New Octopus Go tariff and off peak options?

[vitesse]

Quite by coincidence I received my latest statement this morning via email - from mid-October to mid-November the combined gas and energy cost just about equalled our monthly direct-debit for the first time. Electricity consumption only rose 20% compared with summer, while gas (heating) compared to summer is up 4x.

 

[Smiddy]

I have been with Octopus for 4 months now and still waiting for a smart meter. When i rang them after switching to move to the Go tariff I was told it would be 1-2 months before I could get a smart meter, Ive been chasing via email every week or so and not getting very far so I rang them today to be told its delayed and going to be about another month.

All these saving would be nice if I could actually get them. Its not like we live in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal either, most networks have pretty good coverage where we are.

 

[vitesse]

I have been with Octopus for 4 months now and still waiting for a smart meter. When i rang them after switching to move to the Go tariff I was told it would be 1-2 months before I could get a smart meter, Ive been chasing via email every week or so and not getting very far so I rang them today to be told its delayed and going to be about another month.

All these saving would be nice if I could actually get them. Its not like we live in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal either, most networks have pretty good coverage where we are.

That's not really acceptable - if I was in your shoes I'd start to hint that they had not delivered on what they are advertising. Someone more senior should intervene and your case should be prioritised. Do you have a charge point installed?

 

[WannabeOwner]

Did make me wonder how many other areas were "no go" zones for smart metering.

Mobile Phone signal "not great" here, but depends a bit on which-network. The Smart meter people came out to install one, and after doing a signal-strength test of some sort went away again. I suspect they knew it was a fools-errand, based on local geography knowledge, too.

They would be very welcome to use a CAT5 socket ... I've got at least 4 in every room in the house ...

seems pretty small potatoes to warrant spending too much time on this topic.

I agree,

I do 25,000+ miles a year, 10% of that is at Supercharger for free, and half-ish of the remainder is at work for free. The whole lot comes to about £800 a year, so some business mileage on my at-home portion is too much of a hassle for me to even begin to bother trying to calculate. And then the recently acquired replacement Tesla is 20% more frugal anyway ... that's handy for Range, but the £180 saving a year is barely going to pay for me to take the Missus out for a slap up meal

If I was thinking of changing to 4-hour Off Peak, instead of E7, I would have days when i was charging into Peak, and trying to calculate whether 4-hour / 7-hour was needed/cheaper would again, for me, not be worth trying to figure out.

I'm saving over £4,000 a year on Diesel ... trying to save another £50 is beyond what i can be bothered with.

it's hardly worth the bother of hunting around for a better tariff, as the saving might only be around the price of a pine each month, anyway.

And the risk that you move and then have some hassle / lousy customer service / delay in getting the requisite Smart Meter ... and then it not working anyway. I'm with you, stay-put until the benefit of moving makes any collateral hassle worthwhile.

All these saving would be nice if I could actually get them

My daughter moved to Octopus GO when she got her EV. Took them months to get the Smart meter installed. The compensation they gave her was, by her calculation, more generous than what she would have saved by actually having had the correct Off Peak rate from Day one. So provided you wind up similar (who knows, they might not be so generous that any more ...) then perhaps no need to worry unduly.

 

[vitesse]

Octopus wrote-off a month's charge because of the technical difficulties in getting the smart meter working properly. I actually think they didn't have reliable data anyway, but it was a nice gesture nonetheless.

 

[Smiddy]

That's not really acceptable - if I was in your shoes I'd start to hint that they had not delivered on what they are advertising. Someone more senior should intervene and your case should be prioritised. Do you have a charge point installed?

You're right, I've now emailed their complaints address. Its not just the delay thats bugging me, its the lack of communication from them.

They do have good rates and their app isnt bad but their communication is a bit rubbish. Their email service isn't as good as their website and hold music would have you believe.

 

[vitesse]

You're right, I've now emailed their complaints address. Its not just the delay thats bugging me, its the lack of communication from them.

They do have good rates and their app isnt bad but their communication is a bit rubbish. Their email service isn't as good as their website and hold music would have you believe.

Maybe they are a victim of their own success but I had mainly good communications back in May/June when I signed up and went through the ups and downs of getting the metering sorted out.

 

[Jason71]

I have been with Octopus for 4 months now and still waiting for a smart meter. When i rang them after switching to move to the Go tariff I was told it would be 1-2 months before I could get a smart meter, Ive been chasing via email every week or so and not getting very far so I rang them today to be told its delayed and going to be about another month.

All these saving would be nice if I could actually get them. Its not like we live in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal either, most networks have pretty good coverage where we are.

I just joined and was told by email the day my switch completed that I should hear from their installers within 14 days and if I hadn't I should contact them. Its 11 days and counting. Are you suggesting that if I am forced to call them on Friday that they won't immediately helicopter over a meter that day!!!

 

[Smiddy]

I just joined and was told by email the day my switch completed that I should hear from their installers within 14 days and if I hadn't I should contact them. Its 11 days and counting. Are you suggesting that if I am forced to call them on Friday that they won't immediately helicopter over a meter that day!!!

Hopefully they will be in contact I know someone else that switched to them and had the meter installed quite quickly.

However if you dont hear from them its worth chasing them. I was told the same as you and then i rang them a few weeks later after not hearing anything and was then told they have been delayed in my area and it will be 1-2 months. that was 4 months ago.

 

[Jason71]

Hopefully they will be in contact I know someone else that switched to them and had the meter installed quite quickly.

However if you don't hear from them its worth chasing them. I was told the same as you and then i rang them a few weeks later after not hearing anything and was then told they have been delayed in my area and it will be 1-2 months. that was 4 months ago.

I will definitely contact them, just realised its 14 WORKING days so I think that's next Wednesday I think, but i'll play it cool, i'll wait until at least 6am to email them.

 

[ACarneiro]

So.... once you have a “Smart” meter, can you go back to, say, an E7 one?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

So.... once you have a “Smart” meter, can you go back to, say, an E7 one?

No, the idea is to get everyone to have smart meters, so they won't ordinarily let anyone swap back to a non-smart meter.

There may, possibly, be an exception if a smart meter cannot operate in smart mode at a particular location. When a smart meter cannot communicate it falls back to single rate tariff recording mode, I believe, and as that would then stop the consumer being able to take advantage of something like an E7 tariff, there may be an option to get it swapped. Given the pressure being applied to roll out as many smart meters as possible, though, I suspect the probability of getting one swapped out is close to zero.

 

[Roy W.]

...as the saving might only be around the price of a pine each month, anyway.

The price of a pine will be very useful in December.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

The price of a pine will be very useful in December.

Damn predictive text... Should have been pint

 

[WannabeOwner]

Looking forward to a Pine and a Pint

 

[ACarneiro]

No, the idea is to get everyone to have smart meters, so they won't ordinarily let anyone swap back to a non-smart meter.

There may, possibly, be an exception if a smart meter cannot operate in smart mode at a particular location. When a smart meter cannot communicate it falls back to single rate tariff recording mode, I believe, and as that would then stop the consumer being able to take advantage of something like an E7 tariff, there may be an option to get it swapped. Given the pressure being applied to roll out as many smart meters as possible, though, I suspect the probability of getting one swapped out is close to zero.

As I suspected.

Barge pole.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

As I suspected.

Barge pole.

I've heard a rumour that someone, who doesn't much like the idea of smart meters, may have gone to the extent of shielding the (hidden) outside of their GRP meter box when they installed it and added shielding inside the lid, hidden behind what looks to be a self-adhesive installation diagram...

 

[ACarneiro]

Hahahaha! Genius!
It would have been easier to not just have the poxy thing installed in the first place, surely?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Hahahaha! Genius!
It would have been easier to not just have the poxy thing installed in the first place, surely?

There isn't a smart meter in the box at the moment. The screening was a pre-emptive strike in case they become mandatory at some future date...

 

[ACarneiro]

You should start selling those. Business opportunity right there