OT: OVO pricing

Yes, I can see it using my PC. My life is a 'smart'-phone-free zone, so 'apps' are of no use to me, although the current flat occupant uses them. One of Octopus' advertising points was the IHD. Oh well. Fail.

I have just checked the Octopus tariff for my house. I currently pay, with OVO, 21.92 p/kWh, with a standing charge of 45.04 p/day, and I do not have a 'smart' meter. Octopus Tracker would cost 26.21 p/kWh, and a standing charge of 47.29 p/day. A bargain at half the price. And I would have to have a 'smart' meter installed to enable me to be charged at these higher rates. No, thanks, not tonight, Josephine. In this instance, the case for a 'smart' meter falls flat on its face.

I don't remember seeing a meter reader for at least two years now. It's always me sending a reading. At one point, OVO were estimating the readings to a date different from when I was sending them, resulting in strange calculated readings that made no sense. I finally got the reading date synchronised with them, and now they use the numbers I send.

The tracker price changes on a daily basis.

Which means they can help themselves to more money than you think you are paying for the 'cheap tariff' and earn interest on it. This means the headline unit price that you think you are paying understates what you are paying overall.

And then there is the issue of those 'lost credits' when so many unviable energy companies went bust. Ofgem allowed the rescuing company to 'refund' these lost credits and simply add the cost onto *everyones* bill. Those customers who lost credit to failed energy company should have been told to join the list of creditors and get back pence (or nothing).

Yes, I know. I was quoting what Octopus told me on their website, for my Postcode, at the time I was writing. The prices quoted were significantly higher than OVO's. They could have given me a range of recent highs and lows, but they didn't.

for the record, i always pay my utility bills by Direct Debit.

You can run an Android emulator on a PC. Bit surprised the IHD doesn't work. Octopus offer a HAN extender

https://octopus.energy/help-and-faqs/articles/smart-meter-booster/

Dave

Just ask you supplier to collect the DD based on the actual usage amount to the nearest 30 minutes at the time of billing.

No problem with that as it will force more people to request billing only for usage.

They also offer the mini which communicates with the meter in the same way as the IHD but to the rest of the world via wi-fi to your home router. The mini can be placed next to, or closer to, the meter if there is a convenient mains power point. https://octopus.energy/octopus-home-mini-faq/

Only for people who used to be frightened by how fast the disc (in old fashioned meters) spun.

You will require a bluetooth enabled (smart) phone to set it up via an app

Not necessarily.. We don't have much we can move to cheaper times, no use for off-peak, so we are on the Tracker, price of which, varies from one day to the next. We are saving lots, by simply being on the Tracker, which is generally much cheaper than fixed/variable/or etc.. Sometimes, it is much cheaper, so we try, but not too hard, to do washing etc., on those days, to save even more.

You cannot get any of these tariffs, without your supplier being able to check what you are consuming, and when, to be able to accurately bill you - that means, having a smart meter.

We don't cook, or wash in the middle of the night, either - we would gain nothing if we did. The Tracker is not an off-peak tariff. It's potentially a cheaper tariff, but especially cheap on entire days, when the w/sale cost of power is cheaper - the savings to Octopus, if you like, are passed on, via the tariff calculation, to the customer.

Nonsense!

No it will not! >

You mean - another advantage.

Octopus, goes a few stages further with that, and optionally a offers free a pink gadget, which instantly updates their server. The data can be accessed as an API, should you wish, but the consumption graphs can be seen on their website, for past days, months, and years, along with instantaneous consumption figures.

More nonsense - the cost per Kwh, when on Tracker, varies, from one day, to the next - fixed midnight, to midnight, so how can you quote an actual price for it?

I agree, But they did. As I said, they could have quoted a range, but they just gave a price.

Or, alternatively, have a never ending stream of messages from your provider asking you to read the meter (even though it's a smart meter).

If smart meters actually worked well in our area I might be tempted but local experience is that they are a cause of incessant problems.

Last time I looked (a couple of months ago), the Octopus tariff was slightly more expensive than my current supplier (Eon).

That was because only one tariff was available to me as a potential new customer. Apparently/IIUC the more adventurous tariffs only become available once you've joined Octopus and they've checked you're eligible.

Seems daft but that's my memory of what they told me.