Octopus Tariffs

[Stinsy]

Octopus make this really complicated and their web is terrible, so I understand your frustration.

However the reality is really simple: if you can (or can be bothered to) timeshift your consumption the IOG is the best tariff by far. If you don’t qualify for IOG then vanilla Go is 2nd best. If you can’t be bothered to timeshift then Tracker is really good. All the other tariffs might seem great in principle but they’re all very expensive compared with IOG.

For export: OO is best, it pays a flat 15p/kWh and you can have it in addition to your FiT payments (you just have to detach the deemed export). But you can be in the position of buying electric at 7.5p/kWh on IOG and selling it for 15p/kWh on OO.

For both IOG and Go you have to have an EV - which may be OK for the future, but not yet according to the original post. It does seem that IOG is the gold standard, especially if you have a home battery too - 6 hours of mad-cheap electricity.

Cosy is the Octopus heat pump specific tariff - it gives 2 off peak slots from 4-7am and 1-4pm currently at 16p/kWh, but with peak slot from 4-7pm at ~40p/kWh. So if you can push your heat pump to eg run hot water in the cheap slots, could be good.

They also have Flux, which need s a battery system, so currently no good.

No “need” to have an EV on Go. Years ago a colleague was about to pay a fortune to have his mums storage heaters ripped out and have the heating system “upgraded”. She was paying 25p/kWh off peak. On my suggestion he put her on Go which was 5p/kWh off peak and 15p/kWh peak at the time. Unfortunately his cat ran across the keyboard at one point so he isn’t sure if Octopus asked if his mum had an EV or what answer was selected .

[richbee]

Octopus make this really complicated and their web is terrible, so I understand your frustration.

However the reality is really simple: if you can (or can be bothered to) timeshift your consumption the IOG is the best tariff by far. If you don’t qualify for IOG then vanilla Go is 2nd best. If you can’t be bothered to timeshift then Tracker is really good. All the other tariffs might seem great in principle but they’re all very expensive compared with IOG.

For export: OO is best, it pays a flat 15p/kWh and you can have it in addition to your FiT payments (you just have to detach the deemed export). But you can be in the position of buying electric at 7.5p/kWh on IOG and selling it for 15p/kWh on OO.

For both IOG and Go you have to have an EV - which may be OK for the future, but not yet according to the original post. It does seem that IOG is the gold standard, especially if you have a home battery too - 6 hours of mad-cheap electricity.

Cosy is the Octopus heat pump specific tariff - it gives 2 off peak slots from 4-7am and 1-4pm currently at 16p/kWh, but with peak slot from 4-7pm at ~40p/kWh. So if you can push your heat pump to eg run hot water in the cheap slots, could be good.

They also have Flux, which need s a battery system, so currently no good.

No “need” to have an EV on Go. Years ago a colleague was about to pay a fortune to have his mums storage heaters ripped out and gave the heating system “upgraded”. She was paying 25p/kWh off peak. On my suggestion he put her on Go which was 5p/kWh off peak and 15p/kWh peak at the time. Unfortunately his cat ran across the keyboard at one point so he isn’t sure if Octopus asked if his mum had an EV or what answer was selected .

[CharlieB]

Garrrr. I sat in all morning waiting for Scottish Gas (BG basically) and when the guy arrived he said there's no signal so the smart meter is a waste of time. I'm guessing others have this problem?

My understanding is that the electricity suppliers are obliged to install smart meters, right? Presumably this means functioning smart meters. SG are clearly passing the buck and saying it's the network provider's problem (Arqiva?). I have a relationship with SG though, not Arqiva. I'm tempted to stop paying any electricity bill at all but I somehow doubt that'll get me anywhere...

[CharlieB]

Incidentally Arqiva claim in their 2022 accounts that their network 'continues to provide 99.5% coverage of all homes'. The SG meter guy estimated that 10% of homes in East Lothian he visits don't have coverage, so this sounds like rubbish.

[nowty]

Garrrr. I sat in all morning waiting for Scottish Gas (BG basically) and when the guy arrived he said there's no signal so the smart meter is a waste of time. I'm guessing others have this problem?

My understanding is that the electricity suppliers are obliged to install smart meters, right? Presumably this means functioning smart meters. SG are clearly passing the buck and saying it's the network provider's problem (Arqiva?). I have a relationship with SG though, not Arqiva. I'm tempted to stop paying any electricity bill at all but I somehow doubt that'll get me anywhere...

There are some new comms hubs coming with internet connectivity, I think they are currently under test. But don't hold your breath as I recall they said the dumb SMETS1 problem would be fixed within a year about 5 years ago.

[CharlieB]

So is this a classic example of Government asking the private sector to roll out monopoly infrastructure and the pricate sector pretty much completely failing?

I've tried to have three smart meters installed. Zero out of three are currently working:

- Flat the installer said the tenement wiring made it impossible.
- Farmhouse no coverage.
- Remote cottage worked for a bit but meter has now died.

It does feel like electrification of heating and transport simply won't be possible if they can't sort out smart meters that do their job as meters and manage to communicate with suppliers.

[Stinsy]

So is this a classic example of Government asking the private sector to roll out monopoly infrastructure and the pricate sector pretty much completely failing?

I've tried to have three smart meters installed. Zero out of three are currently working:

- Flat the installer said the tenement wiring made it impossible.
- Farmhouse no coverage.
- Remote cottage worked for a bit but meter has now died.

It does feel like electrification of heating and transport simply won't be possible if they can't sort out smart meters that do their job as meters and manage to communicate with suppliers.

Could’ve been easily solved if the smart meters had Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity. If it could connect to your WiFi to send its data job done. Or for places with no sort of connection it could Bluetooth to an app in your phone, then send the data when your phone is in range of a cell tower.

[dan_b]

Slightly concerned also that Vodafone, along with the other mobile network providers, is now engaged in a process of switching off the 3G network to "free up capacity" - the concern being how many infrastructure devices (like smart meters) use that 3G backbone...

[nowty]

Slightly concerned also that Vodafone, along with the other mobile network providers, is now engaged in a process of switching off the 3G network to "free up capacity" - the concern being how many infrastructure devices (like smart meters) use that 3G backbone...

The Comms Hub's will need to be changed, but don't panic.
https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/news-events/ ... nectivity/

[CharlieB]

Does anyone know who it is that has an obligation, if anyone, to provide a smart meter and make sure it works? I've always understood it's the supplier, but both Good Energy (who use a contractor SMS) and British Gas (who have their own people) seem to imply it's not their problem... Can I push back? Or even demand that they install an old-school economy-7 tariff?