Power firms have traditionally been a few of the UK’s least trusted companies. In 2016, we had been based to vary that with genuinely honest costs.
This 12 months, like a few years earlier than, we’re the UK’s most trusted vitality provider, and the one that individuals would most probably suggest to associates or household.
Prospects who caught with Versatile Octopus since we began would’ve saved £1,451 by now on common in comparison with one other massive legacy provider.
And that’s simply us getting began. Learn the way we’ve been combating for honest costs over the past eight years. Not only for our personal clients, however for each single family within the UK.
How we offer you honest costs in a nutshell:
Learn on to get all the small print on our mission to maintain costs honest.
From 2016, we’ve uncovered the Large 6’s ‘Tease and Squeeze’ pricing
Just a few years earlier than Octopus got here to be, our CEO Greg opened an vitality invoice for his flat. It was astronomical. He referred to as the corporate, solely to be informed he’d rolled off his fastened contract onto a a lot increased default tariff. Since he’d referred to as, it was no hassle to maneuver him to a much better fee.
As quickly as we began welcoming clients, we took a stand towards what we started to name “Tease and Squeeze” pricing. We launched an investigation with Michael Robinson from the BBC, analysing every provider’s vitality costs — a budget introductory offers, and the ‘default’ costs you’d be moved to when the intro deal ended. The distinction was stark.
Most primary suppliers had been subsidising their low provides by charging loyal clients lots of extra. Prospects who didn’t hold their eye religiously on the ball had been shedding out. That’s practically all of us, however we discovered probably the most susceptible and low earnings houses had been hit the toughest — perversely, the individuals most in want of a less expensive invoice. Learn the BBC report right here.
The most affordable deal every provider was providing (the blue dot) vs the price of the usual variable tariff they might be switched to after (the orange sq.)
We needed to go additional to attract consideration — so we arrange a little bit social experiment with a pop-up pub on Carnaby Road…
Preventing for the vitality worth cap
To place a cease to Tease and Squeeze ways, we launched a nationwide marketing campaign for higher client protections within the type of an vitality worth cap.
We shared our analysis with MPs, councils, trade teams, journalists and clients. In 2017, our message broke by. MPs talked about Tease and Squeeze of their arguments for a worth cap.
In 2018, the vitality worth cap grew to become legislation. It set out a good most worth a provider might cost on a typical variable tariff, based mostly on the true value of provide, and permitting for a small margin on high — successfully ending Tease and Squeeze.
Within the first 12 months after it handed, the vitality worth cap saved UK households over £1 billion on their payments.
It has been in place ever since, saving clients untold sums and preserving vitality provider income in verify.
We minimize costs when everybody else raised them
Time and time once more within the years following the value cap, we have watched different suppliers set their costs to the very best they legally might. We knew we might do higher.
In 2017, when different suppliers had been all asserting worth rises, we introduced a minimize: making our twin gasoline tariff £140-£80 cheaper than the remaining. We did it once more in 2019.
Ever since, we have all the time saved our worth under the vitality worth cap – the one massive provider to take action. After we’ve needed to enhance costs, we have performed it later, and by much less, than different main suppliers.
In 2017, we launched Tracker, Britain’s fairest vitality tariff
Octopus Tracker launched in 2017 as Britain’s fairest vitality tariff (here is how the Guardian lined it).
On Tracker, the unit worth of vitality modifications day by day, based mostly on that days’ market vitality worth. Exposing the wholesale worth provides clients unrivalled entry to brief time period worth dips. Tracker confirmed clients for the primary time, precisely the place their vitality invoice was going.
To at the present time, Tracker is among the UK’s greatest vitality offers.
In 2018, we launched the UK’s first sensible tariffs to assist clients save by being greener
Octopus Go, provides EV drivers a less expensive cost in a single day. Outgoing Octopus, the primary sensible export tariff, pays clients pretty for his or her solar energy. Agile Octopus is the primary tariff to really pay individuals to make use of up spare inexperienced vitality when market costs went unfavorable.
Through the years, we have designed a variety of sensible tariffs that assist clients save lots of of kilos a 12 months for utilizing clear applied sciences on the greenest occasions.
I switched to @OctopusEnergy Agile tariff and this month alone it’s saved me £211 in comparison with a typical tariff. I paid a mean of twenty-two.97p per kWh for electrical energy – beforehand I used to be at 36.98p
On my greatest day in Jan I paid a mean of seven.93p per kWh.
Sport changer.
— Benjamin (@bjblyth) January 25, 2023
Learn these blogs to get to know a few of our clients who’ve efficiently lowered their payments by lots of and generally hundreds of kilos:
![](https://octoenergy-production-media.s3.amazonaws.com/images/LP_banner.2e16d0ba.fill-380x190-c100.png)
How Alan unlocked large financial savings together with his Octopus EV
Get to know our buyer, Alan who has saved hundreds by switching to our Clever Octopus Go tariff
![](https://octoenergy-production-media.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Outgoing_Agile.2e16d0ba.fill-380x190-c100.png)
Agile: making a greener, smarter vitality system
Uncover all the advantages of our revolutionary Agile tariff with variable half-hourly costs based mostly on the wholesale value of vitality
Within the vitality disaster, we spent £150 million holding costs down, and tens of millions extra to assist struggling clients
In 2021, international fuel costs soared, sparking a once-in-a-generation disaster. On the peak, costs had been 14x increased than ‘regular’. This had a catastrophic impression on clients’ payments.
In addition to working intently with the federal government to usher in new protections all through the disaster, we went additional for our clients:
Absorbing £150 million to maintain everybody’s payments lowerSetting up Octopus Help: a assist fund for our most susceptible. It began with £5m, however has elevated over time to £30 million.Introducing or increasing revolutionary methods to assist clients save vitality: free electrical blankets, loaning thermal cameras to identify warmth loss, and residential visits to 200,000+ susceptible houses from vitality specialists
In 2022, we launched Saving Classes
We developed the world’s largest buyer vitality saving challenge. Saving Classes rewards clients for collectively saving energy throughout sure occasions to keep away from fossil fuels. Thus far, it is paid lots of of hundreds of consumers extra then £9 million.
One other superior function we now have is Energy Ups, a game-changer that offers clients free vitality throughout particular, super-green occasions when renewable energy is plentiful.
Wanting ahead
We’ll proceed to battle for fairer insurance policies and laws which are within the clients’ greatest curiosity. Most lately, we have now been on the forefront the push for locational pricing to assist expose the financial savings of cheap-to-produce British renewables to clients. We have vocally opposed standing cost will increase and pushed to scale back the ‘inexperienced tax’ on electrical energy.
We began our firm with a mission to carry clients greener, fairer, cheaper vitality.
Now we have undoubtedly saved clients cash: on common, a typical buyer who joined a set Octopus tariff in 2016 and caught with us ever since would’ve saved over £1,451 by 2023. However greater than that, we have labored arduous to make vitality fairer for everybody – not simply our personal clients.
We’ll hold doing proper by you, and combating for fairer vitality for all.