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Original poster

Octopus tracker tariff

80 replies

Floofydawg · 12/02/2023 13:19

Someone posted about this the other day but I can't find it. Interested to find out more to take advantage of wholesale prices dropping. What are the risks? Do you have to keep an eye on the rates every day and avoid peak times? Has anyone switched and saved money?

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sazzleevans · 14/02/2023 00:51

Qqbank01 · 13/02/2023 23:48

i am with utility warehouse (not fixed) and the electric is 31.74, gas 9.8, anything i need to be aware if i switch to octopus tracker tariff? Checking rate everyday?

Yep, that's it.

Original poster
Floofydawg · 14/02/2023 14:06

Well I've just made the switch - here's to saving money!

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Kerfuffler · 14/02/2023 14:11

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

sazzleevans · 15/02/2023 08:08

Floofydawg · 14/02/2023 14:06

Well I've just made the switch - here's to saving money!

Glad you got in on time there is now a waiting list to go on the tariff.

Original poster
Floofydawg · 15/02/2023 11:05

@sazzleevans oh wow - just in time then! I found it odd that they ignored emails requesting the switch and I had to phone them.

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sazzleevans · 15/02/2023 23:08

Floofydawg · 15/02/2023 11:05

@sazzleevans oh wow - just in time then! I found it odd that they ignored emails requesting the switch and I had to phone them.

Cunning move!

Mandyjack · 15/02/2023 23:11

Badbudgeter · 12/02/2023 18:13

Do you need to have a smart meter for a tracker rate?

No but you need to do monthly readings. The tarrif is now so popular think they started a waiting list today and are adding 50 people per day. If you own an iPhone get the Octoaid app then you can track the rates. Also there is an a octoaid and Octupus tracker Facebook pages.
I changed recently and so far the rates have been lower than flexi but you can change back to flexi if you want to

Kerfuffler · 15/02/2023 23:18

NewBootsAndRanty · 13/02/2023 10:00

I switched to it last week - at the moment I'm saving a quid or two a day vs the SVR.

Just got a first week of being on tracker bill (I do weekly readings), and it would have cost me over £10 more for gas and electric over the last 7 days if I was still on the SVR.
REALLY pleased I signed up when I did!

Original poster
Floofydawg · 16/02/2023 10:10

@Kerfuffler me too although I think I was lucky to get in at the very last minute! Finally got an email reply from them today saying we can see you're now on the tracker tariff. Suspect they had been told to sit on any email requests because the waiting list was coming in so it's lucky that I phoned them.

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Drivingbuttercup · 17/02/2023 02:28

sazzleevans · 13/02/2023 09:54

No that is why its so great you dont need a smart meter, you can switch to another tariff at any time and its at least 20% cheaper than any other standard tariff at the mo. (excluding smart tariff which need EV etc)

Show quote history

On the website it insists on a smart meter, is there a way round it?

Original poster
Floofydawg · 17/02/2023 07:09

I don't see how you can be on this tariff without a smart meter as they need to see your usage every day. But you can't get on the tariff now anyway - there's a 6 month waiting list.

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sazzleevans · 17/02/2023 07:22

Qqbank01 · 13/02/2023 23:48

i am with utility warehouse (not fixed) and the electric is 31.74, gas 9.8, anything i need to be aware if i switch to octopus tracker tariff? Checking rate everyday?

On tge 13th February at around 5pm Octopus closed down the tariff to just 50 switches a day PLUS they are now insisting on a smart meter.

The tariffs been around since 2018 when they launched it and you could be in it with or with mout a smart meter:

If you messaged them before their change in terms you could go back and ask to go on it as you contacted they before they changed it. They are very good so i would expect them to honour it but if this is your first contact i think sadly you are stuck.

sazzleevans · 17/02/2023 07:24

Floofydawg · 17/02/2023 07:09

I don't see how you can be on this tariff without a smart meter as they need to see your usage every day. But you can't get on the tariff now anyway - there's a 6 month waiting list.

They would take the average for the month and apply that to the usage. They changed it on 13th Feb stating a smart meter is now needed to switch to it.

SpringofJoy · 21/02/2023 11:12

Thank you for this thread, I made the switch yesterday too! Now I need to work out how I get the daily prices sent to my phone...

Original poster
Floofydawg · 21/02/2023 11:37

SpringofJoy · 21/02/2023 11:12

Thank you for this thread, I made the switch yesterday too! Now I need to work out how I get the daily prices sent to my phone...

I thought they had a waiting list now?

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SpringofJoy · 21/02/2023 20:56

They do; but I called and asked nicely 😁

Onemyownhere · 28/02/2023 19:47

Floofydawg · 17/02/2023 07:09

I don't see how you can be on this tariff without a smart meter as they need to see your usage every day. But you can't get on the tariff now anyway - there's a 6 month waiting list.

Im on the tariff just joined recently

roses2 · 28/02/2023 20:16

I signed up to this one month ago and got my first bill this morning. It's ~30% cheaper than the previous Octopus tracker which was the government capped rate. So far so good.

Of course you have to be prepared for prices to go up in addition to down but a lot of the analysis says on average over 12 months you should be 20-30% better off.

I have a normal meter not a smart meter and they charge me an average unit price over the month rather than a daily rate.

Original poster
Floofydawg · 28/02/2023 20:36

I haven't had my first bill on it yet. But I'm tracking my costs and I can already see it's much cheaper.

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Mumtofourandnomore · 28/02/2023 22:17

In principle this is a good tariff, but beware, prices could very easily go back up. If it’s cold in March as predicted and suppliers across Europe use up their gas in store, prices are likely to rise. Prices have declined a lot recently but nothing in the market has fundamentally changed other than winter was milder than expected, and Chinese demand was lower due to a surge in Covid cases.

Gas prices are around the 120p mark currently and remain extremely volatile, they don’t have to go up by much to make this tariff uneconomical (for context, they were typically around £5 this time last year and even hit £8 at one stage briefly). The Energy price guarantee caps prices whereas this could really rocket with literally 24 hours notice so definitely keep an eye on it, the potential for any savings to be wiped out if you don’t switch immediately in the event of a spike are high.

declutteringmymind · 28/02/2023 22:21

I think
You can switch to their energy capped rate whenever you like but have to do so for a month at least.

NewBootsAndRanty · 02/03/2023 00:10

After a few weeks of ridiculously low gas prices it's shot up to 15.26p/kwh today - will keep a close eye over the next few days..

Original poster
Floofydawg · 02/03/2023 05:05

NewBootsAndRanty · 02/03/2023 00:10

After a few weeks of ridiculously low gas prices it's shot up to 15.26p/kwh today - will keep a close eye over the next few days..

Just saw that - eek! Hope it's just a blip for today.

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SpringofJoy · 02/03/2023 07:19

Just seen it too - but apparently it’s not been confirmed by Octopus themselves… anyone know what’s going on?

Original poster
Floofydawg · 02/03/2023 07:26

My Octopus app is showing zeros for the tariff but I saw it on another website that I use to track prices. Please post here if you find out what's going on. Seems like a very odd movement after the last couple of months.

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