Energy companies

[V8Granite]

I've been wondering,

I've always been of the mind that you buy Gas from the gas company and Electric from the electric company etc

So lots of energy companies are failing and I understand the reason for that. Not being able to weather the wholesale price hikes with the cheap deals they have offered.

Now Octopus energy assure their customers that they use only renewable supplies. So why is this linked the the wholesale price of energy if they aren't linked to any fossil fuel networks?

Dave!

[Rich B]

I've been wondering,

I've always been of the mind that you buy Gas from the gas company and Electric from the electric company etc

So lots of energy companies are failing and I understand the reason for that. Not being able to weather the wholesale price hikes with the cheap deals they have offered.

Now Octopus energy assure their customers that they use only renewable supplies. So why is this linked the the wholesale price of energy if they aren't linked to any fossil fuel networks?

Dave!

supply and demand presumably. If fossil fuel price goes up, why would renewable not raise their price too?

[Mito Man]

It’s pretty convoluted but when you choose an electric contract from Octopus you’re not suddenly getting a direct electricity supply from the nearest wind farm, it’s the same electricity from the same supplies as always but Octopus will be purchasing as much of their electricity as possible from renewable sources and offset the rest with certificates or some such bollocks which can go into more investing in green energy.
But most of the grid is still fossil fuel energy so they’re still getting shafted.

[RobYob]

Now Octopus energy assure their customers that they use only renewable supplies. So why is this linked the the wholesale price of energy if they aren't linked to any fossil fuel networks?

There's a long running and often toxic as all fuck thread on PH about power generation, if you can ignore the dribbling loons that frequent that place there are some convincingly eloquent posters. At times.

Anyway, I'm sure Octopus are not buying renewables every second of the day and night but buying an equivalent ammount of renewables to balance the books. Over what time period they balance is probably in the fine print?

I gather the current "not a crisis" is to do with gas supply from Russia and spiking prices effecting the gas turbines that have mostly replaced coal generation.

[Carlos]

Apparently it hasn't been windy enough for a lot of the UKs turbines recently which has also put more emphasis on more fossil fuel generation as opposed to last year when there was excess wind energy and prices went negative for periods.

[V8Granite]

So basically the 30% subsidies on renewables and their carbon offsetting makes them better but they are still pretty much solely reliant on the fossil fuel network.

So you can be morally happy with your choice but apart from that it’s a normal energy company.

Dave!

[RobYob]

So basically the 30% subsidies on renewables and their carbon offsetting makes them better but they are still pretty much solely reliant on the fossil fuel network.

So you can be morally happy with your choice but apart from that it’s a normal energy company.

Dave!

Be morally happy with your choice We're all transitioning away from fossil fuels you're just in the van.

No idea how long it will be until a carbon free solution covers all requirements. I watched an interesting but discouraging youtube on commercial scale fusion (spoiler alert, it's still decades away) but bulk energy storage and renewables may simply just take the whole load eventually.

Years ago I looked at energy usuage in the UK (in order to "win" an argument on the internet) and the power generation capacity is roughly 50% oversized for the winter-day to summer-night fluctuation anyway, so bulk energy storage would help even conventional generation.

[RobYob]

https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

At the moment it's roughtly 50% Gas turbine, 20% Wind, 13% Nuclear, 7% Burning bio junk, with the remainder interconnects, coal and hydro.

[dinny_g]

Now Octopus energy assure their customers that they use only renewable supplies.

Octopus Renewable is an Optional Tariff you pay for. Not all Octopus customers are on it.

When you do, the definition of Renewable is as follows:

"This 24 month fixed tariff is the very greenest you can be with Octopus! The electricity you use is 100% matched by renewable sources, and any gas you use is fully carbon offset through our partner Renewable World. Like all our tariffs, Super Green Octopus has no exit fees."

[V8Granite]

I’m with Scottish Power but I was surprised they seem to be as badly hot as everyone else still.

I think we saw the same video on Fusion, it was quite sad how many people can do it but it’s incredibly hard to have a net increase of power in the end.

Dave!

[Broccers]

I think at the moment most people are happy not have the lights and heating switched off

We've been shifted to EDF and altho I am expecting an increase in bills there is only so much they can charge you. No idea if they are green or not.

[Zonda_]

My mate Greg owns Octopus, I've heard him describe what they do and how they do it but it gets very brain farty! It's all legit and the reason why they are the number one though!

[Simon]

Greg Jackson?

Because the owner is Octopus Group which 'is a privately held United Kingdom based holding company founded in 2000 by Simon Rogerson, Christopher Hulatt, and Guy Myles as a fund management company.'

[Zonda_]

Greg Jackson?

Because the owner is Octopus Group which 'is a privately held United Kingdom based holding company founded in 2000 by Simon Rogerson, Christopher Hulatt, and Guy Myles as a fund management company.'

Yep.

[DeskJockey]

Not sure what all the faff is about. My supplier has just credited my account with £9.6k, refunding me everything we've paid since May 2014.

They've also charged almost exactly the same amount back on a single invoice. They had to do it that way to sort out getting the smart meter billing right, apparently. The only issue is that the changes seem to have confused their DD calculation system, so it decided to very nearly double our monthly bill despite the existing charge easily covering our usage. They're sorting that out too.

[Jobbo]

I have been checking deals relatively regularly over the last few years but nobody has worked out cheaper than our current Bulb variable tariff (electricity only). To an extent I'm glad I didn't swap because other smaller companies have already gone bust, and I'm glad I'm not in credit by much (£20 or so) because while credit balances are protected in the event of a collapse, who knows how quickly they'll be credited to your new supplier.

[V8Granite]

Ours is around £120 a month average now but our gas is around £35 a month average.

Gone are the days when £50 covered both

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

I'm with Bulb just now but they've been circling the drain so I'm wondering whether I should start shopping around. We're £70 a month combined gas and electric which seems alright.

[Simon]

Was with Bulb but my Sainsbury's Fixed (E-On Next) kicked in overnight and that's now cheaper than Bulb since Bulbs prices went up at the start of Oct. Also fixed for 2 years whereas Bulbs WILL go up when the price cap goes up next spring.

[Jobbo]

There's no point trying to swap to a fix now - the cheapest fix is ~50% more than the price cap, so sticking with the current provider on a variable tariff is way less than switching. If Bulb go pop then I'll consider changing once I know to whom my supply will be transferred but not until then.