Smart Meters and Tariffs

[peanut]

Originally Posted by Paul

Failed how ?
They are prone to disconnecting unless very close to the meter.
Like many on Octopus, I ditched mine and use the home mini instead.

There are sites/apps you can register with to view your meter data from the DCC, 'Bright' for example.

Just checked my online account. It states that both meters are online and ''Everything is Good". But when I checked the usage it only shows the 2 days that the display worked.

I called them up to find out more, basically the meters are not sending anything out and the home display can not connect to them either. They said they'll look into it. Not that smart are they, lol.

[Itshim]

O dear anyone here face this problem


Ofgem is proposing new rules for energy suppliers to manage the phase-out of Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters.
530,000 energy customers who do NOT have a smart meter have been issued a warning from the watchdog as they risk being cut off. Ofgem is proposing new rules for energy suppliers to manage the phase-out of Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) meters.

Around 530,000 customers rely on these meters, which offer cheaper electricity rates at certain times of day - but they will stop working from the end of June this year. It is important that RTS customers book their installation as soon as they are contacted by their supplier. All customers should have been contacted by their supplier by the end of 2024.

The meters dont offer cheaper rates, they just record the usage across two counters (registers) - switching between them at different times of the day.

Your supplier can either charge different rates for the two registers, or the same rate.
That switch between registers is what will stop, the meters will carry on working, just logging all usage on one register.
So for most people, all they need to do is charge the same rate for both, and it'll work fine, as one will always have 0 usage.
Of course, if they still want dual rate tarrifs, they will need to get a new meter, but thats a choice, not a requirement.

However, there is an actual issue with a minority of these meters, in that some of them actually control the power to peoples heating and/or hot water, only powering them up on the 2nd (usually cheaper) rate. Those meters (and households) will have an issue, since when they stop switching, your heating/water will no longer power up (or be always powered up, but thats less likely). They are the ones that actually do need to be swapped, and should be prioritised.

Some negative prices tomorrow afternoon, wasnt expecting that.

[SnoopZ]

I definitely screwed myself over going onto this Fixed Rate because comparing using Octopus Compare my Electricity is £2.78 more expensive for a month's usage on the Fixed Rate compared to the December 2024 Tracker.

The fixed electric on Octopus has never been great, OutFox seem to do the best fixed deals.

In the spring/summer agile generally works out better (for me) since there is plenty of solar and wind power generation about, and the overall requirement for the country is generally lower, due to it being warmer. Thus except for the peak hours (4-7pm) prices are pretty good (and sometimes negative).

In fact, for me Agile has been good since I switched back at the end of Feb, and great in May. This will almost certainly continue to be the case until the end of summer, at which point I'll look at moving off it. Last year taught me its not a great tariff in the winter months.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Paul

The fixed electric on Octopus has never been great, OutFox seem to do the best fixed deals.

In the spring/summer agile generally works out better (for me) since there is plenty of solar and wind power generation about, and the overall requirement for the country is generally lower, due to it being warmer. Thus except for the peak hours (4-7pm) prices are pretty good (and sometimes negative).

In fact, for me Agile has been good since I switched back at the end of Feb, and great in May. This will almost certainly continue to be the case until the end of summer, at which point I'll look at moving off it. Last year taught me its not a great tariff in the winter months.

Just got a quote from Outfox to compare and the unit rates are slightly better, standing charge maybe slightly better with Octopus but Outfox has £100 each fuel exit fee.

Thats the 2 year fixed (Jun v1.0).

They still offer the 12 & 18 month options which are more or less the same price, but with £50 (12M) or £75 (18M) exit fees.

They also do a 12M electric only which is pretty good @ 19.439p per kWh, and £50 exit fee, as its 12M.

I also notice they are changing their name to Outfox Energy in about 10 days.

If Octopus dont come up with some better fixed deals towards the end of summer, and get fussy about moving back to "Go", I'll be looking at Outfox as an option.

[SnoopZ]

Originally Posted by Paul

Thats the 2 year fixed (Jun v1.0).

They still offer the 12 & 18 month options which are more or less the same price, but with £50 (12M) or £75 (18M) exit fees.

They also do a 12M electric only which is pretty good @ 19.439p per kWh, and £50 exit fee, as its 12M.

I also notice they are changing their name to Outfox Energy in about 10 days.

If Octopus dont come up with some better fixed deals towards the end of summer, and get fussy about moving back to "Go", I'll be looking at Outfox as an option.

Do outfox have a tariff like Agile that you seem to be doing well on, atleast in the summer months?

Originally Posted by SnoopZ

Do outfox have a tariff like Agile that you seem to be doing well on, atleast in the summer months?

Nope, but Octopus do.

[Tomato do as well, but dont go near them ...].


Not everyone will do well on Agile, I do well because my usage is pretty steady across the whole day.

[GrimUpNorth]

Possibly not the correct board, but there's been talk about EV charging here, so was wondering if there're any recommendations for charging points? So far all we've decided is we want a weathered charger.

Another cheap Sunday, negative prices from 7.30am - 3.00pm

Plus Octopus are running one of their "Free Electricity" hours from 2pm - 3pm.