Octopus go - Still available?

[HenryT]

In the Sunday Telegraph today there is an article that claims that the Money Saving Smart Tarifs are now more expensive than the standard variable tariffs.

Smart meter tariffs now ‘massively overpriced’ as prices triple

Specialist deals no longer vary prices throughout the day

www.telegraph.co.uk

When I contacted Octopus about moving to "GO" in april after my existing deal with Scottish Power ends they said, if I understood it correctly, "do nothing", stay where you are and do not sign up to a new deal. If and when Gas prices fall then deals will return.

Yes, and if Russia annexes the Ukraine they will never come down. I'm feeling gloomy this evening.

If I read it correctly, the article is mostly against the most volatile 'agile' type tariff, offering half-hourly pricing based upon demand. Agile fell into disuse/out of favour about a year ago as prices began to increase. It does go on to say that compared to Agile the standard tariffs are generally better which is fair comment, particularly given the impact of the price cap, but it also mentions 'Go' being an alternative, which in many cases remains viable.

 

[PITA]

With what has been going on for years, one must wonder how did "we" let it come to this?? ... This could be the real cold war in the making. I think I'll leave the chimney breast where it is for the moment and thank the government for greenbelt land and all those trees they've been planting as they might come in handy

But that's the thing... if you had a properly insulated house in the first place, you wouldn't need anything much, anyways.

Insulation keeps the heat in during Winter ... and the Heat out during Summer.

Win / Win

You don't need to live in a cave with a log fire...

 

[otherslackjaw]

Oh wow. If this happens to me too, i'll be relieved! I'll report back in two weeks..

Edit: on further thoughts, I've noticed that I have not received a 'your tariff is ending soon' email about electricity. Whereas I did have one a few weeks before my gas fix recently ended. Curious.

Spoke too soon in my edit above as I've just had the 'your fix is coming to an end' email. So I expect it will end when it is supposed to.

 

[Durzel]

My Go ran out on 15/01, and I too received an email telling me that I was being moved to the same tariff that I was on. I checked my Octopus account (I almost didn't want to jinx it) and it showed the usual screen where you're switching tariffs where you see your current and next tariff, which in my case were both the same.

I did nothing and touch wood am still on the same tariff, although it's too early to have had a bill to confirm it.

I have a friend who was on the same tariff, and his expires on the 22/01, so will be interesting to see what happens to him. The social media post I've seen going around from an Octopus guy suggested that "anyone who ignores the renewal email sent 45 days before the tariff ends will end up on Flexible Octopus", but I'll be surprised if they're honouring it as if this is day 1 (i.e. anyone who would renew in the next 45 days, too soon for that email to go out, stays on the old tariff).

 

[Stranger Dings]

Ouch. Mine is up for renewal. The new prices are awful. From 14p KWh to 31p and off peak from 5p to 7.5p.

Yesterday, I was charging on a PodPoint fast (50kw) charger at 25p KWh. It is cheaper to use public charging than home peak unit pricing!

Your new Octopus Go prices
Peak unit rate: 31.42p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 7.50p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.66p / day

The days of cheap electric motoring are over.

 

[Durzel]

Ouch. Mine is up for renewal. The new prices are awful. From 14p KWh to 31p and off peak from 5p to 7.5p.

Yesterday, I was charging on a PodPoint fast (50kw) charger at 25p KWh. It is cheaper to use public charging than home peak unit pricing!

Your new Octopus Go prices
Peak unit rate: 31.42p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 7.50p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.66p / day

The days of cheap electric motoring are over.

When is yours actually due for renewal?

Did you go on to the website to get the new prices? (I did the same yesterday) or have you been explicitly told that this is your new tariff?

As to your wider point - being somewhat pedantic - it is still going to be possible to charge cheaply, 7.5p/kWh up from 5p/kWh isn't that a big of a deal. The bigger problem is the broader impact on peoples finances from their general house usage going up by over 100%.

 

[yessuz]

Ouch. Mine is up for renewal. The new prices are awful. From 14p KWh to 31p and off peak from 5p to 7.5p.

Yesterday, I was charging on a PodPoint fast (50kw) charger at 25p KWh. It is cheaper to use public charging than home peak unit pricing!

Your new Octopus Go prices
Peak unit rate: 31.42p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 7.50p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.66p / day

The days of cheap electric motoring are over.

come on, 7,5p per Kwh is still cheap

 

[Stranger Dings]

When is yours actually due for renewal?

Did you go on to the website to get the new prices? (I did the same yesterday) or have you been explicitly told that this is your new tariff?

As to your wider point - being somewhat pedantic - it is still going to be possible to charge cheaply, 7.5p/kWh up from 5p/kWh isn't that a big of a deal. The bigger problem is the broader impact on peoples finances from their general house usage going up by over 100%.

I was sent those prices by email and told this was what my new ‘Go’ tariff would be.

 

[Stranger Dings]

come on, 7,5p per Kwh is still cheap

7.5p per KWh is cheap, but the impact on the wider household bills mean that it is cheaper for me to leave Go and move onto another tariff. They include an overall comparison against other tariffs in the email and I’d be better going onto Flexible Octopus to the tune of a couple of hundred pounds a year.

Flexible Octopus prices
Peak unit rate: 23.04p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 15.90p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.75p / day

16p KWh off peak is more than my current peak rate, but the new Go peak rate of 31p is just too much to make it worth it.

 

[Alan J]

You might want to consider the Go faster Tariff which gives you an Off Peak Period between 20:30-00:30 which lets you move some household consumption Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Tumble Drier etc. into this period.

 

[barry.perfect]

Has anyone found anywhere that confirms when the Flexible Octopus Off Peak times are?

Is it safe to assume it is 0:30 to 4:30 the same as the default Octopus Go?

 

[bc1979]

7.5p per KWh is cheap, but the impact on the wider household bills mean that it is cheaper for me to leave Go and move onto another tariff. They include an overall comparison against other tariffs in the email and I’d be better going onto Flexible Octopus to the tune of a couple of hundred pounds a year.

Flexible Octopus prices
Peak unit rate: 23.04p / kWh
Off-peak unit rate: 15.90p / kWh
Standing charge: 25.75p / day

16p KWh off peak is more than my current peak rate, but the new Go peak rate of 31p is just too much to make it worth it.

That’s not fixed though so that price will go up in April with the price cap, some people are suggesting by as much as 50%.

Surely as well your Car is by far the biggest user of electricity? Charging a Tesla every day will use more kWh than your house so you are better off with the cheaper rate for that even if you pay a bit more for the houses power?

 

[HenryT]

That’s not fixed though so that price will go up in April with the price cap, some people are suggesting by as much as 50%.

Surely as well your Car is by far the biggest user of electricity? Charging a Tesla every day will use more kWh than your house so you are better off with the cheaper rate for that even if you pay a bit more for the houses power?

Depends upon mileage and domestic consumption.

 

[otherslackjaw]

Another twist for Go customers, I've just had this via email. Presumably it doesn't only apply to me:

Thanks for choosing Octopus Go and helping us build and test the future of smart tariffs.
We've been working on making renewals smoother and simpler for smart tariff customers, and as part of this work we mistakenly extended the end date of your fixed term last week.
Rest assured: we've updated the end date of your tariff back to what it was.
By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

So this could explain those who's go tariffs should have ended but have instead continued. I guess they've just extended them all. Seems unnecessarily generous, it is going to cost them £500+ per customer, I'd have thought.

 

[Godsense]

Another twist for Go customers, I've just had this via email. Presumably it doesn't only apply to me:


So this could explain those who's go tariffs should have ended but have instead continued. I guess they've just extended them all. Seems unnecessarily generous, it is going to cost them £500+ per customer, I'd have thought.

Also just had this, about fell off the sofa. I also received my renewal the other day and the peak rate doubling was expected yet eye opening.

Very surprised they are doing this, a free month or two sure but 12 months? Must be more too it.

 

[otherslackjaw]

Very surprised they are doing this, a free month or two sure but 12 months? Must be more too it.

Yes, it's crazy. I imagine a sizable proportion of Octopus electricity tariffs are people on Go. It's going to cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds, surely? They were never particularly competitive for other electricity tariffs. Go is the only reason I joined Octopus, I can't be the only one.

 

[Smiddy]

My Octopus Go tariff expires tomorrow (18th Jan) but I had an email this morning saying it runs out on the 3rd March and had some pricing that others have mentioned which will basically double my electric bill for the year.

I have had an email tonight to say -

We've been working on making renewals smoother and simpler for smart tariff customers, and as part of this work we mistakenly extended the end date of your fixed term last week.

Rest assured: we've updated the end date of your tariff back to what it was.

By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

Happy days

 

[Stranger Dings]

I’ve got that same email!


By way of apology, when your fixed term comes to an end, we've lined up an additional 12 months on the same (quite frankly crazy cheap in the current market) prices you're currently enjoying.

Happy days!

 

[drumkills]

I’ve had the same email today!
What do you folks understand we should do?
Do nothing and they automatically renew our Go for 1 year with same rates?

 

[Stranger Dings]

I’ve had the same email today!
What do you folks understand we should do?
Do nothing and they automatically renew our Go for 1 year with same rates?

That is what I’m assuming.