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Octopus Go - British Summer Time...

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Just to BUMP this before anyone asks, clocks change this Sunday.

Octopus times follow the GMT/BST switch. So for example, 10am is always 10am, irrespective of whether it is GMT or BST.
Interesting, that is not what Octopus have confirmed to me in writing:

Hello,
Thank you for your email.
The above information is correct.
I hope this helps!
Kind regards,
Octopus Energy
XXX from Octopus Energy
From me

So that I get this right:
WINTER
In winter, my billing and switching of the power to the 5th terminal of the smart meter will be at 5p during
00:30 to 04:30 GMT – recognised time
This is what actually is happening now
SUMMER
In summer when we switch to BST, the switching of the power to the 5th terminal of the smart meter will be at 5p during
00:30 to 04:30 GMT
01:30 to 05:30 BST – recognised time
Is this correct please?
Kind regards
John


I will phone Octopus tomorrow and report back
 
Interesting, that is not what Octopus have confirmed to me in writing:

A slightly different scenario as your appears to be for E7 style circuit switched in the meter rather than just Go billing. But certainly 00:30-04:30GMT and then 00:30-04:30BST is how it has worked and have been billed on the Go plan in the past. Odd that it wouldn't be the same and it wouldn't be the first time that Octopus have given an incorrect answer.

From Octopus themselves
1647975583437.png
 
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Very interesting.

I am on GO, but now I am curious, will my Smart Meter's 5th terminal become active at 00:30 BST or 01:30 BST (00:30 GMT)? I will still ask them tomorrow.

My hot water immersion heater and car granny charger are connected to the 5th terminal (and not reported on by the Tesla app for the Powerwall).
 
I think its being over thought. If I want to watch the 10pm news or meet someone in the pub at 7pm, living in a country that has a single local time zone, I don't then have to check whether its 10pm BST or GMT, or whether I'm going to get 5 or 6 pints in.
I’m not sure, what if you agreed to meet someone at 02:30 on Sunday morning? There is no 02:30 unless time zone is quoted

I’ve asked Octopus to add an FAQ for GMT/BST changes and what the effects are on tariffs and smart meter configurations.
 
I’ve asked Octopus to add an FAQ for GMT/BST changes and what the effects are on tariffs and smart meter configurations.

You mean like the one in their FAQ. FAQs about Octopus Go, the tariff just for EV drivers

What happens to the off-peak period during daylight savings?​

Number one and most important: no matter what your IHD says, your off-peak period stays between 00:30 and 04:30.

In exactly the same way that a 10pm TV programme will always be at 10pm etc etc...

This is how Octopus has worked for the last 4+ or so years that I have been an Octopus customer. Its simple. 00:30 is always 30 minutes past midnight, irrespective of whether it is GMT or BST and 04:30 will always be 4h30m past midnight except twice a year when clocks change, when it will be an hour later, or an hour sooner, and yes, you get an hours more charge in October and an hour less this Sunday. Anyone on Octopus Go (00:30-04:30) can confirm this by checking their itemised bills - they will have 5 hours cheap rate last October and 3 hours cheap rate last March.
 
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You mean like the one in their FAQ. FAQs about Octopus Go, the tariff just for EV drivers



In exactly the same way that a 10pm TV programme will always be at 10pm etc etc...

This is how Octopus has worked for the last 4+ or so years that I have been an Octopus customer. Its simple. 00:30 is always 30 minutes past midnight, irrespective of whether it is GMT or BST and 04:30 will always be 4h30m past midnight except twice a year when clocks change, when it will be an hour later, or an hour sooner, and yes, you get an hours more charge in October and an hour less this Sunday. Anyone on Octopus Go (00:30-04:30) can confirm this by checking their itemised bills - they will have 5 hours cheap rate last October and 3 hours cheap rate last March.
“Your off-peak period stays between 00:30 and 04:30”. This is confusing. If it “stays” at the same time in absolute terms then it will appear to change compared to local time when BST arrives (I.e. the slot will now be 01:30 to 05:30 local). On the other hand, if it continues to match the local time, then it doesn’t “stay”, it actually moves back an hour. As I said, all these confusing words would be resolved by adding three characters - GMT or BST.
 
“Your off-peak period stays between 00:30 and 04:30”. This is confusing. If it “stays” at the same time in absolute terms then it will appear to change compared to local time when BST arrives (I.e. the slot will now be 01:30 to 05:30 local). On the other hand, if it continues to match the local time, then it doesn’t “stay”, it actually moves back an hour. As I said, all these confusing words would be resolved by adding three characters - GMT or BST.

Not so, you are missing one vital point about exactly WHEN BST/GMT actually kicks in.

According to GOV.UK the clocks will go forward to BST at 01:00 on Sunday morning.
The Octopus Go's off-peak slot will start at 00:30 GMT for half an hour and at 01:00 GMT the clocks will switch to 02:00. BST
So, 2.5 hours later at 04:30 BST the off-peak time will end - you just get a 3 hours charge window.

At the end of summer time on October 30th BST will end at 02:00 BST and clocks will turn back to 01:00 GMT
The Go period starts at 00:30 BST then 1.5 hours later at 02:00 BST the time will switch back to 01:00 GMT. So 3.5 hours later at 04:30 GMT the off peak time will end so this time you get 5 hours charge window.

There's talk of dropping the daylight saving malarky and sticking to a single time all year.
America are planning to do that soon as are Europe - it's just us Brits still messing with the clocks.
 
This discussion is fascinating. I will wait until I get a definitive reply from Octopus (which they will hopefully add to their FAQ) but in the meantime, I received an email this morning confirming a 4-hour cheap GO period over Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I'm also keen to understand how the 5th terminal on my Smart Meter will work under BST, as I don't want to be running my immersion heater during the peak rate during BST.

Personally, I've no problem with a fixed 00:30 to 04:30 GO period throughout the year as long as my 5th terminal and billing are all in line. Also, I'd have no objection if everything was based on GMT (like my E7 was) as long as the 5th terminal and billing are also all in synch.
 
These are historical Octopus Go bills - different years worth (spanning ~19 months), so not just a fluke one year.
Its also because due to Octopus billing period inconsistencies, I could not quickly find the matching day
of the other BST/GMT switch...

Its not necessarily the switched meter tariff, which may be different to Go (the topic of this thread), but no idea why it wouldn't be.
But their FAQ does mention issues with what the IHD's sometimes display so that may also translate to confused meters too...

March 2020 - 3 hour GO window - clocks go forward
1648208868852.png


Oct 2021 - 5 hour GO window - clocks go back - even Octopus don't get their graphs
right and they do not match what we were billed.
1648209328906.png


Simple and matches what Octopus state in their FAQ...
You get billed based upon the clock time that most of us live our lives by.