Inexperienced vitality provider (opens in new tab) Octopus Power was based by Greg Jackson whose dream was to make vitality greener, but additionally cheaper. He’d grown up in a low-income, single-parent household and knew the stress of a excessive utility invoice. Now, he sits on the helm of among the best vitality suppliers (opens in new tab) within the UK, which sells among the many most cost-effective vitality tariffs within the UK, and powers houses with 100% inexperienced vitality.
On this Octopus Power overview, I’ll cowl the whole lot from the supplier’s pricing and customer support to its inexperienced credentials and extra, that can assist you determine whether or not it is best for you. If you happen to determine to change, head over to our vitality comparability (opens in new tab) web page to seek out the most effective vitality offers (opens in new tab) from Octopus in your space.
Octopus Power: value
Octopus claims its prospects save £222 on common, in comparison with the typical Huge 6 variable tariff. It is price declaring that vitality unit charges – the quantity you pay for every kWh you utilize – differ throughout the UK, relying on the place you reside and the way easy or sophisticated it’s to produce your space.
Octopus Power: fast stats
Inexperienced electrical energy: 100%
Inexperienced fuel: 0%
Carbon offsetting: sure
Tariffs: A number of
Customer support: 5 stars (Trustpilot)
Power Swap Assure: sure
Exit charges: none
Nonetheless, definitely once I reviewed Octopus, I discovered the corporate’s variable tariff to be one of many lowest out there, at 11.7 per kwh for electrical energy and a couple of.3p for fuel.
It was additionally one of many most cost-effective inexperienced vitality suppliers. Of the suppliers I surveyed, solely Bulb (opens in new tab) got here in with a decrease kwh value for fuel and electrical energy. Bulb’s every day standing fees are increased although, at virtually 4p extra for fuel.
(That is the every day fee you pay for having an vitality provide – it covers the prices of getting the vitality from the turbines into your house.)
Not like some vitality suppliers, Octopus would not fees early exit charges for going elsewhere, and there’s no oblique loyalty penalty in the event you keep for years, both. Plus, if you realize somebody who’s already with Octopus, they’ll refer you and you will each get a £50 gas credit score. Alternatively, in the event you’re a buyer and also you refer a buddy to Octopus, you will each get a £50 credit score reward.
(Picture credit score: Octopus)
Octopus Power: tariffs
There are three primary Octopus tariffs (opens in new tab) to decide on between: fastened 12 months (typically the most cost effective), a variable tracker and Tremendous Inexperienced (the most well-liked), which offsets fuel, too. Octopus additionally has a number of specialist tariffs. Its Octopus Go tariff is designed for electrical car drivers, providing super-cheap electrical energy for 5p/kWh between 00:30 – 04:30 each night time.
The Agile Octopus tariff, in the meantime, offers prospects entry to half-hourly vitality costs based mostly on the wholesale vitality market on the time. Costs are up to date every single day: at 4pm, prospects obtain a special unit fee for each half hour of the following 24 hours. It means you’ll be able to maximise your vitality utilization when costs are at that day’s most cost-effective.
Agile Octopus additionally permits prospects to promote surplus saved vitality (purchased when most cost-effective) again to the Grid when it’s most costly. Actually, earlier this 12 months Octopus paid hundreds of consumers to make use of electrical energy in the course of the day on account of a rise in photo voltaic and wind vitality manufacturing.
Particular pricing for all tariffs relies in your postcode (as a result of vitality costs differ throughout the nation) and utilization. Within the case of Agile Octopus, it additionally is determined by your time of use.
How inexperienced is Octopus Power?
Octopus Power makes use of 100% inexperienced electrical energy from renewable sources like solar, wind and water. The corporate would not provide inexperienced fuel – few UK suppliers do; it is at the moment very troublesome to supply at scale. However for the worth of a espresso, Octopus will offset all of the carbon emissions created in each the manufacturing and the consumption of the pure fuel you utilize in your house.
How? By reforesting and conserving huge areas of the Amazon, and dealing with UK charity Renewable World to convey modern renewable vitality know-how to fuel-poor communities worldwide. Octopus buys its vitality from photo voltaic websites – its guardian firm, Octopus Group, is the most important UK investor in photo voltaic farms – and matches any that’s purchased from different sources with a Renewable Power Assure of Origin certificates.
Octopus Power: customer support
Octopus prospects can discuss to the corporate on the cellphone, through e mail and on Fb Messenger. Plus, it’s the one vitality firm out there at which you may get to talk with the boss. Every single day, Jackson units apart time to reply to buyer queries. When T3 journal dialled, Octopus picked up inside 9 seconds.
Octopus Power: consumer opinions
Octopus Power has been a Which? Really helpful Provider for 3 years operating, and has a whopping 5 stars on Trustpilot, with 92% of 32,000 reviewers score it wonderful (August 2020). Customers have persistently praised the corporate’s user-friendly, clear data and its immediate customer support.
Octopus Power was additionally named Power Provider of the 12 months Award in 2020 by Uswitch, in addition to being voted Greatest Firm to Work for on the 2019 UK Worker Expertise Awards. And on the 2019 British Renewable Power Awards, Octopus picked up the award for the corporate that’s executed essentially the most to advance UK renewables. All of which fits far to clarify how Octopus Power has gone from zero to 1.5 million prospects since launching in 2016.
Octopus Power: do you want a wise meter?
Not all prospects want a wise meter, however Octopus presents an set up service for anybody who may need one. And it has a number of modern tariffs that work with good meters, together with Octopus Go, to energy up your electrical car over night time on the most cost-effective fee.
Octopus Power: switching
(Picture credit score: Future)
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Switching to Octopus vitality is straightforward. The provider has dedicated to Ofgem’s Power Swap Assure, which ensures a dependable and hassle-free change inside 21 days. There are two primary methods to do it.
You’ll be able to both go on to Octopus for a quote – simply pop your postcode in (opens in new tab), reply three questions in your vitality use and you will be proven three tariffs – Octopus’ fastened fee, variable and tremendous inexperienced plans – with a month-to-month estimate for every. You too can discover out extra concerning the firm’s extra modern tariffs from there too.
Alternatively, you should use a free unbiased value comparability service, similar to our vitality value comparability instrument, to seek out the most effective vitality offers in your space. The benefit of that is you will be proven how a lot you’d save from switching to every plan, and you’ll evaluate Octopus’s costs with the remainder of the market to determine whether or not it is proper in your finances. You too can filter your outcomes by numerous standards – together with tariff sort, and options similar to whether or not a tariff is inexperienced, or avoids exit charges – that can assist you discover precisely the correct plan.
Whether or not you undergo Octopus instantly or an vitality comparability web site, you will be proven precisely the identical tariff pricing: the unit value of vitality would not change. Nonetheless, keep in mind that if you wish to change to certainly one of Octopus’s modern good tariffs, you will must undergo Octopus instantly: solely its three hottest tariffs seem in value comparability outcomes.
Must you change to Octopus Power?
Sure, it is best to change to Octopus Power. The provider’s spectacular clutch of business awards and persistently good opinions from prospects converse for themselves. Given its reasonably priced value, high customer support and forward-thinking angle to vitality and local weather change, I believe Octopus is the most effective vitality provider within the UK proper now.