UK Energy Costs

[fallenangle]

I actually had Octopus reduce my DD over the winter because I was over £200 in credit. This sort of thing is why I object to 'smart' meters which are triggered by any increased energy use on a monthly basis, as there was during the extra cold spell in January, by spewing out increased DD demands. Over the winter that is just ridiculous.

Even then to begin with when Octopus took over Bulb customers I had to alter my DD down from what they were originally going to charge me. I was proved absolutely right to do so as that £200 credit was the result of the DD amount I'd reduced it too and why they eventually reduced it even more.

There's no common sense and seemingly no recognition as to why somebody might be using more power in one particular month. It is why I only submit meter reading every three months, as was previously the norm, ironing out the seasonal and short term changes in use there might be for other reasons. Consequently I don't get these significant ups and down in DD payments throughout the year which I'd find very annoying when to trying to budget for other monthly costs.

[Anpanman]

We are about £1k in credit, nothing on our DD as yet, huge reduction for us year on year particularly with the leccy, obviously the fact that our daughter is away at uni has nothing to do with it.

I'm against clever meters as well, these things must cost money to run as they plug in...

[KIT786]

I'm with Octopus and have a smart meter, and the beauty of my tariff is I'm sometimes paid to actually use electricity - i'm told around a day in advance what the unit rate will be on a half hourly basis; it can range for a little over the price cap, to getting paid to use electricity when too much excess electricity within the grid. But they give enough notice for me to adjust my usage for any spikes i want to avoid or when i'll be getting paid. On average usually end up paying less than price cap rate. None of this would be possible if they couldn't collect meter readings at a half hourly basis.

With Gas on a daily tacker and on average well below the price cap rates.

DD is adjustable within my Octopus account, and they never asked me to increase it and i'm only every in credit during the summer months by a couple of hundred quid, but that gets used in the winter so all swings and roundabouts for me.

For those with insane amounts in credit, pretty sure you can cancel your direct debit and let them take money thats sitting in your account

[fallenangle]

The whole point of a DD is not to give the power companies access to your account to take what they want but a set amount that is agreed beforehand which will cover your use.

I don't want to change that back every month which is what typically happens if you submit a meter reading every month. That new amount is usually applied the next month and by then is out of date. You send them a new reading and they reduce the DD to below what it had been before because you've not used even close to that amount of gas and electricity the month they're charging you for and paid too much. If they'd left it at the original amount it would have been far simpler all round.

My yearly gas and electricity use is pretty consistent and years ago I worked out using both my own figures and online tools what that was and the yearly amount to pay. Divide that by twelve and you know your monthly use, the cost and can set the DD and adjust it appropriately depending on the unit price.

I always add a bit so that come the winter I have plenty in credit and they have no excuse to try to increase the monthly bill unnecessarily.

[egparadigm]

I'm with Octopus and have a smart meter, and the beauty of my tariff is I'm sometimes paid to actually use electricity - i'm told around a day in advance what the unit rate will be on a half hourly basis; it can range for a little over the price cap, to getting paid to use electricity when too much excess electricity within the grid. But they give enough notice for me to adjust my usage for any spikes i want to avoid or when i'll be getting paid. On average usually end up paying less than price cap rate. None of this would be possible if they couldn't collect meter readings at a half hourly basis.

With Gas on a daily tacker and on average well below the price cap rates.

DD is adjustable within my Octopus account, and they never asked me to increase it and i'm only every in credit during the summer months by a couple of hundred quid, but that gets used in the winter so all swings and roundabouts for me.

For those with insane amounts in credit, pretty sure you can cancel your direct debit and let them take money thats sitting in your account

I’m also on Octopus’s Agile tariff and it works superbly if you can monitor your usage and adjust this (wouldn’t if you can’t, e.g. if you had a baby). I’m now paying less than ever before, cheaper even than pre-price rises. Most months it’s around £45, before I used to pay around £60-70 each month (pre-price rises).

Also changing direct debits and getting a refund of overpaid amounts is pretty easy. Hassle wise it’s less than having to give metre readings. I reduced my DD a couple months ago and although I had 1 month above this amount Octopus did not adjust it up. So I’m not sure why fallenangle is having issues with this.

[fallenangle]

It is not an issue it is just unwanted hassle for me but also them, or it would be if it wasn't a computer AI in charge. My point is that if they just left my DD at the amount I know covers my use including a bit to build up my credit for the winter months nothing would need to be changed.

When you're on a strict, fixed monthly budget it helps to know exactly how much is going out on a monthly basis.

What I'd question also is why some users like KIT786 are getting reduced prices at certain times just because they have a smart meter. If there is too much capacity in the system at those times why isn't the unit price bring reduced for all users, particularly as it is those not using power who make such reductions possible?

[egparadigm]

What I'd question also is why some users like KIT786 are getting reduced prices at certain times just because they have a smart meter. If there is too much capacity in the system at those times why isn't the unit price bring reduced for all users, particularly as it is those not using power who make such reductions possible?

Fairness is a big problem with energy prices, granted. It’s not that you get reduced prices for using a smart metre. The way Agile works is that the prices vary each half hour. This is based on the actual price of the electricity on the market. If there is so much being generated, e.g. on a windy day, and they can’t sell it all fast enough you get it at very low prices and occasionally you can even be paid to use electricity. This isn’t Octopus taking advantage of consumers, they can’t store renewable energy so it makes sense to encourage behaviour change in this way. You have to have a smart metre so that they can tell what price you should pay, it just wouldn’t work with a dumb metre.

Here’s a picture of tomorrow’s prices for my region. As you can see, prices are usually highest a peak usage (4-7pm) and lowest in the small hours (3-6AM). This does vary and you only get the prices at 4PM the day before so you can’t plan your usage too much.



Octopus call this a beta product. I guess they may roll this out to wider users in future. With renewables, this could be the future. On the downside it is quite tiring having to be so reactive to prices as a user. Link to more info: https://octopus.energy/smart/agile/

[Neon Ignition]

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Faulty reading smart meters to rise in number by 4m