Off peak charging cost

[awbugritt]

I had a problem with my my smart meter readings getting through to Octopus due to some update on their part, consequently I appeared to be £300 in credit as no readings had taken place from the 31/10/21 until early this year! However, I phoned Octopus and got through within 5 minutes and the situation was resolved immediately. Can't praise them too highly. They've been a Which? provider for a number of years which is why I signed up in the first place.

 

[Lguk]

I had the same, Octopus Go/faster and Agile are all 'beta' products and it would appear there's no automation to resolve readings issues. I'm sure they're actively working on a solution.

Mine were missing a single reading (there was a powercut during that period) and as a result the billing system paused, it required manual intervention from a human being to extrapolate the data to fill the gaps and the system generate the bill. They told me it would have flagged internally around 3 months and would have been looked at soon if I hadn't called them. I can see it's paused again so will give them a nudge.

 

[awbugritt]

I'm on a 'normal' tariff at the moment and to be honest, it wasn't too much trouble to give Octopus a manual reading via my online account. I've been assured that the glitch has now been fixed They are trying to persuade me to update to a second generation smart meter with a £25 incentive. Not sure how this works as the original meters were installed when I was with Scottish Power and which, I presume, still belong to them.If it ain't broke, don't fix it eh?

 

[Kithmo]

ISTR BGas do an EV tariff, but the day rates per kWh are way above the current cap and the daily standing charges are high. Ok if you're out all day.

 

[Edoc16]

It like the old game of :-
“Pick a number between one and ten, double it ……….. you know how the rest goes ! .
We are buying in 50% of our gas requirements for the U.K. at the moment.
We are being charged anything these people want to charge us !.
Far to reliant on gas imports.
This is not news !.
We have been doing this for donkeys years and nobody has seen this coming ?.
They are utter fools !.

Been very lucky with Octopus, my contract was up and I decided to continue with the Go tariff so spoke to them and were happy to sign me for another year, however received an email thanking me etc. but they had somehow quoted wrongly and as an apology they will keep me on the same rates for another year ! So happy bunny for the great service and rates.

 

[Lovemyev]

Been very lucky with Octopus, my contract was up and I decided to continue with the Go tariff so spoke to them and were happy to sign me for another year, however received an email thanking me etc. but they had somehow quoted wrongly and as an apology they will keep me on the same rates for another year ! So happy bunny for the great service and rates.

Well .......... That does not happen every day !.
Well done Octopus, you have held out your hand and owned up to a mistake.
Great customer service !.

 

[Lguk]

Its like they read my post, they just updated my bill for January.

 

[lebelinconnu]

I am currently trying to find out from Octopus how high the off peak rate on the Go tariff is likely to rise, as I am interested in battery storage to take advantage of the the 4 hour cheaper rate- but if that rate goes up massively it will take longer to break even on the cost of the battery. I have also heard rumours that energy providers might limit cheaper time of use tariffs to EV charging in future, which would obviously scupper my plans. I rang Octopus customer service, and although my call was answered very quickly the lady I spoke to was unable to answer my query, so she suggested I email Greg Jackson!

 

[Alb]

It would be a start if there was a cast iron guarantee that special off peak rates would continue into the long term. Though the numbers can't be predicted, there could be an assurance for example that a 4 hour rate will always be available where that rate is no more than (say) 25% of the peak rate.

 

[Ozzie1989]

Not sure how this works as the original meters were installed when I was with Scottish Power and which, I presume, still belong to them.If it ain't broke, don't fix it eh?

The meter is owned by your energy provider so if you switch it moves to whoever you switched to

I'd take the £25 and upgrade, SMETS2 meters are more universally accepted by energy providers.

 

[awbugritt]

Thanks for that. Apparently there's no problem using my existing meter with Octopus, but there is the £25 incentive as you quite rightly point out.....

 

[smokie]

@lebelinnconnu Greg Jackson is good at interacting with customers. But I doubt he can answer that question. None of them know yet what is going to happen with the cap. Currently the 5p rate will go to 7.5p so 50%.

I've also read that they may in future restrict the TOU tariff strictly to EV charging (not batteries too) but that would require something like a standardised EVSE which Octopus can get data from.

 

[lebelinconnu]

@lebelinnconnu Greg Jackson is good at interacting with customers. But I doubt he can answer that question. None of them know yet what is going to happen with the cap. Currently the 5p rate will go to 7.5p so 50%.

I've also read that they may in future restrict the TOU tariff strictly to EV charging (not batteries too) but that would require something like a standardised EVSE which Octopus can get data from.

You have a good point re the inherent uncertainty at the moment. However, as Alb has said above, even if there could be some form of guarantee that the 4 hour price window would be locked into a consistent ratio as compared with the peak rate it would help a bit for forward planning.

 

[Edoc16]

I am currently trying to find out from Octopus how high the off peak rate on the Go tariff is likely to rise, as I am interested in battery storage to take advantage of the the 4 hour cheaper rate- but if that rate goes up massively it will take longer to break even on the cost of the battery. I have also heard rumours that energy providers might limit cheaper time of use tariffs to EV charging in future, which would obviously scupper my plans. I rang Octopus customer service, and although my call was answered very quickly the lady I spoke to was unable to answer my query, so she suggested I email Greg Jackson!

And why not ? start at the top ! I believe he's a good guy and gets things done hence his richness

 

[Faitaru]

I'm with EDF and I was looking at their EV tariffs but the peak costs of 36p+ per unit is >50% above what I'm currently paying.
I've also been waiting about 6 months for them to install my smart meter but that's a different matter entirely...

 

[EVsince2016]

my 13p/5p rate with Octopus runs to at least September

 

[Lguk]

my 13p/5p rate with Octopus runs to at least September

I'm hoping that by September some of this has ironed out and I can get an acceptable increase from 16/5 to something close to 22/7.5. These 35p+ offers are painful to look at.

 

[smokie]

I changed to the 20:30 4 hr slot on Octopus during last year and as a result have 15.59p/5p till end May.

 

[Jto]

With the way things currently are, the variable rate, capped at the mandated price cap, is lower than any deal they can offer. As a result most suppliers won't enter a conversation because no customer in their right mind is going to sign up and fix at a higher price. I think you'll find getting onto a fixed price tarrif offering off peak pricing, will as a whole cost you more.

Definitely 100% sign yourself up for a smart meter though. When the cap increases and some wholesale prices start to drop, they'll start doing some deals again, but you'll need a smart meter to access them.

When I signed up to BG they said I could have a smart meter. Still waiting for it to arrive after 2 years. Trying to speak to them is impossible

Hi
have a look at this website who will help you.

Request your smart meter | Smart Energy GB

www.smartenergygb.org

 

[Brivel]

I have found that, when I was with EDF, they offered off peak EV charging. But it was from something like Midnight to 6/7am ! Who wants to get out of bed at midnight to plug your EV in ?