Octopus energy company. Anyone use 'em?
Discussion
Is gas tracker definitely worth it?
Moved house recently and the electricity is on agile, but gas still on the regular variable tariff.
Looks like generally it’s cheaper than variable, but could there be a sting come winter? Have moved from a flat that required the heating on for about 10 days a year, to a house that seems like it may be quite cold in winter so slightly apprehensive as not had a winter here before.
Moved house recently and the electricity is on agile, but gas still on the regular variable tariff.
Looks like generally it’s cheaper than variable, but could there be a sting come winter? Have moved from a flat that required the heating on for about 10 days a year, to a house that seems like it may be quite cold in winter so slightly apprehensive as not had a winter here before.
MrJuice said:
SpidersWeb said:
Gas is still around 20% cheaper on Tracker even after the July price cap drop, and although Electricity isn't worth it there is still Agile.
truebut how much gas are you using per day? I am using about 50p worth
SpidersWeb said:
MrJuice said:
SpidersWeb said:
Gas is still around 20% cheaper on Tracker even after the July price cap drop, and although Electricity isn't worth it there is still Agile.
truebut how much gas are you using per day? I am using about 50p worth
Greshamst said:
Is gas tracker definitely worth it?
Moved house recently and the electricity is on agile, but gas still on the regular variable tariff.
Looks like generally it’s cheaper than variable, but could there be a sting come winter? Have moved from a flat that required the heating on for about 10 days a year, to a house that seems like it may be quite cold in winter so slightly apprehensive as not had a winter here before.
The last time Tracker was higher than Flexible was back in about December 2022, when it was considerably higher but only for about a fortnight or so. That was, of course, the winter when the whole world was grappling with the conundrum of doing without Russian gas (which affects electricity substantially as well).Moved house recently and the electricity is on agile, but gas still on the regular variable tariff.
Looks like generally it’s cheaper than variable, but could there be a sting come winter? Have moved from a flat that required the heating on for about 10 days a year, to a house that seems like it may be quite cold in winter so slightly apprehensive as not had a winter here before.
This winter just gone, Tracker remained significantly below Flexible, and has been significantly less up to the last few months when the price cap has come down and narrowed the difference. The cap is expected to rise in October, but that’s also when Tracker is likely to rise.
do we think octopus are passing on all the savings they can to tracker customers?
I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
MrJuice said:
do we think octopus are passing on all the savings they can to tracker customers?
I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
You can see how they form their costs here: https://octopus.energy/api/v1/tracker/G-1R-SILVER-... So, for instance, for today, it's formed of:I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
"unit_rate": 4.7985,
"breakdown": {
"unit_charge": {
"Wholesale cost": 2.7098,
"Environmental & social obligations": 0,
"Delivery & networks": 1.5516,
"100% green": 0,
"Administration, financing & margin": 0.3086,
"VAT": 0.2285
},
MrJuice said:
do we think octopus are passing on all the savings they can to tracker customers?
I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
Their FAQ gives the fixed formula to apply against the wholesale price and says - I don't have any proof but it seems to me they are not. I think they have worked out that even a 10% delta from capped price is acceptable to most tracker punters. They can throw in the odd day of 30% less and that will keep the subscribers keen and yearning for more and keep them on tracker
"For electricity, the wholesale price W, is the baseload average price (in p/kWh) from the previous day's N2EX GB Day-Ahead auction. For gas, the W is the day ahead or weekend price in p/therm on the previous working day from Marex Spectron."
Plus for example the current Tracker calculation for Eastern England is
Electricity unit charge: (W * 1.2492) + 12.0750 p per kWh
Gas unit charge: (W * 0.03604) + 1.7448 p per kWh
https://octopus.energy/tracker-faqs/
And so as the formula is fixed, then unless you think they are either rigging the N2EX GB Day-Ahead auction prices and the Marex Spectron prices, or are putting in false figures into the calculation(!) then they have no mean of 'rigging' the numbers.
fair enough
the other thing is when they added 2p per kwh to the price of leccy. I think there was an increase in gas too.
since then, the number of 18p or less days for leccy has reduced significantly. I don't think they were losing money before on this tariff. now, it seems that much more profitable for them
the other thing is when they added 2p per kwh to the price of leccy. I think there was an increase in gas too.
since then, the number of 18p or less days for leccy has reduced significantly. I don't think they were losing money before on this tariff. now, it seems that much more profitable for them
MrJuice said:
I don't think they were losing money before on this tariff. now, it seems that much more profitable for them
Most likely. But at the end of the day would I sooner have a company that is profitable enough to stay in business and not collapse like Bulb, etc. but but still offers cheaper prices and better customer service than any of the other energy utility companies - sure I do.
MrJuice said:
the other thing is when they added 2p per kwh to the price of leccy. I think there was an increase in gas too.
Have a look for something called the spark gap (no, not to do with gapping your spark plugs). Basically the price of electricity is bound to the price of gas. So if one goes up, the other will. https://www.lowcarbonhub.org/p/spark-gap is a reasonable explainer on it. Octopus are fairly vocal in trying to get rid of this as well as other crap things like the way the standing charge is calculated.Trustmeimadoctor said:
Do you mean opus energy?
Makes sense. https://www.opusenergy.com/Maybe switch to Octopus instead?
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