Octopus energy company. Anyone use 'em?

[Armchair_Expert]

On reflection I found the entire thing misleading. It is only by reading this thread I managed to really get the rewards. No doubt some will remember my moans of switching the house off entirely for an hour ( at an inconvenient time ) to yield naff all. It was only when we then surged our use in the hours preceeding the session ( EV, tumble drier, dishwasher, oven, charging devices etc ) that we got gains, and huge ones at that. It rendered the entire days usage free plus a profit on top.

I am sure that many of the general public, who don't know of how these sessions actually work, got fed up early on with minimal gains and stopped taking part. £1.50 saves just inst worth the inconvenience at that time of day when you are just back from work and busy with school clubs, kids meals, ironing and everything else.

[pingu393]

Armchair_Expert said:

On reflection I found the entire thing misleading. It is only by reading this thread I managed to really get the rewards. No doubt some will remember my moans of switching the house off entirely for an hour ( at an inconvenient time ) to yield naff all. It was only when we then surged our use in the hours preceeding the session ( EV, tumble drier, dishwasher, oven, charging devices etc ) that we got gains, and huge ones at that. It rendered the entire days usage free plus a profit on top.

I am sure that many of the general public, who don't know of how these sessions actually work, got fed up early on with minimal gains and stopped taking part. £1.50 saves just inst worth the inconvenience at that time of day when you are just back from work and busy with school clubs, kids meals, ironing and everything else.

To save the grid from unwanted surges, they should tell us when they want us to surge. We are gaining by gaming the algorithm. I'm sure they would rather we surged at four in the morning than four in the afternoon.

I'd be happy to surge in the wee small hours using timers and switch off for an hour in the evening if it profited me a free day's energy. I might think differently if I had an electric oven, but washing machines, dryers and dishwashers can all be run at night if it were of benefit to me. I used to run them at night when we were on E7.

[SpeckledJim]

KTF said:

SpeckledJim said:

Are you saying I should switch everything on now, and then switch everything to 'normal' at 1730, and then switch everything off at 1830?

Yes

Thank you. We had a good go.

I turned the Powerwall off and turned on everything that gnerates heat, and popped the car on charge. Then at 1730 I turned them all off, and turned the Powerwall back on which was still 75% full from the middle of the night.

So for the measured hour from 1830 we drew approximately zero from the grid.

I eagerly await my oodles of filthy lucre. (world's gone mad)

[KTF]

Typically none of the apps or the octopus site itself is displaying the data from yesterday although taking part in the saving session has registered.

There have been smart meter data reporting issues this week so imagine its still part of that thats stopping the stats from appearing.

[Sycamore]

Are they still doing this thing where you try and use less energy for an hour a day?

I only recently switched from Bulb.

I have a smart meter (I think?) in that I dont need to ever give meter readings, though we don't have the little screen gadget in the house telling us our usage etc.

[KTF]

Octopus do saving sessions but they are not every day, only when the National Grid decides they are needed.

You opt in via your account dashboard.

[Road2Ruin]

SpeckledJim said:

Thank you. We had a good go.

I turned the Powerwall off and turned on everything that gnerates heat, and popped the car on charge. Then at 1730 I turned them all off, and turned the Powerwall back on which was still 75% full from the middle of the night.

So for the measured hour from 1830 we drew approximately zero from the grid.

I eagerly await my oodles of filthy lucre. (world's gone mad)

Could have charged the power wall from the grid during that time too.

[SpeckledJim]

Road2Ruin said:

SpeckledJim said:

Thank you. We had a good go.

I turned the Powerwall off and turned on everything that gnerates heat, and popped the car on charge. Then at 1730 I turned them all off, and turned the Powerwall back on which was still 75% full from the middle of the night.

So for the measured hour from 1830 we drew approximately zero from the grid.

I eagerly await my oodles of filthy lucre. (world's gone mad)

Could have charged the power wall from the grid during that time too.

I had a look on the app at doing that but either it’s not easy, or I made it look difficult.

[MrJuice]

This energy price guarantee thingy. We were paying 34p and 10p for gas and leccy respectively

That will continue as per the budget

But the £66/month support will end. Is that correct or is that carrying on until June as well?

[Philvrs]

Correct, not sure if march payment was the last or aprils will be the last, but it isnt extended like the epg
Edit

March was the last. £66 is no more.

[Mr Happy]

I got the email at 6:25pm last night, opted in immediately which reflected on the Octopus site and thought everything was fine.

Checked the dashboard later in the evening and it showed the moon image saying I hadn't opted in for the session, and the same this morning.

I've just had an email saying that as it was a late one, the email didn't get through in time so they're crediting me 800 points (worth £1 and the average they see as a saving) and it doesn't impact any streaks. Happy days!

[Armchair_Expert]

You are all missing the big savings.

And its all documented above.

Go to Octopus tracker - rather than the general / flex / what everyone goes to.

That switch alone has seen us huge reductions. And you can switch back if you don't like it. It follows the market price, and gives you a link to be proactive. Total no brainer.

http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/South-East-England

Edited to add - you will get your local tracker link when you switch. Mine is South East

Edited by Armchair_Expert on Thursday 16th March 22:56

[Trustmeimadoctor]

It's a six-month wait to go to the tracker or it was the other day

[Armchair_Expert]

I did it in 5 seconds on a phone call.

Don't use the app - call them.

[Armchair_Expert]

Unless there is more to it?

I had to call - and have a conversation - but it was instant. No difficulties. But that was before Martin Lewis mentioned it on his show a few weeks back as the best current option.

[pingu393]

Armchair_Expert said:

You are all missing the big savings.

And its all documented above.

Go to Octopus tracker - rather than the general / flex / what everyone goes to.

That switch alone has seen us huge reductions. And you can switch back if you don't like it. It follows the market price, and gives you a link to be proactive. Total no brainer.

http://mysmartenergy.uk/Tracker/South-East-England

Edited to add - you will get your local tracker link when you switch. Mine is South East

Edited by Armchair_Expert on Thursday 16th March 22:56

This bloody Tracker has made my investment in a Powerwall totally rediculous. It will take about 30 years to get the benefit.

Currently 21.70p/kWh or £1.95 per day (£710 per year). Powerwall cost £8k, so that's over ten years if I can go off the grid.

It's a different story if I weren't on Tracker - but I am.

[Philvrs]

Armchair_Expert said:

Unless there is more to it?

I had to call - and have a conversation - but it was instant. No difficulties. But that was before Martin Lewis mentioned it on his show a few weeks back as the best current option.

A few weeks back? A lot changed in them few weeks.
I got a family member to join the waiting list yesterday (16/3/2023) i will report back if/when the get switched.

[MrJuice]

I've been on the waiting list a couple of weeks. I called them just now and they said up to 6 months wait and then said there's a couple of months worth of people ahead of you. They would expect me to be on the tracker tariff by mid May but cannot guarantee it

[Armchair_Expert]

I'm just so amazing. Cheers Pete.

[Evanivitch]

Saving Gigawatts of energy? Oh Petey...