[Chevaline]

I wish to go on Agile but need a Smart Meter installed first and cannot tie Octopus down to expected wait time. They suggest I sign up for Tracker whilst waiting but I cannot determine current tariff for NW (LA23) or find any historical data. Reluctant to switch yet as tariff with Utility Point is a very competitive 12.91/kWh at 12.11p/day.
I own an EV.
Can anyone advise the current Tracker tariff for NW and historical data please?

 

[Paul Hopwood]

I'm in Yorkshire so maybe slightly different tariff rate, but should form a similar pattern and be a similar rate, ppd charge will be the same. July tracker v1 rate was 10.25ppkwh and ppd rate is 18.06 ppd (both excl 5% vat). I've no idea what the August rate will come out at as it tracks the wholesale price and I've no idea what the wholesale price did in August.

 

[dk6780]

The information on how the price is calculated is on the Octopus website hidden in the FAQs which are collapsed on loading, open up "How is the price of the Octopus Tracker calculated?"

North West England

Electricity standing charge: 16.076p per day
Electricity unit charge: (W * 1.19) + 7.133 p per kWh
Gas standing charge: 14.373p per day
Gas unit charge: (W * 0.036) + 1.218 p per kWh

For electricity, wholesale costs are based on the Nordpool day ahead auction price. To find the latest figure, follow the previous link, set the currency to “GBP” and convert the price to kWh by dividing by 1,000.

For gas, wholesale costs are based on the Marex Spectron Day-Ahead Index. To find the latest figure, download the CSV from the previous link, and open it in a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Take the “Average” number for the most recent entry where IndexName is “NBP All Day D.A” (National Balancing Point, All Day, Day Ahead).

How we calculate daily usage
Our smart meter rollout will start in the next few months and until then we'll use the meter readings you give us, and apportion usage to each day using the official Profile Coefficients for electricity, and Annual Load Profiles for gas. We make projections with the official estimated consumption figures for each meter (known as EAC for electricity and AQ for gas), or in their absence, the estimates customers give us. The more meter readings you give us, the more accurate we can be.

If you do this you get an idea of the rates and discover that most is due to the distribution cost rather than the wholesale cost, although don't forget to convert to pence from £ which isn't in the instructions. Looking at the average weekly costs over the past few years it has varied from 7.13 to 15.64p/kWh, with an average of 12.42p/kWh or 10.65p/kWh for the YTD. The standing charge is competitive, but without a smart meter you are at the whim of the "official Profile Coefficients" which will work against you if your consumption is more than averagely weighted to cheap times or for you if weighted to peak times.
At the end of the day it is transparent if complicated, and as fair as possible without a smart meter.
Out of interest, what are you paying at the moment?

 

[Chevaline]

I'm in Yorkshire so maybe slightly different tariff rate, but should form a similar pattern and be a similar rate, ppd charge will be the same. July tracker v1 rate was 10.25ppkwh and ppd rate is 18.06 ppd (both excl 5% vat). I've no idea what the August rate will come out at as it tracks the wholesale price and I've no idea what the wholesale price did in August.

Thank you Paul, helpful 👍

 

[Chevaline]

The information on how the price is calculated is on the Octopus website hidden in the FAQs which are collapsed on loading, open up "How is the price of the Octopus Tracker calculated?"



If you do this you get an idea of the rates and discover that most is due to the distribution cost rather than the wholesale cost, although don't forget to convert to pence from £ which isn't in the instructions. Looking at the average weekly costs over the past few years it has varied from 7.13 to 15.64p/kWh, with an average of 12.42p/kWh or 10.65p/kWh for the YTD. The standing charge is competitive, but without a smart meter you are at the whim of the "official Profile Coefficients" which will work against you if your consumption is more than averagely weighted to cheap times or for you if weighted to peak times.
At the end of the day it is transparent if complicated, and as fair as possible without a smart meter.
Out of interest, what are you paying at the moment?

Thank you for taking the trouble of such a comprehensive reply.
Utility Point fixed tariff: 12.91/kWh; 12.11p/day

 

[dk6780]

So Tracker would (with the benefit of hindsight) likely worked out cheaper over this year to date, but that mainly reflects the historically low prices mainly due to the reduction in demand caused by the current pandemic. Comparing a (very) variable tariff against a fixed isn't really appropriate, and the cost of the higher standing charge needs to be considered.
Will Utility Point not fit you a smart meter? You could ask them to do it and as long as it is SMETS2 it'll be adoptable by Octopus when you switch to them.

 

[Chevaline]

So Tracker would (with the benefit of hindsight) likely worked out cheaper over this year to date, but that mainly reflects the historically low prices mainly due to the reduction in demand caused by the current pandemic. Comparing a (very) variable tariff against a fixed isn't really appropriate, and the cost of the higher standing charge needs to be considered.
Will Utility Point not fit you a smart meter? You could ask them to do it and as long as it is SMETS2 it'll be adoptable by Octopus when you switch to them.

Thank you for your follow up and yes I have requested a Smart Meter via Utility Point with that in mind. I don’t think they are strong advocates for Smart Meters though!

 

[Paul Hopwood]

You're right, I was with utility point last year and there was never any mention or offer of a smart meter..

As per dk6780 above, I went on tracker v1 at the start of the Pandemic and it's been under 10ppkwh, but I wouldn't like to tell you to go for it because I have no idea of "normal rates", however if you want the best deal long term you are going to have to bite the bullet at some point and everyone has to go through a waiting period which I think is normally upto 3 months from sign up (without a smart meter) to Octopus Go / Agile.

I'm still on tracker v1 because I'm waiting for Northern power grid to replace my cutout before SMS will install my smart meter. I'm expecting to be on tracker v1 for quite a while yet, but thankfully there are lots of free public chargers in my area / commute. It's down to coronavirus not NPG / octopus / SMS that I'm still at a point I was in March, but NPG are still only doing emergency work which I'm getting frustrated with (I would be throwing toys about if I didn't have the free public chargers).

 

[Paul Hopwood]

Not sure if it's worth posting these as the electricity demand circumstances were unique March to June as already stated above, but these are my historic tracker v1 Yorkshire prices (all excluding 5% vat)
April 9.64ppkwh
May 9.43ppkwh
June 9.87ppkwh
July 10.25ppkwh
ppd rate 18.06
I'll get my August rate in a day or two, so I'll let you know what it was.

The other point worth making is that you will get £50 credit from the Octopus referral scheme, so take that into account and maybe just look at it as a contribution to your bills in the smart meter install waiting period (my referral code is sunny-light-212 if you want to share with me ).
I've got my gas with another company, but I believe the tracker v1 gas prices are quite competitive as well. if you're dual fuel.
Another point is that Octopus don't have exit fees, so you can try them for a couple of months (ie tracker v1 gas) and leave without penalty

 

[Paul Hopwood]

@Chevaline Tracker v1 Yorkshire rate for August was 11.02 ppkwh (excl vat).

 

[Chevaline]

Thanks Paul and all your comments have been incredibly helpful and “about to bite the bullet” but another barrier from Octopus:
“Unfortunately there is a high likelihood of the meter not connecting to ourselves, due to it's location in the communal cupboard and not in your property itself. Alongside this, if the meter is able to connect, then the In Home Display will not be functioning, as the distance from this to the property will be too great for it's signal.”
I cannot understand why there would be a problem connecting to them as there are already 5 Smart Meters installed already. All bar one commercial, the exception installed by E.On recently for an apartment at a much greater distance than I am (the cupboard is nearby on the ground floor, I am in first floor).
I understand Home Monitors are on a separate network and don’t use WiFi (which I can obtain in the cupboard using a range extender), although I have seen a guide to connect a Chameleon Home Monitor to WiFi. Not essential anyway as I have one already connected up to my apartment supply, so does no include EV charging.

 

[Chevaline]

Not sure if it's worth posting these as the electricity demand circumstances were unique March to June as already stated above, but these are my historic tracker v1 Yorkshire prices (all excluding 5% vat)
April 9.64ppkwh
May 9.43ppkwh
June 9.87ppkwh
July 10.25ppkwh
ppd rate 18.06
I'll get my August rate in a day or two, so I'll let you know what it was.

The other point worth making is that you will get £50 credit from the Octopus referral scheme, so take that into account and maybe just look at it as a contribution to your bills in the smart meter install waiting period (my referral code is sunny-light-212 if you want to share with me ).
I've got my gas with another company, but I believe the tracker v1 gas prices are quite competitive as well. if you're dual fuel.
Another point is that Octopus don't have exit fees, so you can try them for a couple of months (ie tracker v1 gas) and leave without penalty

Paul,
I could not find out where to put your referral code when trying to sign up last Wednesday so emailed Octopus. Chasing them up today received this so could you provide me with either please (rvglenistef@gmail.com)?
“We can get your referral added to your account after the sign up process is completed online. To do this though we would need either the full address and name of the account that referred you or the account number as the link you have sent us is not something we can use to add the referral after sign up.”
I need it to offset cancellation fee from Utility Point.
Thanks. Richard.

 

[Chevaline]

Not sure if it's worth posting these as the electricity demand circumstances were unique March to June as already stated above, but these are my historic tracker v1 Yorkshire prices (all excluding 5% vat)
April 9.64ppkwh
May 9.43ppkwh
June 9.87ppkwh
July 10.25ppkwh
ppd rate 18.06
I'll get my August rate in a day or two, so I'll let you know what it was.

The other point worth making is that you will get £50 credit from the Octopus referral scheme, so take that into account and maybe just look at it as a contribution to your bills in the smart meter install waiting period (my referral code is sunny-light-212 if you want to share with me ).
I've got my gas with another company, but I believe the tracker v1 gas prices are quite competitive as well. if you're dual fuel.
Another point is that Octopus don't have exit fees, so you can try them for a couple of months (ie tracker v1 gas) and leave without penalty

S

 

[Chevaline]

Damn it Paul, having now signed up to Octopus I have been given my own referral link to use, so if I had yours it would have been easy - the code provided is at the end of the URL.
Let’s hope they are true to their word in retrospect if you now provide me with your account number as requested - assume name as listed here?

 

[NeilO]

share.octopus.energy/hill-okapi-953
Feel free to use. 👍

 

[Mini]

I'm about to join Octopus Tracker on 9th December, it's going well so far. Eventually I want to transfer to Go/Agile but need smart meters which I believe may take some time! Can anyone give me an idea what the current rates are for the North Lincolnshire area.
TIA

 

[phproxy]

I'm about to join Octopus Tracker on 9th December, it's going well so far. Eventually I want to transfer to Go/Agile but need smart meters which I believe may take some time! Can anyone give me an idea what the current rates are for the North Lincolnshire area.
TIA

Smart Meter Reports

 

[Mini]

Thanks for that, so is North Lincolnshire in Eastern England or East Midlands?

 

[barneyd]

I'm trying to justify a home battery but I need at maximum 10 year ROI before I'll consider one.

Me too but I can’t make the numbers work. I reckon buying cheap and using the battery when the price goes up would save me about 5p/kWh. I have a solar diverter, which tells me I have about 1250 kWh per year in excess production that I could store. My annual import is about 5MWh so my total saving would be about £350. Reduce that by the gas I would have to buy to replace the diverted solar that currently heats the water and it comes down to just over £300, and that assumes I control it carefully to make sure I buy in charge at the absolute cheapest and use it when it would be most expensive.

I also looked at using the EV batter but V2H systems aren’t much cheaper than a whole battery setup and V2G is a joke at the moment.

 

[Blanik]

There is also a formula - see FAQ Frequently asked questions about Octopus Tracker | Octopus Energy

But your consumption over the month is changed back to daily KWh using a standard consumption profile to then apply the daily rate - this happens even with a smart meter, so you cannot use a dip on tomorrows Nordpool price to decide to increase consumption and charge the car.