Re: The energy crisis
 

I'm considering getting a smart meter installed with Octopus, do I need to be at home if the meter box is outside of my property?

Re: The energy crisis
 

There Twitter / X support is very good they will tell you

Re: The energy crisis
 

Thanks.

I clicked get a smart meter in the account and there are no available slots in my area, I'm in no rush so didn't click to join a list for now.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Indeed :)

Re: The energy crisis
 

"Ofgem has also announced today that it's going to permanently reduce standing charges for prepayment meter customers.

However, standing charges for direct debit customers and those who pay on receipt of bill will rise.

Ofgem has also introduced a temporary additional payment of £28 a year to cover the cost of customers who fall behind on bills. Prepayment meter customers won't be affected by this extra charge."

So those who fully pay will have to pay more to cover those who don't. Despite them receiving large sums of government money to help them?

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/u...EJ4Ka2nhUfYLD0

Re: The energy crisis
 

This makes my blood boil!

Re: The energy crisis
 

So basically everyone should switch to Pre-Payment, what a Joke.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Here's a novel idea. Everyone pay the same rate, forget which company you're with, which region you're in, which meter you have.
Seems fair.
Utilities aren't a luxury product.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Thank you for shafting me for being a good customer and paying my bill on time Ofgem.

Re: The energy crisis
 

What is and isn't a luxury product is subjective. A homeless bloke would like it was whereas many take it forgranted

Re: The energy crisis
 

Maybe that's what they want.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Is it a good idea to fix my price for the next 12 months? I have a feeling prices will go down this year so I am not sure if I should fix them.

Re: The energy crisis
 

I'm no expert or qualified to give financial advice, but I'm not planning to fix ours.

Re: The energy crisis
 

That was my exact reaction. It's inherently unfair that those of us who pay our bills in full and on time end up being penalised by having to pay even more. But don't all businesses do this? Despite them making hundreds of millions of pounds of profit every year, supermarkets will factor in the costs of items that are shoplifted, perished before sale etc when setting their prices/mark-up. The difference is the supermarkets are free to add as much onto the prices of items to cover this as they like. There's no regulator limiting how much they can charge, or even telling us that it happens. Some of the food inflation that we've seen in recent years will no doubt be down to increased theft during the cost of living crisis.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Just took the loyal Octopus Fixed 12 months. No exit fee and almost £20 cheaper per month. If better next month I switch again. Taking 1 day to switch

Re: The energy crisis
 

Waiting to see what fixed OVO do.

Their last one was withdrawn after the latest cap was announced, its prices were basically the same as the new cap.

Not sure if British Gas are still offering theirs, it looked pretty good, and less than the new cap.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Interesting that they have ditched the £75 fee.

I'm still waiting on the list for a smart meter.

Re: The energy crisis
 

1st April OFGEM ditch the Market Stabilisation which forced compensation from switch provider to existing supplier. So we may see new deals on the horizon. Although OFGEM have said they are extending the ban on acquisition-tariffs

Re: The energy crisis
 

Gas prices: SSE to reduce prices by 22.8% from April (Northern Ireland)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-68444511

Re: The energy crisis
 

There will be fixed deals across the board I believe. Comparison sites will be back up and running with Energy.

Re: The energy crisis
 

I was looking at the fixed rate deal you took out at Octopus and the tarrif is exactly the same as what my flexible tarrif will be from April 1st, I may as well stay on my flexible, although I'm hoping to get a smart meter to go on the tracker tarrif I just need to be off work the whole day!

Re: The energy crisis
 

It will save me at least £15 this month alone and may well switch in April if there is better. I do not really want a smart meter cuz knowing my luck it will be faulty and my bills increase

Re: The energy crisis
 

Just got an email from EDF telling me the prices are going down. Glad I didn't fix mine for 12 months.

Re: The energy crisis
 

So new rates come in today, Octopus recommend I reduce my monthly payment from their recommended £90 a month(was paying £82 based on account balance) to £75 a month so that's nice.

I wonder what happens after I get my Smart Meters installed on Friday I'm dreading it going wrong and increasing my bills.

Re: The energy crisis
 

You cannot win with companies they reduce it one way and take it away in another

Re: The energy crisis
 

Just like the government.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Well it shouldnt have been a surprise, the cap was predicted to be lower months ago.
The next one is predicted to be even lower, then rise slightly after that - very few fixed deals are going to be worth it atm.

Re: The energy crisis
 

My current Flexible Rate is exactly the same as their fixed rate, it looks like the tracker tarrif for me is a no brainer after my meters are installed assuming I can go straight on it.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Crazy Agile Electric pricing today! Negative all afternoon: https://www.agiledashboard.co.uk/

Re: The energy crisis
 

I've just had my smart meters installed, my plan is to go onto their Tracker when it's all setup, how easy is it to swap to Agile in the future is their a waiting list and can you dropout without a penalty?

Re: The energy crisis
 

Perhaps wind power is in abundance atm.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Just logged into my Octopus account as it's changing daily since getting my smart meters installed and there is some Octoplus rewards scheme I've just opted into and got 500 points.

There is something about free electricity at certain times and they will email me. Is this a new thing or has it been around a while?

Re: The energy crisis
 

Here's the link to that offer (if you are an Octopus customer)

https://octopus.energy/octoplus/

FAQs are at the bottom of the page.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Thanks. Yes I've been reading that I was just wondering if this was New to everyone or just New to me since installing smart meters.

Re: The energy crisis
 

We have mains gas water heating. Can anyone spot when the missus broke her arm, and it was down to me to do the washing up all the time since?

Re: The energy crisis
 

So you wash up in cold water?

I don't really understand the annual usage in kWh on the graph, is it monthly if so that seems really low.

Re: The energy crisis
 

I wash and hot rinse as the sink fills, whereas the missus used to fill the sink, then wash, then draw more hot water to rinse.

The graph shows the average weekly use over the year (total annual use divided by 52). Each "step" is a full year.

And yes, our gas usage (in kwh) is very low. New efficient boiler, TRVs, fully insulated well beyond min specs, and restricted heating hours at a lower temperature than most homes.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Are you saying you only use 80kWh of Electricity a month, isn't that ridiculously low too? I use far more with only 1 person currently in the house and half the time I'm at work and my February usage is only 129kWh and I don't think that is much at all.

What do other people use monthly who frequent this thread?

Edit - I see it's your weekly usage so ignore the above.

Re: The energy crisis
 

250 KWH is but there is a powerful PC on all day
Mind you I would have thought standard cooking, washing and refrigeration would run to a good few KWH per month

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I notice the new prices for October are now available.

[ From Octoprice ]

Oct 2024 Caps
East Midlands

Electricity
Unit Rate: 21.65p to 23.77p
Standing Charge: 56.00p to 56.90p

Gas
Unit Rate: 5.34p to 6.42p
Standing Charge: 31.11p to 36.32p

These are the Standard Rate prices you would pay on Octopus (and others, I presume).
Its going to be interesting to see how Octo's Tracker & Agile prices stack up once we get to October.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Email from Scottish Power:

"From 1st October, the price you pay per unit of energy will increase as the cost to buy and transport energy has increased.

We've worked out you're likely to pay £143 more per year. That's made up of £50 more per year for gas and £93 more per year for electricity - if you use the same amount of energy as you did over the last year."

But when I used their DD calculator it says I should pay £140 per month!! Almost double the DD I pay now!!

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Are they your cheapest supplier? I’d be surprised if any of the big legacy providers are offering best value.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I did the online comparisons, and none were cheaper at all. :(

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

The cap itself has gone up £149, so apparently you use fractionally less than the "average".

There dont seem many good fixed deals around atm, they are the same, or worse, than the actual cap (and generally have early leaving penalties as well).

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

What annoys me is I don't use gas, but I have a connected gas meter in my side shed, it hasn't been used for over 10 years, yet I still have to pay a standing charge of 31p a day.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

At over £100 per year just to have it sitting there, why haven’t you arranged to have it cut off?

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

The standing charge for electricity has more than doubled since 2021 iirc and it stinks, as does the record profits these companies are reporting, everyone moans at sir beer for taking away Alan Sugar and Elton John's amongst others winter fuel payments whilst ignoring these companies record profits, it's mind boggling, I look at the smart metres thread where it's page after page of people being delighted at saving literally tuppence and think whilst I'm glad they're happy, they're somewhat distracted and missing the bigger picture

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Yes but these boys and their toys, love the gadgets to look at all day. Beats daytime TV I guess ;)

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I have saved far more than a few pence since i moved to agile. I am i admit a heavy user of electricity I have an EV that is used everyday back and to from work and other heavy usage items. The attachment here is a comparison of my usage and what it costs between the standard fixed rate for Octopus and the Octopus Agile rate for the last month. I use the big boys toys to my advantage if it saves me a lot of money.;)

I hardly use any gas at all, the only use is the boiler which does the hot water. I might look at a heat pump at some point and get rid of the gas completely.

I agree the standing charge has become a rip off and i cannot see it changing anytime soon.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Crikey, you are a heavy user.

I have a similar graph, but my numbers are a little bit smaller.
I got my meter on Aug 8th, I spent a week on tracker, then moved to agile.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...chmentid=31175

Green is the savings per day - in total, I have saved £37.11 (as of yesterday).

You'll note three days where I actually paid more - the total extra I paid was 21p. Thats covered by the 32p back from the "free" electric hours.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

My god you do use alot!!! What are you running a server farm and miner or something. My Electricity cost for Tracker for last month says £45.43 and Agile £46.52 and Flexible £50.89 so it makes sense to stay on Tracker for me.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Your guess is close :)

You have to also factor in i don't pay for fuel for my car in the normal way IE petrol or diesel, On average i was paying £250 a month just on that. I claim back a lot of the charging for my EV via mileage claim as the car is part of a car allowance. I also have to attend meetings at different offices around the country. if i was not charging my EV every day it would be a lot less but still higher than average :)

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

So I have in the house, I am in the same house as Sirius.

My gaming PC, top part of my signature, then I have a 2nd PC which does Discord, OBS, YouTube and is what I use for converting videos for YouTube.

Then there is the 2 Servers, only the Supermicro is in use all the time, the Dell currently is not in use.

I still have a 15 bay HDD Enclosure that can go in the rack but before I add anything else I really need to get a UPS or 2.

My intention is to move both my pc's in to Silverstone 5U Rack Mount cases, and have everything in a single rack, but I need a bigger rack for that.

Here is what the rack currently looks like, it's a mess but once I can get it all sorted it will look a lot better.

https://i.imgur.com/E3PGLkHl.jpg

The Supermicro server once I have the money, I am swapping out the 2x Intel Xeon 2670 V2's for a single AMD Epyc cpu with anything from 128Gb Ram to 256Gb Ram but I then need to find a decent heatsink for the CPU.

Swapping from the Intel CPU's to the AMD CPU will drop the power usage down from about 500w to about 300w, will give me more cores and more Ram, with more PCI-E lanes as well.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

So it's mostly your fault then. Lol

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Indeed :D

He does chip in to the power bill :)

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I hope that my price drop has been due to the Air Fryer use, I ain't turned my oven on since 3rd August.


Once my sister take my dads food from the freezer ill turn it off.


Then it should drop a bit more

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

What you mean gas is still cheaper than all that fantastic renewable electricity!!!

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Poor regulation of the energy sector means the average user doesn’t benefit from the actual costs of generation of any given method.

There’s supernormal profits to be gouged in the name of the free market.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

You may find this informative…

https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/wh...ricity-prices/

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Yes, but they never seem to turn the gas off. You can see it at https://www.energydashboard.co.uk/live

During storms it looks like the wind and others can cover everything but they don't turn gas off! Maybe it's because they can't transport the power around the country properly.

Octopus energy are campaigning to change regulation to allow regional pricing. This would mean places with lots of wind energy like Scotland would be able to use it to the fullest and get very cheap power.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Informative……but not helpful.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

In what sense is it unhelpful? It clearly demonstrates the price paid by the consumer is not linked to the cost of generation.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

This seems old news, the price cap was announced 3 weeks ago.

As to electricity cost, everytime I read that I dont understand this ;
Surely you turn something on to meet demand, not off. :confused:

---------- Post added at 23:40 ---------- Previous post was at 23:38 ----------

Great for Scotland eh, not so much the rest of us. :dozey:

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

It's good to know that the value of the union is to drag Scotland down to the lowest common denominator. Forget capitalism.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I have no idea what you're attempting to say here, please translate to English.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

This already happens. It's a "Postcode Lottery" that determines how much we pay depending on location.

Similarly, but the inverse, petrol and diesel prices closest to refineries are often higher than many miles away.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I can't imagine that Octopus are campaigning for something identical, it's probably for a different costing transmission formula.

They've gone from start-up in 2015 to market leader in 2024 so must know what they're talking about.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

He is forgetting one vital thing. The National Grid. Power produced in one area is available all over the place at exactly the same time. No matter how it is produced.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

That’s not exactly true. Transmission lines have a finite capacity and it is quite possible for there to be more wind power generated in Scotland than can be transmitted southwards.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Its not only possible, its a know fact/issue (the B6 Boundary).
It sometimes means Scottish wind farms are paid not to produce electricity because they would overload the Scottish network, and there isnt enough link capacity to send it south into England and Wales atm. The go ahead was given in the summer to build 4 new link cables (EGL1 to 4).

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Yep, they’re building several new subsea cables down the East coast to accommodate this.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Indeed, EGL = Eastern Green Link

https://www.easterngreenlink1.co.uk/
https://www.easterngreenlink2.co.uk/
https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/...-green-link-3/
https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/p...en_link_4.aspx

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

According to the Meerkats my saving for switching from BG standard variable would be around 50p a year. I know prices will increase in Jan (£50 per year) but everyone else's will too unless I fix now but is now the best time to fix.
We heat and cook with gas, my pacemaker would prevent an induction hob and at least the gas hob will work (with a lighter) in a power cut.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

The cap changes every 3 months, crazy system. Prices may be slighty up in Jan, but they may go down in the next 3 quarters. Fixing for a year is a gamble. Companies wouldn't offer fixes if they didn't think on average you'd pay more to them as a result. They're not offering these deals for your benefit.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I've just received my latest bill from Scottish Power.

Their mix of supply is as follows:

Gas 68%
Coal 15%
Nuclear 11%
Renewable 0%
Other 6%

So much for the "Green Revolution" that is costing us more on our bills.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Onshore wind power is the cheapest form of power so if we can get more domestic sources of this and the ability to store it, then bills should start to come down. It must be quite a short period of time for there to be no renewables in the mix.

The big hike in energy prices was due to the invasion of Ukraine and your post neatly shows the dependence of the UK on foreign gas which we need to ween ourselves off of.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I noticed something on this last bill that disturbs me a little.

All previous bills gave the unit costs and Standing Charges INCLUSIVE of VAT.

This last one adds the VAT at the end of the bill.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Bills won't come down until the market is reformed and the grid upgraded

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

All my Octopus bills (since I moved over early this year) have the VAT added separately in the detail page, but inclusive on the summary page.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

That makes no sense at all, the last coal powered station shut down a few months ago, and coal only accounted for 0.6% of power over the last 12 months.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Two aspects about the energy breakdown Taf quoted:
- it's for the period 2023-2024 hence coal is on it
- it's for a non-green tariff hence no renewables are on it!

The overall UK total power mix for 2023-2024 was:
- Renewable 43%
- Gas 35%
- Nuclear 13%
- Coal 6%
- Other 3%

https://www.scottishpower.co.uk/abou...mance/fuel-mix

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

1. So old and thus not really relevant to his current bill.

2. Your electricity comes from the same sources, whatever tarrif you are on.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

It's for 1 Oct 24 to 2 Dec 24.

A lot of electricity comes from Europe, where coal is still being used.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

It is the same source as Taf's bill and has exactly the same percentage breakdown for the non-green tariffs as is Taf does.
https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...7&d=1734727688

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I'm sure the bill is but it is highly unlikely that the fuel breakdown is, as it matches exactly the fuel breakdown breakdown on the website which is labelled 2023-2024.

Good call to mention imports for account for the coal mix.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

A lot ? Not really.
Imports can account for up to 15% of our electricity (its lower on most days) and a lot of that comes from low carbon sources (Like France which is mostly Nuclear & Hydro, plus Belgium & Norway, which have no coal generation at all). Odd thing as well, on most days we import, we also export, mostly to Ireland.

---------- Post added at 22:54 ---------- Previous post was at 22:50 ----------

Nope, not really. See above.

---------- Post added at 22:59 ---------- Previous post was at 22:54 ----------

That is just complete BS.
You cannot separate out the source of peoples electricity like that.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

That's the industry's way of presenting it and if it was misleading, they would have had Ofgem and the ASA on their case. They've probably spent more time than you and me on considering this matter.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

You really are as naive as people say. :dozey:
Its not just misleading, its full on B/S.
Still, yes, I'm sure their marketing execs spent lots of time on it.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

How can the information be better presented?

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

These graphs show the proportion of generation sources that are on the grid as a result of the purchasing decisions made by your electricity supplier.. They don’t in any way reflect the source of the energy actually consumed in your home.

In a sense it’s a bit like a chef force-feeding a vegan a steak but telling him it’s ok because the dinner he actually ordered is still being eaten somewhere in the restaurant.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I don't think anyone's under the illusion that you can trace anyone's electricity to a particular source. At any one time, a house on a green energy tariff could be supplied by electricity generated by gas and one on a non-green tariff could be supplied by renewables.

But that doesn't mean that the fuel breakdowns are bull.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Oh, I think a very great number of people do think exactly this. Do not underestimate how cheerfully stupid a lot of people are. And I don’t mean that perjoratively - it is simply the case that an excessively large number of people will look at an official chart and take it without any critical engagement at all. If you’re in any doubt, spend just 10 minutes sifting through the content’s of your home town’s Facebook groups.

We just don’t teach critical thinking in our schools. Historically, we taught facts. These days, we teach research and integration. What we don’t do is teach to question and critically evaluate. You have to do an arts degree at university to get anywhere near that. So unless you’re naturally interested in that sort of thing (and the membership of a forum like this is naturally self-selecting in that regard) you have never been exposed to the mental toolkit you need to instinctively challenge the contents of an official graph someone has printed and posted through your door.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Yes, it does.

Also, as noted, people really do believe if they join a "green" tariff, they will get "green" electricity.
After all, thats how most things work, they dont consider it may not work like that in this case.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Ain’t that the truth.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

I had a look at our usage on their website and was surprised to see how much we had used recently.

According to them at least.

I sent them meter readings before the price hike on 1st October, and nothing since. I don't have a smart meter and no-one has come to read our meters. Their estimations are a bit wild.

Anyway, I shall send them readings before the Jan 1st hikes.

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

Isn't it advisable to send a meter reading at the start of each month to avoid estimate readings, I used to do this before getting smart meters?

Re: UK Energy Prices
 

As I pay by DD, meter readings are pointless except when tariffs change, or at the end of the year IMHO.