Time to switch tariffs. Currently with EDF, and paying £81 a month. That’s going up to £120 a month.
I’m with Cheap Energy Club, and apart from a few small companies coming up cheaper, Octopus is there or thereabouts ( still going to be £110 a month though ).
I know they’ve been highly recommended on here in the past, are they still ?
This will be on their variable rate.

Cheers

I still find them great to deal with, I’ve used their Agile and Go tariffs.

I know it’s frowned upon but referral code Will save both of us money.

too slow…

No problems with them here.

Although I’ve never won even a quid on their meter reading wheel of fortune.

Slight hijack – anyone use any of these autoswitch sites, that not only advise when a better tariff is available but also move you to it?

eg: switchcraft, lookaftermybills, etc.

Is it frowned upon, I didn’t know that, then again what do you expect if people start asking about energy suppliers?

Really easy to deal with.

Been with Octopus for a couple of years now. No complaints. Not sure how their prices compare. Get a reminder every month to upload meter reading and invoice appears within 48 hours.

I’ve also been on a few of their tariffs including Agile and Go. No issues, fast email responses, they took over my old SMETS1 smart meter from another supplier OK. Was saving enough with them that I had to get a few hundred quid refunded out of my account (I’d left the monthly DD the same), they paid it next day.

Although I’ve never won even a quid on their meter reading wheel of fortune.

You missed out! For April fool’s day everyone won at leat £1.

As above, really easy to deal with and get refunds from for overpayments.

Been with them about 6 months now, no issues.

Haven’t had any need to contact them apart from to get an isolator switch fitted which they did very quickly and for free!

Octopus just got recommended to my via Martin Lewis website, despite the fact its £368 more expensive than Bulb for me today ay least.

I’m struggling to see how Bulb can be beaten currently TBH, nothing comes out cheaper.

Bulb were good to deal with, I was with them before Octopus and I think it was only the lack of any cheap off-peak rate tariff to charge my car that made me move.

Serendipitous thread, I’ve just been looking at swapping from Bulb to Octopus, as Bulb don’t yet have an electric car type tariff. But the car doesn’t do that many miles, only about 7000pa, so I haven’t worked out yet if it’s worth switching.

refunds from for overpayments.

@RobHilton – do you have to request that or do they just do it? We’re healthily in credit so wondering when to request some money back.

@matt303uk Bulb’s EV Tariff details https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360059170212-About-Bulb-s-EV-Tariff#
Still being tested though 🙁

I used to be with Bulb and am now with Octopus. To be honest I find them pretty much of a muchness but Bulb were annoying me by constantly increasing my bill during winter and not seeming to appreciate that it evens out in summer. I then ended up with money with Bulb I had to claw back. I pay about the same over the year now but with less messing around.

FYI, I’m what I would class as a standard energy user i.e. no smart tarrifs, no electric car etc.

If you want a referral code let know

I had the same experience with Bulb as swdan. They kept telling me I was overpaying through the summer so kept reducing my payments, then kept telling me I was in debt through the winter so needed to increase payment. Seemed a pretty basic thing to get wrong.

I switched to Octopus, have been happy so far.

@jimmy

From their FAQs:

If we think you’ve got more credit on your energy account than you need, you’ll be able to request the excess back as long as you’ve had an energy bill based on real meter readings in the last 14 days. To ask for your credit back, just hit the little button underneath your balance on your online account dashboard.

If you think you’re due a refund but you don’t see an option on your online account, just email hello@octopus.energy to talk to the team. (Make sure you’ve given up-to-date meter readings within the last 14 days.)

Max £500 at a time, I think.

I find it a good way of saving money – but then I’m shit with money…

All fine and dandy with Octopus. Been with them a few years now, smart meters fitted without hassle.

You can set your own monthly payments, so no over payment unless you like it as a savings account. Refund of credit within days of requesting it via a button on your account page.

I’ve referred a few people in the past, very, very simple way of saving you and someone else money. Green energy. What’s not to like?

I’ve been with Pure Planet for a few years, one of the cheapest and (allegedly) green energy. Can’t fault it, first thing I did when I moved house last year was switch back to them.

Octopus and Bulb both seem to crop up a lot, as you say.

I wish my bills were £110 a month, but this is a large house. The previous occupant “liked it warm” and the pre-existing SMETS1 smart meter is an obtuse bit of kit so I may be reading it wrong, but it looks like her dual-fuel bills with British Gas were in the order of £700/month. 😲 It’s considerably lower now after I took the heating off “boil” settings and dialled the hot water down from “you could brew a cup of tea with that”. Oh, and took the four electric fires in the front room to the tip.

Is it frowned upon, I didn’t know that,

It’s against the STW forum T&Cs.

Bulb’s EV Tariff details https://help.bulb.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/360059170212-About-Bulb-s-EV-Tariff#

Day rate’s a lot higher than the 15.3p/kWh on Go, interesting that they are looking at an EV tariff, from the EV groups I’m on an awful lot were on Bulb but moved due to them only having the one tariff.

I was with Octopus who were fine but switched to Avro when my deal ended. Wish I hadn’t. Avro have been much worse to deal with. Just taken me 4 months to settle my account and get my refund of a bill that was in credit. Couldn’t get through to speak to them on the phone. Took days to reply to emails if at all. Octopus were a dream in comparison.

Pure planet here. They’re fine and have been amongst the. Cheapest. I reviewed a month ago, but there was no real point shifting to anything else.

I’m currently on Octopus tracker v1 which was super cheap during lock down, it’s now possibly one of the most expensive now that the wholesale market prices have shot thru the roof (I must do something about it). I just make sure i get a few referrals each year and its enough to make it probably cheapest and stop me looking elsewhere.

I have previously been on Go and Agile but my smart meter Comms was too flakey so octopus wouldn’t continue to offer me it unfortunately

They kept telling me I was overpaying through the summer so kept reducing my payments, then kept telling me I was in debt through the winter so needed to increase payment.

Odd, Bulb were doing that with mine automatically until it averaged out, I’ve been paying £123 a months for about 18 month without change. Had smart meter installed recently and nothing changed.

Seem OK to me, mostly.

Their usage prediction algorithm massively overestimates our usage so I’ve had to manually reduce the payments. When I asked for some of the overpayment back they were quick to pay once they’d got to the email.

Cheers everyone, looks like they’re still a safe bet.

I’ve got a redundant SMETS 1 meter and desperate for it to be re-enabled so I can get onto Bulb EV / Octopus Go.

Octopus supply me today but in moving to an EV they have let themselves down a little. The meter is on their list to be reactivated/enabled but they can’t say when, but should be by October 22. I can sort of accept that begrudgingly but obviously not happy. They won’t come and fit a working SMETS2 setup because of this, again begrudgingly accept (noting the SMETS1 kit was installed for previous occupier).

They did however refuse outright to come and change the meter tails to enable UK Power Networks to upgrade to a 100amp fuse. My sparky said it was down to them and only them, UK Power Networks said the same. I never got to bottom of why they wouldn’t.

Otherwise their customer service has been near flawless. I too spent months getting money back from Avro, they were absolute dickheads about it all and it required ombudsman input to resolve (and then a further battle to get Avro to actually pay what they owed).

Have been happy with octopus, however had a weird issue start recently. The smart meter isn’t sending the 30 min data so l can’t get an electricity bill, just the gas one. Octopus state its a firmware issue, but with no changes recently to the firmware and the fact there here been no issues previously l can’t see how that is the issue. An update due in a few weeks will allegedly fix it, so we’ll see.

Have you looked at Avro OP?
Been with them for a couple of years through MSE initially and renewed with them this year.

I hop around regularly as my fixed contract ends and last move was from Octopus back to Avro – Octopus took ages (over 6 months) to pay me my credit (£200). No problems while with them (nor Avro for that matter).

I’ve had my email about my tarriff ending. Based on actual usage, Good Energy are coming out at the same price as Octopus SuperGreen Helpful. I’ve been with Good before and they’re, errr, good! So going back for better Green credentials.

Anyone have a referral code to send me privately away from the forum? 🙂

Are people fixing or going flexible on tariffs just now? I’m with Octopus and need to renew my tariff. The difference between fixing and flexible for me is £500 per year, but that could all be wiped out if we see another massive wholesale price rise.

Yea i’m thinking of switching to Octopus GO – I’ve got an L&G SMETS1 meter.

Octopus tell me that L&G are next on the list to be upgraded.

However it seems there is no-one official that can confirm this. I’m not even sure how you know if your meter will be updated or indeed if it even is.

Annoying because the interim tariff for Octopus is a good bit higher than the cheapest fix i can find with another suppier so don’t want to end up stuck on it.

Tried calling the DCC but thats a non-starter.

@franksinatra

Fixed with no penalty for coming out may be the way to go.

I was on a fixed with Octupus which finished in March at 13.5p per Kwh for electricity.
I fixed again with thewm until March next year at 16p. At the time didn’t look great but looks good now.

Probably not worth worrying for me until March. But looking around I see Sainsbury Energy are doing a 2 year fix at 19.5p per Kwh with no penalty for coming out early. THe 2 year fix is £5 a month more for a medium user (for dual fuel). Looks a decent one way bet if I was changing now.

According to the Martin Lewis site the cheapest electricity on the maerket for me right now is 19.3p so the Sainsbury 24 deal which you can exit penalty free looks a good bet until we see how prices go the next 12-18 months.

https://www.sainsburysenergy.com/quote/tariffs

This won’t help either. A 1Mgw cable supplying energy from France out for a month after a fire.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-15/fire-hits-key-power-converter-station-linking-u-k-to-france