just a tad chilly though. Last time my wife went to stay she bought one of those electric throws for herself, and has left it down there for any other unfortunately chilly guests to use.

Have to say these things are a real boon for older people living in homes that they may struggle to keep warm in winter. They don't use a lot of power, but are very effective at keeping someone warm when they are just sat still, a time when a fair few older people seem to feel the cold a lot more.

[Thebeeman]

Quick update:
After a 13 email correspondence with Octopus I should now be transferred from EDF and a smart meter, I currently have a 1st gen meter, will be installed a.s.a.p so that I can go onto E7. Fingers and everything else crossed. Buying leccy should not be this stressful.

[Oldgreybeard]

Buying leccy should not be this stressful.

Very true, and I think these sort of very difficult and time consuming fiascos are pretty much par for the course with any industry that has been poked about with a lot by government. I well remember trying to buy a train ticket a few years ago and having to spend hours working out exactly which companies I had to deal with.

It seems that whenever government buggers around with essential services, be they transport, energy or whatever, the process gets way too complex for those using those services. I well remember the frustration I had when building this house and trying to get an electricity supply run in. The process seemed design to be as complex and time consuming as possible, when it could have been very simple given what actually needed to be done.

[Oldgreybeard]

Got to chuckle. I had a major issue when our supplier tried to massively increase our direct debit, from £78/month to something like £120/month back in April. Took me a lot of time and patience on the phone persuading them that we were already in credit, so were over paying all through winter, and would be absolutely massively in credit at the end of summer if they increased the DD.

Just had the latest bill, they have reduced our DD to £12/month from now until the end of March next year (essentially they've just knocked the £66 government rebate off). We're still in credit to the tune of around £350 though, so I suspect that, come March, they may well still owe us money.

Amazes me how bad their estimated consumption algorithm is, a school child with an abacus could do a better job. We use around 4250kWh of off-peak electricity a year, and maybe 50kWh or so of peak rate electricity. Somehow their estimate for our consumption is a bit over double that. No excuse as they have at least as much data on our usage as I do, and I can predict to within maybe 5% what our real consumption will be, just with a very simple spreadsheet.

[Tinbum]

Amazes me how bad their estimated consumption algorithm is, a school child with an abacus could do a better job. We use around 4250kWh of off-peak electricity a year, and maybe 50kWh or so of peak rate electricity. Somehow their estimate for our consumption is a bit over double that. No excuse as they have at least as much data on our usage as I do, and I can predict to within maybe 5% what our real consumption will be, just with a very simple spreadsheet.

I have a meter that the reading hasn't changed in over 7 years and they still manage to come out with mindbogglingly DD estimates (based on historical readings they say)- always massively in their favour of course.

[Thebeeman]

Great news, I am now an Octopus customer. Now the wait for a smart Smart Meter so I can get a TOU tariff.

[Oldgreybeard]

Just worked out that our energy direct debit for the next six months is actually lower than the standing charge for the next 6 months. The standing charge for the six months from October to March comes to an average of £12.65/month, our new direct debit payment from October to March has been set at £12/month.

[pudding]

Hey all, after some advice on tariffs. At the moment I'm with Eon on their online v9 tariff which I managed to jump to and fix for 12months just before prices went up in Feb, so have another 4 months or so left in this fix. It's 27.72p/kWh and standing charge of 41.85/day. They installed a smart meter 6 months ago or so and all working well.

Now the question is do I leave this safe fixed tariff early to try and jump onto a TOU tariff? I had extra 3.5kWp of solar installed this year along with the batteries. We also have the GSHP for heating and hot water, so I'm thinking especially once we turn the heating on, we'll be able to use a lot of power during a 4hr/7hr cheaper window. Will be able to fully charge our batteries now that the sun isn't doing its thing anymore, and we'll be able to heat the house to a nice warm temp and get the hot water tank filled all overnight, so hopefully we'll barely use anything during the day.

My worry though is giving up this fixed tariff now, jumping to Octopus/Bulb and not being able to get a good TOU tariff soon, and it costing up a load more money compared to just sitting tight. We don't have an EV so wont be able to prove that in case they ask for one of the EV tariffs.

So, what would you do?

Edit to add, annually before the extra 3.5kWp and batteries were added, I think we were using about 7000kWh/year, and in winter on cold days could have been up to 30kWh/day sometimes.

[Stinsy]

Hey all, after some advice on tariffs. At the moment I'm with Eon on their online v9 tariff which I managed to jump to and fix for 12months just before prices went up in Feb, so have another 4 months or so left in this fix. It's 27.72p/kWh and standing charge of 41.85/day. They installed a smart meter 6 months ago or so and all working well.

Now the question is do I leave this safe fixed tariff early to try and jump onto a TOU tariff? I had extra 3.5kWp of solar installed this year along with the batteries. We also have the GSHP for heating and hot water, so I'm thinking especially once we turn the heating on, we'll be able to use a lot of power during a 4hr/7hr cheaper window. Will be able to fully charge our batteries now that the sun isn't doing its thing anymore, and we'll be able to heat the house to a nice warm temp and get the hot water tank filled all overnight, so hopefully we'll barely use anything during the day.

My worry though is giving up this fixed tariff now, jumping to Octopus/Bulb and not being able to get a good TOU tariff soon, and it costing up a load more money compared to just sitting tight. We don't have an EV so wont be able to prove that in case they ask for one of the EV tariffs.

So, what would you do?

Edit to add, annually before the extra 3.5kWp and batteries were added, I think we were using about 7000kWh/year, and in winter on cold days could have been up to 30kWh/day sometimes.

If I were you I'd do nothing right now!

Sure, if you've got batteries and a smart meter you should be on a ToU tariff, however the best ToU tariff by far (Octopus Go) has been temporarily pulled because the T&Cs mean Octopus cannot claim any of the £150bn government subsidy for people on that tariff. No-doubt Octopus will relaunch the tariff soon (with rewritten T&Cs).