[Tall Phil]

I joined Octopus at the beginning of Dec 2019, the advertised rate was 13.3ppkw, based on my "usage" the rate I was offered was 14.7 ppkw. It is not a bad rate, don't get me wrong, but it is not the rate that first caught my eye. Just curious whether anyone has the "13.3 ppkw" rate and, if so, what usage did you quote in order to be offered it?

On a different note, I am still waiting for a call to book a date for my smart meter installation, let alone the installation itself. They have said they will call when they are installing meters in my area but no date as to when they will be in my area (South Hampshire). What area are they installing in? Anyone who has had it done this week or last?

 

[Marli]

Tagging as interested.
Will save about a 10er but at normal rates until the metre is installed will make a 7 quid extra cost.

 

[james rogerson]

But you referal code will give you £50 to cover the extra cost until you get your smart meter set up

 

[baden]

I'm Guessing you applied to get their GO tariff at 13.3p KW ??
They put you on a temporary tariff at 14+p until they put a smart meter in and take it over to the GO tariff. You have no control over when this might happen. !
I have been waiting since beginning of dec19 and have had lots of emails asking when it will happen but you'll never get a date out of them!.
I have raised complaints\phoned up, all you get is apologies and "we'll look into it for you" , but they still won't give you a date. They'll blame the meter installers etc.
I have put on my complaint that I expect them to cover the extra costs caused by not been on the GO tariff.
If they try to raise your DD go on line and reduce it again so that you owe them rather than them owing you. That way the ball is in your court!
Basically they are hopeless at fixing issues if anything doesn't go smoothly automatically.
Good luck --

 

[murphdub]

I joined Octopus at the beginning of Dec 2019, the advertised rate was 13.3ppkw, based on my "usage" the rate I was offered was 14.7 ppkw. It is not a bad rate, don't get me wrong, but it is not the rate that first caught my eye. Just curious whether anyone has the "13.3 ppkw" rate and, if so, what usage did you quote in order to be offered it?

We were 14.8p for 5 months before SMART meter install and then from mid December 12.9p and 5p on Go Tariff

 

[Lexden]

Do regional price differences come into play? They do for GO and GO Faster when you finally get access to it.

 

[ASM]

My advice is to get your SMETS2 smart meter installed by your existing supplier before switching to Octopus If you want a fast move to either Agile or Go.

I was with SSE and could book an appointment online for a meter installation within 2 weeks. As soon as I could see that the Smart meter worked with SSE on my online account I switched to Octopus.

I filled in the switch form on 12th Feb and by 29th Feb I was on Octopus on their standard rate but with them able to “see” my smart meter. I expect the half hour billing to be set up in the next couple of days and then my switch to Octopus Agile to be complete.

The engineer that came out from SSE to fit the smart meter said that the “big 6“ suppliers are massively incentivised to get customers on to smart meters and are fined by the regulator if they don’t hit targets which has worked nicely for me.

if this is helpful advice please consider using my octopus referral code to save us both £50.

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[dk6780]

ASM - I hope that things work out for you, but Octopus use half-hour billing and on SMETS1 used a business meter to obtain this. Whether this is different for SMETS2 and they can use other models I don't know.

 

[ASM]

SMETS2 are fully interchangeable unlike SMETS1

 

[baden]

ASM - I hope that things work out for you, but Octopus use half-hour billing and on SMETS1 used a business meter to obtain this. Whether this is different for SMETS2 and they can use other models I don't know.

Octopus say they can use existing Smets1 meters if they are branded "Secure" .
I believe ALL other makes of existing Smets1 meters are supposed to be in the process of being migrated\updated remotely during 2020 to the DCC Data Communications Company ) which means they can be used by all energy suppliers.
Trouble is these dates timetables keep getting pushed back plus it's also then up to each energy supplier to "take them on" from the DCC. So I'm not sure anyone at Octopus knows what they are doing otherwise they would have been able to give me some idea of when they will change me across to the go tarrif. I currently have smets1 meters fitted by SSE.
All this is according to other sources on the net.

 

[DangerousDoug]

I had an existing "Secure" branded SMETS1 meter before I switched over to Octopus. the day after they took over supply, I was able to change over to Agile. So the advice to get a smart meter installed first seems to be the best option. Octopus are still a small startup company with a very rapidly rising customer base, so are stretched in customer resources at the moment. Having said that, every time I've called them, my call has been answered within a minute or two, and my query has been resolved.

 

[Lexden]

SMETS2 are fully interchangeable unlike SMETS1

Not quite. SMETS2 meters do not lose their connection to the DCC when a consumer changes supplier; HOWEVER, ...........

Many of the smaller (newer) suppliers are still sitting on the smart meter fence and they have yet to set up their systems to accept smart meter data from the DCC. Unless that connectivity is in place, consumers with SMETS2 meters switching to, say, Zog for gas (I checked a couple of months ago) will still have to send in meter readings.

 

[Woodulike]

I switched to Octopus with a SMETT1 meter but it still doesn't go smoothly. They couldn't get the readings from the meter even though the previous supplier could up until the time I switched.
I ended up with a SMETT2 after lots of emails back and forth.

They get there eventually and the price is good once your there, but it can take a while even if it looks like it should be simple.

 

[QPRfan]

Yes you are probably on an interim tariff until you are switched over the Go.

If things dont go as they are supposed to - ie: delays in installation or delays in moving over to Go - then simply send a polite email to the CEO advising him of the issues and registering your disappointment. I had to do this on 2 occasions. Firstly due to delays in being switched over to Go and secondly not having a bill for 3 months.

I received replies within hours. Both issues were fixed within a few days. I was also reimbursed for the extar cost of having to charge at normal rates rather than the 5p overnight rate.

It seems that either things go swimminly with Octopus with no issues whatsoever or (as many of us have experienced) delasy, delays delays and other assorted 'admin' issues

Personally I am happy enough with them, despite having to escalate matters twice. At least their CEO actually takes swift action to rectify matters.

 

[AlanByVale]

I joined Octopus at the beginning of Dec 2019, the advertised rate was 13.3ppkw, based on my "usage" the rate I was offered was 14.7 ppkw. It is not a bad rate, don't get me wrong, but it is not the rate that first caught my eye. Just curious whether anyone has the "13.3 ppkw" rate and, if so, what usage did you quote in order to be offered it?

On a different note, I am still waiting for a call to book a date for my smart meter installation, let alone the installation itself. They have said they will call when they are installing meters in my area but no date as to when they will be in my area (South Hampshire). What area are they installing in? Anyone who has had it done this week or last?

I know there re regional variations but I signed up in July 2019 and pay 16.8p daytime and 9.7p nighttime (When I'm charging). Didn't even bother with their EV rate as I gather the wait for the smart meter will be longer than the contract! Hoping a lot of suppliers will be at Fully Charged in may so looking forward to doing some research.

 

[phproxy]

I know there re regional variations but I signed up in July 2019 and pay 16.8p daytime and 9.7p nighttime (When I'm charging). Didn't even bother with their EV rate as I gather the wait for the smart meter will be longer than the contract! Hoping a lot of suppliers will be at Fully Charged in may so looking forward to doing some research.

Wait varies a lot by area but the 'contract' currently just auto-renews annually at the same prices.

Yorkshire:
13.3p kWh day
5p kWh 4 hrs overnight.

 

[baden]

I know there re regional variations but I signed up in July 2019 and pay 16.8p daytime and 9.7p nighttime (When I'm charging). Didn't even bother with their EV rate as I gather the wait for the smart meter will be longer than the contract! Hoping a lot of suppliers will be at Fully Charged in may so looking forward to doing some research.

Not sure I understand how you can be on different rates for night and day if you don't have a Smart meter??. Or are you on some sort of economy 7 meter?.

 

[DangerousDoug]

I switched to Octopus with a SMETT1 meter but it still doesn't go smoothly. They couldn't get the readings from the meter even though the previous supplier could up until the time I switched.
I ended up with a SMETT2 after lots of emails back and forth.

They get there eventually and the price is good once your there, but it can take a while even if it looks like it should be simple.

It has to be the right type of SMETT1 meter - they can only talk to "Secure" branded SMETT1 meters. In theory, they should be able to talk to any SMETT2 meter (as that's the whole point of SMETT2) but I don't know anyone who's tried yet...

 

[Woodulike]

It has to be the right type of SMETT1 meter

It does and I had a Secure Liberty but they still couldn't connect to it

 

[ASM]

Here is an update on my progress to switching to Octopus Agile from SSE on a dumb meter.

As I said previously, I had SSE install a SMETS2 smart meter before initiating the switch. I was able to book an installation online for two weeks later.

A few days after the meter installation I was able to see that it worked online with SSE and initiated the switch.

17 days later I was on Octopus on a standard rate.

Today (4 days later) I can see that Octopus have half hourly meter readings from my smart meter and I am looking forwards to going live with Agile.

My advice is if you are on a “dumb” meter and want to switch to an Octopus Time of Use Tariff (Go, Go Faster, Agile) and can use your existing supplier to quickly fit a SMETS2 meter with a guaranteed fitting date, it makes sense to do that.

Please consider using my referral code to save us both £50 if you switch and find this useful advice.

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