New Octopus Go vs Alternatives

[yessuz]

Here's a question:

Current Octopus GO ending end of March:
Peak unit rate: 13.45p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 5.00p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.00p / day

New Octopus GO:
Peak unit rate: 30.23p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 7.50p / kWh
Standing charge: 23.76p / day

Flexible Octopus:
Peak unit rate: 21.76p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 15.02p / kWh
Standing charge: 23.85p / day


What are other alternatives?! EDF? What rates? Who else?

P.s. it looks like Flexible Octopus is actually a better deal!?
If I need to charge up to 28 kwh on my 7kw charger (whole 4 hrs) it is then 2.10 gbp.
If I need to charge 48 kwh then it is 2.10 + 6.10 = 8.20 per charge
So:
28 kwh @ 7.5p = 2.10
48 kwh @ 7.5 + 30.23 = 8.20

And then all other usage is at 30.23 p (washing, drying...)


If flexible:
28 kwh @15.02 = 4.2
48 kwh @15.02 = 7.20
And electricity is just cheaper by 30% during peak.

Do I miss something here??? It depends on how much do I need to charge every night I suppose

 

[Limey]

You last bit answers it. Depends how regularly you need to go over 30kwh. I will only do a max of 45% charge per day

 

[yessuz]

You last bit answers it. Depends how regularly you need to go over 30kwh. I will only do a max of 45% charge per day

Yes. But have in mind, that if you use electric power during the day (i.e. working from home) you use power at much higher rate during peak...

What are the alternatives!?

 

[Zilla91]

Flexible Octopus will probably be going up in April when the cap goes up.

Energy price cap

The energy price cap is the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge you for each unit of energy and standing charge if you're on a standard variable tariff.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

 

[ACarneiro]

Flexible Octopus will probably be going up in April when the cap goes up.

Energy price cap

The energy price cap is the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge you for each unit of energy and standing charge if you're on a standard variable tariff.

www.ofgem.gov.uk

I think it's more than "probably", it's pretty much a certainty.
Greg Jackson mentioned that Octopus is losing about £700 per annum on the "average household" to supply their electricity. That is not something they can sustain and I suspect most other suppliers are in the same situation so Variable Rates will inevitably go up across the whole market.

 

[yessuz]

anyone faced an issue that you cannot register for intelligent octopus?
After logging in to Tesla account it says that cannot register vehicle.

anyone had same issue?

 

[Simavon]

Flexible Octopus will go up to around 28p/kWh in April. Flexible rates may go up again in October when the cap may rise again.

 

[GRiLLA]

Flexible will be going higher, that's why the fixed daytime rate of Go is where it is.

With my upcoming renewal Octopus's example costs assumed that 1/3 of my use of electricity would be off-peak, when I look back it's more like 2/3 off peak and the calculation at current prices was about the same between the two. By staying on Octopus Go I'm insulated from the rises in the market.

What's your normal charging or mileage usage? 28KWh per day is enough for 588miles a week on average, 30K miles a year. That's huge.

 

[fancealot]

anyone faced an issue that you cannot register for intelligent octopus?
After logging in to Tesla account it says that cannot register vehicle.

anyone had same issue?

Yes I had that for nearly 2 weeks, eventually it did connect and then took a day of repeating the test charge for that to work, but i'm all signed up now, proper charge will be tonight after my commute (fingers crossed!)

 

[TheManofMead]

If flexible:
28 kwh @15.02 = 4.2
48 kwh @15.02 = 7.20

Your calculation isn't quite correct here, as the additional 20kw should be calculated at 21.76p giving total cost of £8.55.

However, agree with your overall general point that the main rate being 28% below the new Go rate will potentially mean Flexible will be a better option (depending on individuals time of day useage).

The new Go rates are potentially a strong push towards considering battery backup. Each night you may load up your battery at the 7.5p rate and use this during the day instead of from grid. This would give a marginal saving of 30.23p - 7.5p = 22.73p/kwh. Each night would be step 1 top up house battery, step 2 top up car battery during the 4 hour off peak window.

 

[Jason71]

I have heard more than one person on here say on that they got to the end of their octopus go contract and the rates did not go up?
Wondering if that is still the case or just a temporary admin error now resolved?
mine runs out in a few weeks. as well wondering if I should try to lock in the current rates now before they go up again!!
I know the day rate looks expensive now but because its fixed for a year it might look like a bargain in a few weeks.
Mind you I have been working from home since Covid so my usage is not what it used to be. maybe I need to review if it is still the best option for me at all...

edit having said that just checked my last bill and I am using 42% of my electricity in my 3 hour go faster window so maybe it does still work for me though flexible would on paper be slightly cheaper at the rates the op posted

 

[yessuz]

Your calculation isn't quite correct here, as the additional 20kw should be calculated at 21.76p giving total cost of £8.55.

However, agree with your overall general point that the main rate being 28% below the new Go rate will potentially mean Flexible will be a better option (depending on individuals time of day useage).

The new Go rates are potentially a strong push towards considering battery backup. Each night you may load up your battery at the 7.5p rate and use this during the day instead of from grid. This would give a marginal saving of 30.23p - 7.5p = 22.73p/kwh. Each night would be step 1 top up house battery, step 2 top up car battery during the 4 hour off peak window.

no, my calcs are correct.
I would be charging my car during the night only. it takes, if after the trip, ~6+ hrs to charge it from ~25% to ~80 (7-6 hrs ~7kwh). this would be at night tariff anyway.
28kwh / 48 kwh split is only for the comparison reason - as octopus GO is active for 4 hrs only. But you my charge 6 hrs.

with GO you have 4 hrs at low off-peak and remaining 2 hrs at peak tariff. with flexible - whole night is off-peak, whole 6 hr period, although at higher cost.

in this case intelligent octopus would do all the trick as it gives you 6 hrs of off-peak rate.

 

[yessuz]

Yes I had that for nearly 2 weeks, eventually it did connect and then took a day of repeating the test charge for that to work, but i'm all signed up now, proper charge will be tonight after my commute (fingers crossed!)

so when on this, you charge using octopus app?

 

[TheManofMead]

in this case intelligent octopus would do all the trick as it gives you 6 hrs of off-peak rate.

Ah I see I did not realise there are 6 hours rather than 4 off peak with this other tarriff. My apologies.

 

[GRiLLA]

no, my calcs are correct.
I would be charging my car during the night only. it takes, if after the trip, ~6+ hrs to charge it from ~25% to ~80 (7-6 hrs ~7kwh). this would be at night tariff anyway.
28kwh / 48 kwh split is only for the comparison reason - as octopus GO is active for 4 hrs only. But you my charge 6 hrs.

with GO you have 4 hrs at low off-peak and remaining 2 hrs at peak tariff. with flexible - whole night is off-peak, whole 6 hr period, although at higher cost.

in this case intelligent octopus would do all the trick as it gives you 6 hrs of off-peak rate.

Still depends on how often you would need to charge back more than ~ 40% and couldn't spread it over a few nights. Depends on your usage pattern.

I got home with 20% yesterday, so started today at 60% and probably won't get back to 80% until the weekend. If I needed it sooner I would just charge and take the hit, but that would be pretty rare for me, certainly not enough to be on a flexible contract.

 

[yessuz]

Ah I see I did not realise there are 6 hours rather than 4 off peak with this other tarriff. My apologies.

yeah, flexible octopus is standard economy 7 dual tarrif, which is 12 am to 7 am - total of 7 hrs.
intelligent octopus, as per definition, is 6 hrs of the rate.
octopus go 4 hrs only.

 

[yessuz]

Still depends on how often you would need to charge back more than ~ 40% and couldn't spread it over a few nights. Depends on your usage pattern.

I got home with 20% yesterday, so started today at 60% and probably won't get back to 80% until the weekend. If I needed it sooner I would just charge and take the hit, but that would be pretty rare for me, certainly not enough to be on a flexible contract.

hmm, fair point!
I really need full charge only after trips back from office. otherwise I am well within couple of hours of charge!

 

[fancealot]

so when on this, you charge using octopus app?

Yes the intlligent part of the app will decide when it's cheapest to charge to your set limit, as others have stated on the IO thread you can get additional cheap slots when you plug in after 5pm on top of the 6 hours cheap charging.

 

[sliyk]

I have a solar 4kw and Powerwall 2 setup. My use at the peak times is close to 0 in summers and worst case scenario at 5p (batteyr chares off peak). I probably will stay with octopus as EDF rates seem too high at the moment.

 

[RedMod3]

Ever wondered why you don't get billed on Octopus GO or another smart tariff? I think I have the answer.

On 11 Jan 2022, Octopus failed to get one of my smart meter readings, so they only received 47 readings and not 48 in the day. After I checked all the data, I determined that the power usage for the missing reading was added to the next day. See the 3:30 reading was twice normal, and this confirms with usage stats.

What this does is put your account into an error status and this suspends billing. Anyone else had this?

Octopus is aware and their customer support is good, but has anyone else got this?

The table below shows only 47 readings on 11 Jan 2022.

All this is done by loading the Octopus usage into a Microsoft Access database.

Daily Usage

Day​	"Total"​	"OffPeak"​	"Peak"​	OFFPeak£​	Peak£​	Count​
10/01/2022​	68.644​	18.265​	50.379​	0.869414​	7.4812815​	48​
11/01/2022​	60.495​	15.403​	45.092​	0.7331828​	6.696162​	47​
12/01/2022​	56.607​	16.564​	40.043​	0.7884464​	5.9463855​	48​
13/01/2022​	63.211​	14.993​	48.218​	0.7136668​	7.160373​	48​

Usage showing missing reading

Consumption​
Consumption​	Start​	End​	Day​	TimeStart​	TimeEnd​	OffPeak​	Peak​
1.321​	2022-01-10T22:00:00+00:00	2022-01-10T22:30:00+00:00	10/01/2022​	22:00​	22:30​	0​	1.321​
1.349​	2022-01-10T22:30:00+00:00	2022-01-10T23:00:00+00:00	10/01/2022​	22:30​	23:00​	0​	1.349​
1.23​	2022-01-10T23:00:00+00:00	2022-01-10T23:30:00+00:00	10/01/2022​	23:00​	23:30​	0​	1.23​
1.127​	2022-01-10T23:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T00:00:00+00:00	10/01/2022​	23:30​	00:00​	0​	1.127​
1.021​	2022-01-11T00:00:00+00:00	2022-01-11T00:30:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	00:00​	00:30​	0​	1.021​
2.388​	2022-01-11T00:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T01:00:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	00:30​	01:00​	2.388​	0​
2.542​	2022-01-11T01:00:00+00:00	2022-01-11T01:30:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	01:00​	01:30​	2.542​	0​
3.266​	2022-01-11T01:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T02:00:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	01:30​	02:00​	3.266​	0​
2.482​	2022-01-11T02:00:00+00:00	2022-01-11T02:30:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	02:00​	02:30​	2.482​	0​
1.241​	2022-01-11T02:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T03:00:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	02:30​	03:00​	1.241​	0​
2.327​	2022-01-11T03:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T04:00:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	03:30​	04:00​	2.327​	0​
1.157​	2022-01-11T04:00:00+00:00	2022-01-11T04:30:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	04:00​	04:30​	1.157​	0​
1.171​	2022-01-11T04:30:00+00:00	2022-01-11T05:00:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	04:30​	05:00​	0​	1.171​
1.024​	2022-01-11T05:00:00+00:00	2022-01-11T05:30:00+00:00	11/01/2022​	05:00​	05:30​	0​	1.024​