Switching to Octopus Go (from British Gas)

[snafu27]

My recent experience with moving to Octopus Go from an Octopus Fixed tariff has been mixed.

Applied to move to Octopus Go 10 weeks ago. Got a Smart meter installation appointment 8 weeks ago. SMET2 meters installed 6 weeks ago. No reading being sent after 14 days so emailed them. Electricity readings started coming through on the Octopus web portal 3 weeks ago and switch to Octopus Go confirmed by email. So all good and positive from a car charging perspective.

However, the gas meter reading are still not coming through and no electricity or gas consumption of any kind showing up on the IHD display.

Octopus customer support seems to be struggling at the moment. I've emailed multiple times and it takes them 2-5 days to respond with what look like stock responses like "its still with the metering team". So if things go wrong you will have to be patient at the moment.

 

[Billbrown1982]

Smart meters still seem to have a ways to go. I know plenty of people that can't even have them because the signal in their area is too poor.

I don't see why they can't piggy back off of home wifi...but then maybe that will leave opportunity for them to be hacked or modified in some way.

 

[Mperkins28]

Only just had a British Gas smart meter fitted last week which the engineer stated would be compatible with all others, which now seems isn't the case with Octopus after reading all this.
Does anyone else use the British Gas EV tariff which seemed to suggest very low charging off peak rates?

Not getting my car until March 22, and currently out of my fixed tariff from August this year. So it seems I would need to apply to Octopus around December this year?

 

[peige]

Only just had a British Gas smart meter fitted last week which the engineer stated would be compatible with all others, which now seems isn't the case with Octopus after reading all this.
Does anyone else use the British Gas EV tariff which seemed to suggest very low charging off peak rates?

Not getting my car until March 22, and currently out of my fixed tariff from August this year. So it seems I would need to apply to Octopus around December this year?

I'm in the process of moving from BG to Ocopus and currently on the EV tarriff from BG. Although it does give a fairly decent rate for overnight charging they bumped the daytime rate for Electricity and the gas too! Overall with people working from home at my address i'm worse off on the BG EV tarriff, Octopus offer better overall rates balanced better between the overnight and daytime all be it a shorter "off peak" window.

 

[Alan J]

Only just had a British Gas smart meter fitted last week which the engineer stated would be compatible with all others, which now seems isn't the case with Octopus after reading all this.
Does anyone else use the British Gas EV tariff which seemed to suggest very low charging off peak rates?

Not getting my car until March 22, and currently out of my fixed tariff from August this year. So it seems I would need to apply to Octopus around December this year?

I suggest that you check the Peak Rate a lot of these 'Offers' involve a hike to the Base / Peak Rate to offset the Cheap Rate. Also none of the Big 6 would be doing this without Octopus disrupting the Market so for me Octopus deserve Loyalty for doing so but everyone makes a personal choice.

 

[Dilly]

Yeah I wouldn't expect much more than that, funny enough I just logged into my account to get that link for ya, and there's a message saying...

"COVID-19 update: Following an update to government guidance, we're carefully starting to ramp up smart meter installations once again. Please register your interest for more information."

Even though I already have smart meters but hey, looks like things might finally be getting back to normal!

EDIT: Ah they are pushing for Smets2 meter installations, mine are only Smets1 so I just registered my interest in an upgrade.

If you have SMETS1 with a secure logo that’s working. I’d stick with it. They seem to be more reliable than some SMETS2 models.

 

[sparkymark75]

I have a SMETS1 meter that was installed in my new build when I purchased it in 2017. It's an Elster AS300P. I'm not sure if this means I'll be precluded from joining Octopus and taking advantage of their Smart tariffs?

I'm currently with Outfox the Market (OtM). The only reason I realised I had a SMETS1 meter was when I asked OtM to install a Smart meter they told me I already had one. They told me they would get my SMETS1 meter upgraded so it could communicate with the central network. Not sure how long this takes and if I have to wait until this is done before I can switch.

 

[Mrklaw]

I have a SMETS1 meter that was installed in my new build when I purchased it in 2017. It's an Elster AS300P. I'm not sure if this means I'll be precluded from joining Octopus and taking advantage of their Smart tariffs?

I'm currently with Outfox the Market (OtM). The only reason I realised I had a SMETS1 meter was when I asked OtM to install a Smart meter they told me I already had one. They told me they would get my SMETS1 meter upgraded so it could communicate with the central network. Not sure how long this takes and if I have to wait until this is done before I can switch.

I have that exact meter (installed by Scottish Power originally). I was expecting it to be neeidng replacement but Octopus hooked up to it and switched me across pretty quickly - for gas and electricity (didn't even know my gas was smart!). Apparantly some SMETS1 including that model are being converted across in the background

 

[sparkymark75]

I have that exact meter (installed by Scottish Power originally). I was expecting it to be neeidng replacement but Octopus hooked up to it and switched me across pretty quickly - for gas and electricity (didn't even know my gas was smart!). Apparantly some SMETS1 including that model are being converted across in the background

So are you now on Octopus Go? How did they manage to hook up to it? Did you tell them you had a smart meter or was it all automatic?

 

[Mr Miserable]

Only just had a British Gas smart meter fitted last week which the engineer stated would be compatible with all others, which now seems isn't the case with Octopus after reading all this.
Does anyone else use the British Gas EV tariff which seemed to suggest very low charging off peak rates?

Not getting my car until March 22, and currently out of my fixed tariff from August this year. So it seems I would need to apply to Octopus around December this year?

Just be aware that just because an energy company has a 'special EV' tariff they may not be very attractive rates.
I produced a spreadsheet to compare the various deals.
Here's the link - all you have to do is vary your estimated consumption to allow for the various off-peak period lengths to get a rough idea of what your monthly bill would be with the various suppliers.
I haven't updated it for a couple of months but I think it still won't be far off the mark.
If anybody finds a different EV rate, drop me a DM and I shall add it to the spreadsheet.

 

[sparkymark75]

Just be aware that just because an energy company has a 'special EV' tariff they may not be very attractive rates.
I produced a spreadsheet to compare the various deals.
Here's the link - all you have to do is vary your estimated consumption to allow for the various off-peak period lengths to get a rough idea of what your monthly bill would be with the various suppliers.
I haven't updated it for a couple of months but I think it still won't be far off the mark.
If anybody finds a different EV rate, drop me a DM and I shall add it to the spreadsheet.

Thanks. Yeah I used it when you mentioned it previously. Octopus Go did work out a bit cheaper but hard to gauge how accurate it is given I don't have the car yet. Plus I would probably use the cheaper tariff and schedule washing/tumble drying for that time of night.

 

[Mrklaw]

So are you now on Octopus Go? How did they manage to hook up to it? Did you tell them you had a smart meter or was it all automatic?

intold them I had the Elster they asked for the serial numbers of bith electric and gas and pretty quickly confirmed they could see them on the database of supported meters

you have to contact them to request Go anyway