Talk to me about... Energy Tariffs.

[Alee]

No I’m on a variable tarriff. British Gas was the provider when I moved in a year ago , I did try to change but after going through all the price comparison stuff I never got any quotes just a message that said that suppliers weren’t taking on new customers , or something along them lines.

 

[tek-monkey]

No I’m on a variable tarriff. British Gas was the provider when I moved in a year ago , I did try to change but after going through all the price comparison stuff I never got any quotes just a message that said that suppliers weren’t taking on new customers , or something along them lines.

In that case I'd suggest a move to someone that might try to fit one? Octopus is by far my favourite supplier, but most of their dpecial rates are more for solar or EV users. That said if you can get on the tracker tariff you'll save loads, currently I pay less than 5p for gas, but it's a 2 month wait to switch to that and prices vary daily. They really push smart meters, and will try to get you on one ASAP.

If you use a friends code to switch you both get £50 too, so if you know anyone else on octopus it could help you both? Happy to supply my code but if you can help a mate out all the better.

 

[Cue]

Octopus seconded, that standing charge is pretty rough.

I’m on Agile right now, but if you’re an EV driver you may benefit from Go or Intelligent, if not their default tariff is an Economy 7 one… not sure if they have one that isn’t economy 7 if you have a smart meter at the moment but depending on how you use energy that may be better anyway

 

[The Hawk]

Octopus thirded.

 

[Lucy]

Fourthed. Enjoying the 30 minute itemised bills.

 

[Noah]

ditto Octopus

 

[Withnail]

I assume you are being paid?

Yes.

We are in the midst of a shift - i think early adopters were tempted by high feed-in-tariffs that are no longer there.

There is still a feed-in pay back, of course, but it's not particularly generous - the real deal now is that you are self-sufficient, and theoretically cost neutral at least.

The theoretical part will come if and when we start to see failures/inefficiencies in the hardware - which is something we cannot accurately calculate yet.

Before we all congratulate ourselves, it's probably worth giving at least some thought as to where the rare earth elements in our batteries came from?

 

[gilbert grape]

UW bundling is excellent and with using that approach giving you the cheapest bills, are well worth a look.

 

[Raven]

Yes.

We are in the midst of a shift - i think early adopters were tempted by high feed-in-tariffs that are no longer there.

There is still a feed-in pay back, of course, but it's not particularly generous - the real deal now is that you are self-sufficient, and theoretically cost neutral at least.

The theoretical part will come if and when we start to see failures/inefficiencies in the hardware - which is something we cannot accurately calculate yet.

Before we all suck each other's dicks, it's probably worth giving at least some thought as to where the rare earth elements in our batteries came from?

To say that last line on a open forum just goes to show what a cretin you are.
Post reported.

 

[tek-monkey]

UW bundling is excellent and with using that approach giving you the cheapest bills, are well worth a look.

I briefly looked, but their internet is terrible where I live so ruled them out. I don't watch TV and don't use a landline, so there is no bundling for me.

That said if you have solar and batteries Octopus is the only real option anyway, nobody else seems to offer tariffs that come close.

 

[tek-monkey]

Yes.

We are in the midst of a shift - i think early adopters were tempted by high feed-in-tariffs that are no longer there.

There is still a feed-in pay back, of course, but it's not particularly generous - the real deal now is that you are self-sufficient, and theoretically cost neutral at least.

The theoretical part will come if and when we start to see failures/inefficiencies in the hardware - which is something we cannot accurately calculate yet.

Before we all suck each other's dicks, it's probably worth giving at least some thought as to where the rare earth elements in our batteries came from?

Unfortunately we're in a lesser of two evils situation, the oil giants or the rare earth mineral miners. If I didn't have batteries I'd draw more from the grid, which means more fossil fuels burnt and me still being reliant on the energy companies. It actually means I'd be helping them, as they get my solar really cheap to resell and then they charge me loads for what I take off them, effectively handing them a large profit for my outlay. I don't know what the solution is but I don't think continuing to burn fossil fuels is it, and unfortunately lion is about our best option right now.

As for the original incentives, if you had the money back then you'd be getting 60p/kWh generated right now! As always though the ones that can afford it anyway got the best deals. That said the flux tariff seems to be working for us so far, only been 2 weeks but we appear to have a negative bill for that period before standing charge. Not sure about after, our bill is a few days late due to the kings new hat. If we can maintain a negative bill through the summer and go back onto an EV tariff for the winter we should be able to get our bill down to a few hundred per year at most. We want a year on solar before we look at the heating, the plan is still to move some heating to electric to allow balancing between that and gas depending on the situation, but also to allow much simpler heating deployment in a few areas currently lacking.

 

[Alee]

Spoken to octopus . They will let me switch but they won’t install a new meter. If I did switch my meter would lose all smart function.
Contacted British Gas and asked if there was anyway to boost signal , here’s their reply

 

[tek-monkey]

Spoken to octopus . They will let me switch but they won’t install a new meter. If I did switch my meter would lose all smart function.
Contacted British Gas and asked if there was anyway to boost signal , here’s their reply

Did you tell them your neighbours have a smart meter? How far out of stafford do you live?

 

[staffordjas]

I keep track of sons 'Shell energy' prices each month (I like doing figures and keeping records, so got everything logged!) . He's billed monthly and every month the price per unit & standing charge are both going up each time. I know the energy prices are rising , but is it 'normal' that they are rising every month?

I'm on a fixed tariff carried over from our old house with BG , so our prices are a hell of a lot cheaper than his ! Hoping prices drop a bit before our fixed term ends.

 

[Alee]

Did you tell them your neighbours have a smart meter? How far out of stafford do you live?

Yeah I told them about neighbours. I live in seighford

 

[Alee]

I keep track of sons 'Shell energy' prices each month (I like doing figures and keeping records, so got everything logged!) . He's billed monthly and every month the price per unit & standing charge are both going up each time. I know the energy prices are rising , but is it 'normal' that they are rising every month?

I'm on a fixed tariff carried over from our old house with BG , so our prices are a hell of a lot cheaper than his ! Hoping prices drop a bit before our fixed term ends.

My standing charge and PPU have been creeping up every month too

 

[Cue]

I keep track of sons 'Shell energy' prices each month (I like doing figures and keeping records, so got everything logged!) . He's billed monthly and every month the price per unit & standing charge are both going up each time. I know the energy prices are rising , but is it 'normal' that they are rising every month?

I'm on a fixed tariff carried over from our old house with BG , so our prices are a hell of a lot cheaper than his ! Hoping prices drop a bit before our fixed term ends.

You should never be on variable right now tbh.

 

[tek-monkey]

You should never be on variable right now tbh.

Isn't SVR variable? I don't see many capped rates right now, although tracker from octopus varies every day but is on average sbout half the energy cap lately. Gas for me today is 4.2p.

Edit: so far 10kWh exported today after doing the dishwasher and some clothes. I lose direct sun any minute but I'll likely be £2 up after standing charge today.

 

[Cue]

Isn't SVR variable? I don't see many capped rates right now, although tracker from octopus varies every day but is on average sbout half the energy cap lately. Gas for me today is 4.2p.

Edit: so far 10kWh exported today after doing the dishwasher and some clothes. I lose direct sun any minute but I'll likely be £2 up after standing charge today.

Octopus’s Tracker is a crazy good deal right now to be honest, there’s a reason it’s got a 6 month wait list

I would not want to be on a variable rate tariff in this market though, it’s way to volatile. Even Octopus’s tariffs are only semi-fixed, aren’t they? I can bail on my fixed rate at any time… if I weren’t on Agile anyway.

But yes, @staffordjas the new cap came in April 1st, and if he’s on variable it’ll do that. Can’t really comment on why it’s doing that beyond “it’s probably on variable” without seeing the rates though

 

[staffordjas]

You should never be on variable right now tbh.

Son didn't have any choice last June when his fixed tariff ended. Just that time when the rates started going wild and they stopped offering fixed rates.


Best of it is , our BG 3 year fixed tariff is a lot cheaper than what's around now. Yet BG keep offering me a ' because you're such a good customer, we're allowing you to take a no penalty deal to end fixed contract early' and go onto a variable.....no bloody way!!!