Octopus energy company. Anyone use 'em?
Discussion
First successful referal just went through, took about 4 weeks as advertised!
I was skeptical but totally works.
However I'm unsure how this credit is used... do they knock some money off your next bill using the newly available credit? or does your account just sit in more credit until you eventually move supplier and claim it back?
I assume the latter, or Octopus would be going bankrupt paying out all these referals... can anyone clarify?
I was skeptical but totally works.
However I'm unsure how this credit is used... do they knock some money off your next bill using the newly available credit? or does your account just sit in more credit until you eventually move supplier and claim it back?
I assume the latter, or Octopus would be going bankrupt paying out all these referals... can anyone clarify?
Grahamhhh said:
Hi,
I have just signed up to Octopus Energy. My son gave me a referral code and we both have received £50.00 credit. So it works!
I signed up because of his experience with Octopus, which has been very positive.
1. Great customer relations
2. One of the lowest tariffs for my postcode
3. Renewable energy
4. £50.00 referral code system
5. No exit fees
6. Smooth transition from my previous supplier
If you have decided to sign up to Octopus, it would be great if you could use my referral code below and we will both receive £50.00 credit. Simply copy and paste it into your browser and away you go.
How many forums do you think you'll need to sign up to and post this to get all your energy bill for free do you think? I have just signed up to Octopus Energy. My son gave me a referral code and we both have received £50.00 credit. So it works!
I signed up because of his experience with Octopus, which has been very positive.
1. Great customer relations
2. One of the lowest tariffs for my postcode
3. Renewable energy
4. £50.00 referral code system
5. No exit fees
6. Smooth transition from my previous supplier
If you have decided to sign up to Octopus, it would be great if you could use my referral code below and we will both receive £50.00 credit. Simply copy and paste it into your browser and away you go.
designforlife said:
However I'm unsure how this credit is used... do they knock some money off your next bill using the newly available credit? or does your account just sit in more credit until you eventually move supplier and claim it back?
I assume the latter, or Octopus would be going bankrupt paying out all these referals... can anyone clarify?
It is just a credit applied to your account. So, if you owed them £100 you now owe then £50I assume the latter, or Octopus would be going bankrupt paying out all these referals... can anyone clarify?
Or if you were in credit by £100, you are now in credit by £150
Its just like you have made a random extra payment yourself. Not sure if there are T&C that say you can't have it back if you move whilst still in credit. Would only be a problem if you say got 10 mates to switch and got £500 credit.... but then again you have done your part and got them 10 more customers.
Les84 said:
I have renewed with Octopus Energy, the few times I have had to contact have been brilliant, customer service was very quick to reply, quicker than calling some company’s.
Just come off the phone with Octopus... I have been having a few problems with our switch to Octopus Agile (from Scottish Power) - more details below.Lady on the phone was great, not too long on hold either. Though I haven't had my issue 100% resolved yet, I am sure it will be. She is raising a 'complaint' with the meter provider which should get it resolved.
Problem seems to be a third-party doing the meter installs. Octopus are still waiting for the meter details to be sent by the meter installer even though the install was just shy of a month ago. Octopus seem a bit frustrated with this also, they tell me this isn't the first call today about the issue from other customers.
However, latest bill said we could save money by switching to another tariff - mentioned this to the lady on the phone and she switched us straight over - taking advantage of new lower rates even though we were on a 'Fixed 12 month' contract. Since you can swap at any time, it seems that if the latest offering is lower, then you should switch and 'fix' for 12 months, if the latest has gone up, then stay on the current deal for the term - no penalties to switch.
So far, though I have a little frustration with the timescales - I understand it isn't Octopus' fault - am am pretty happy with Octopus.
ETA
Sorry not allowed.
Edited by Big Al. on Tuesday 3rd March 11:37
No ideas for a name said:
Hey... I, along with a few others have had our share codes deleted by Big Al.
Okay if it isn't allowed.. but hardly fair if some share codes remain. I used one at random... So some pistonheader got a bonus for being helpful on this thread.
That is rather strange to be fair.Okay if it isn't allowed.. but hardly fair if some share codes remain. I used one at random... So some pistonheader got a bonus for being helpful on this thread.
Someone called Chelsea used mine and I have no idea who it was and can’t even remember sharing mine anywhere, not that I was complaining!
Hi Guys,
Just thought people might be interested... Octopus is seeming to have more negative pricing events. Tomorrow's day ahead prices have a minimum of -10p Yes, they pay you 10p for every kWh you use. I know this is due to too much wind in Scotland, limited capacity cables from the North and falling demand due to office/shops and factory closures, but it is still good that Octopus passes these savings on to their customers.
I know the discount rate is usually at the cost of the peak around tea time.. but at the moment, peak rate on Agile is just less than the fixed rate anyway.
I try to give people a bit of useful info and I am not connected with the company in any way. I am quite happy to share my (half finished) scripts for uploading rates and meter readings from their web site if they are any use.
I don't think I am allowed to publish my share code as it is against forum rules. I know one guy on here has used my code - thanks, it helps at the moment! Feel free to PM me if you want it or my Java/mySQL interface.
Long-term plan is to build something with battery storage and the scripts should 'optimise' our buying of power throughout the day.
Just thought people might be interested... Octopus is seeming to have more negative pricing events. Tomorrow's day ahead prices have a minimum of -10p Yes, they pay you 10p for every kWh you use. I know this is due to too much wind in Scotland, limited capacity cables from the North and falling demand due to office/shops and factory closures, but it is still good that Octopus passes these savings on to their customers.
I know the discount rate is usually at the cost of the peak around tea time.. but at the moment, peak rate on Agile is just less than the fixed rate anyway.
I try to give people a bit of useful info and I am not connected with the company in any way. I am quite happy to share my (half finished) scripts for uploading rates and meter readings from their web site if they are any use.
I don't think I am allowed to publish my share code as it is against forum rules. I know one guy on here has used my code - thanks, it helps at the moment! Feel free to PM me if you want it or my Java/mySQL interface.
Long-term plan is to build something with battery storage and the scripts should 'optimise' our buying of power throughout the day.
Condi said:
^^^^ Its the future!
Although while its obviously cheaper than a fixed tariff during windy, low demand summer days, you will pay considerably more at 5pm on a cold, still, December day. Thats what you would expect.
Hi Condi,Although while its obviously cheaper than a fixed tariff during windy, low demand summer days, you will pay considerably more at 5pm on a cold, still, December day. Thats what you would expect.
I always read your posts and it gives me a bit of an insight in to the industry at the moment. Many many years ago when I was starting off, I was involved a little as the Company I worked for built the cross channel link so it has always interested me. We then moved on to static VAR compensators - I had a minor design part in it.
Agile is capped at something like 33p.
Octopus Agile pricing works for us. I am yet to run the full analysis but it looks like our power bill was almost halved.
I work from home (as does Mrs NIFAN at present) and have a rack of servers here. That gives us a contant load through the day and night, but only in the order of 750W. Oven is always on at tea-time but not for long. Shower is electric, but out of peak hours. Immersion heater is programmed to come on for negative power events whether we want the hot water or not.
Mrs has really bought in to the variable tariff and always tries to schedule heavy loads off-peak. She will study the day ahead pricing and put the washing machine on with 3/6/9 hours delay as appropriate. I also caught her using the drier today, she said "I checked the rates - it makes us money as opposed to hanging it out in the sun"!
No ideas for a name said:
Hi Condi,
I always read your posts and it gives me a bit of an insight in to the industry at the moment. Many many years ago when I was starting off, I was involved a little as the Company I worked for built the cross channel link so it has always interested me. We then moved on to static VAR compensators - I had a minor design part in it.
Agile is capped at something like 33p.
Octopus Agile pricing works for us. I am yet to run the full analysis but it looks like our power bill was almost halved.
I work from home (as does Mrs NIFAN at present) and have a rack of servers here. That gives us a contant load through the day and night, but only in the order of 750W. Oven is always on at tea-time but not for long. Shower is electric, but out of peak hours. Immersion heater is programmed to come on for negative power events whether we want the hot water or not.
Mrs has really bought in to the variable tariff and always tries to schedule heavy loads off-peak. She will study the day ahead pricing and put the washing machine on with 3/6/9 hours delay as appropriate. I also caught her using the drier today, she said "I checked the rates - it makes us money as opposed to hanging it out in the sun"!
It absolutely is the future, have no doubt. You may as well be at the front of learning how to use it sensibly, and make money off it where you can. I always read your posts and it gives me a bit of an insight in to the industry at the moment. Many many years ago when I was starting off, I was involved a little as the Company I worked for built the cross channel link so it has always interested me. We then moved on to static VAR compensators - I had a minor design part in it.
Agile is capped at something like 33p.
Octopus Agile pricing works for us. I am yet to run the full analysis but it looks like our power bill was almost halved.
I work from home (as does Mrs NIFAN at present) and have a rack of servers here. That gives us a contant load through the day and night, but only in the order of 750W. Oven is always on at tea-time but not for long. Shower is electric, but out of peak hours. Immersion heater is programmed to come on for negative power events whether we want the hot water or not.
Mrs has really bought in to the variable tariff and always tries to schedule heavy loads off-peak. She will study the day ahead pricing and put the washing machine on with 3/6/9 hours delay as appropriate. I also caught her using the drier today, she said "I checked the rates - it makes us money as opposed to hanging it out in the sun"!
I didn't actually realise the upside was capped at 33p. At the end of the day it comes down to how much risk you want, and how much you just want a fixed tariff. Prices and demand are very low at the moment, hence the -ve pricing, but come winter you could end up paying 33p for most of a month in the right (wrong) conditions. Some people will be happy with that, others would rather pay 14p all year round and not worry about it.
Octopus publish their pricing formula, see below...
So far, we haven't had our fingers burnt. They did publish all of their historical half-hour pricing for the past few years. I ran an estimate of our usage againt that dataset and it looked like we would profit. It was a bit of a guess as our consumption data wasn't half-hourly from the meter at that stage.
Your unit rate calculation
The unit rate charge (in pence per kilowatt-hour) for a given half-hour period is:
min(2.10 x W + P, 33.33)
where:
2.10 is a coefficient that includes our distribution costs;
W is the wholesale cost of electricity for that period (in pence per kilowatt-hour);
P has value 12.00 between 4pm and 7pm but is zero otherwise.
33.33 is chosen to ensure the price is capped at 35p/kWh once VAT is added.
So far, we haven't had our fingers burnt. They did publish all of their historical half-hour pricing for the past few years. I ran an estimate of our usage againt that dataset and it looked like we would profit. It was a bit of a guess as our consumption data wasn't half-hourly from the meter at that stage.
Your unit rate calculation
The unit rate charge (in pence per kilowatt-hour) for a given half-hour period is:
min(2.10 x W + P, 33.33)
where:
2.10 is a coefficient that includes our distribution costs;
W is the wholesale cost of electricity for that period (in pence per kilowatt-hour);
P has value 12.00 between 4pm and 7pm but is zero otherwise.
33.33 is chosen to ensure the price is capped at 35p/kWh once VAT is added.
No ideas for a name said:
Octopus publish their pricing formula, see below...
So far, we haven't had our fingers burnt. They did publish all of their historical half-hour pricing for the past few years. I ran an estimate of our usage againt that dataset and it looked like we would profit. It was a bit of a guess as our consumption data wasn't half-hourly from the meter at that stage.
Your unit rate calculation
The unit rate charge (in pence per kilowatt-hour) for a given half-hour period is:
min(2.10 x W + P, 33.33)
where:
2.10 is a coefficient that includes our distribution costs;
W is the wholesale cost of electricity for that period (in pence per kilowatt-hour);
P has value 12.00 between 4pm and 7pm but is zero otherwise.
33.33 is chosen to ensure the price is capped at 35p/kWh once VAT is added.
fSo far, we haven't had our fingers burnt. They did publish all of their historical half-hour pricing for the past few years. I ran an estimate of our usage againt that dataset and it looked like we would profit. It was a bit of a guess as our consumption data wasn't half-hourly from the meter at that stage.
Your unit rate calculation
The unit rate charge (in pence per kilowatt-hour) for a given half-hour period is:
min(2.10 x W + P, 33.33)
where:
2.10 is a coefficient that includes our distribution costs;
W is the wholesale cost of electricity for that period (in pence per kilowatt-hour);
P has value 12.00 between 4pm and 7pm but is zero otherwise.
33.33 is chosen to ensure the price is capped at 35p/kWh once VAT is added.
k me, once upon a time there was just a bill and you paid it. Now it looks like a maths degree. Privatisation has a lot to answer for.Simpo Two said:
Privatisation has a lot to answer for.
Yes, it means our power bill is half the price.Even with Octopus, you can opt for a fixed tariff of about 15p for every unit, or the Go tariff where the rate drops to about 5p for 4 hours overnight if that suits you better. Again, no connection with Octopus other than a satisfied customer
No reason other companies can't offer similar options, I think the main obstacle is getting people to understand it.
The industry (in my opinion) messed up with smart meters... They pushed them as saving energy, saying people would watch the in home display and cut their usage.... everyone could see that didn't make sense so didn't 'buy in' to the project. The message should have been "It is to better match supply and demand and offer pricing which is advantageous to both parties".
No ideas for a name said:
The message should have been "It is to better match supply and demand and offer pricing which is advantageous to both parties"
Ah yes, so for the best deal I need to work all night and sleep all day... now where's my lumberjack outfit?Anyway, I'm with Scottish Power who have proved useless and infuriating - so when I check out in September, will Octopus come up in the comparison websites?
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