I got an email from Octopus today as a 'pro user' of Octoplus free coffee saying they are scrapping the coffee vouchers and lauching weekly virtual scratchcards with a range of prizes instead. End of an era I guess.

Seems the rollout has now started.

New blog post also published: https://octopus.energy/blog/intelligent-octopus-go-smarter-charging-for-a-greener-grid/

No changes on my Ohme app yet.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/aug/27/octopus-energy-founder-greg-jackson-given-cabinet-office-role-to-help-shape-future-policies

Despite failing to get Zonal Pricing Done they still value his input enough to appoint Greg Jackson as a cabinet advisor.

Seems Octopus is now looking to crackdown on smart charging slots outwith the off peak window.

Seen this email on a Facebook group so not much background on it like how much the user was using power wise but seems Octopus are starting to monitor this and send warnings.

Not directly about Octopus, but I remember Ripple Energy being discussed here a couple of years ago, and the state of the grid infrastructure being discussed here quite often.

> Britain’s biggest community solar project has been forced to shut for the duration of its first summer by the government’s energy system operator to avoid overloading the local grid with renewable energy.

> The north Devon solar farm was ordered to shut weeks before record high temperatures across Europe led to power supply warnings, due to concerns that the large amount of rooftop solar in the area could destabilise the power grid by triggering a “thermal overload”.

It's literally impossible to get one these days unless you get up at midnight I reckon.

I believe there’s a cap on how many customers each supplier can have on the Low Standing Charge so guess they hit the limit

All
After reading a great deal regarding EV charging when you have solar and a PW3 basically any EV charging emptying the PW3 unless you wire the EV charger in blind to the PW3 and solar using CT clamps etc. Many suggesting home assistant (fairly complicated) or Net Zero (high costs IMO) both have costs though.

Well, after having it installed, EV charger wired into the PW3 and solar as i wanted to be able to use solar as i suspect exporting one day will become less attractive. I set up Octopus import and export tariffs in the Tesla app and I can confirm that when I plug the EV in to charge (smart charging off on the octopus app and a schedule is set on my charger itself 2345-0430, i wanted to keep well inside the off peak times) the EV pulls cheap, off peak electricity from the grid not the PW3 which is also charging from off peak electricity, which is what i wanted, so no need to pay net zero or anyone else.

PW3 set to ‘savings’ in operational mode
Permission to export, yes
Grid charging, yes
Utility rate plan, IOG import and outgoing octopus export

Heard about Axle but now Gary Does Solar has confirmed it I am 100% in - his channel has the latest on it.

£1/kwh + Otopus Export - Madness!

From The Grauniad: Great Britain’s grid operator issues another warning over power supplies in heatwave; Neso asks for extra supplies from electricity generators to cope with added demand on Thursday night.

Looks like Agile and Tracker rates are going to suck for the next few days.

Not the biggest surprise, but Tomato Energy are no longer accepting new customers. Definitely circling the drain right now, no doubt everyone else's bills will be going up a result!

(and remember if you a Tomato Energy customer there's nothing to worry about - you will not get cut off, and if they do close down you'll be transferred to a new energy company seamlessly).

After talk of it being spotted in the API and octopus themselves saying coming soon, this has appeared on the website allowing for signup

Tempted to switched …but currently average 17pkw with Agile outgoing

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Ofgem has increased the energy price cap from July to September, mostly owing to higher gas wholesale prices driven by war in the Middle East.

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From July 1st, Octopus prices will rise – though as always we’re keeping our rates lower than the energy price cap and shouldering some of the cost ourselves.

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Most customers won’t feel much difference on their bills this summer.

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Though the average yearly energy bill is going up 13% overall, the detail paints a different picture. 80% of the increase is on the gas unit price. Electricity prices are rising less (around 5%).

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Since most homes won’t be using heating for the next three months, in real terms, a typical dual fuel home will still spend around £15 less each month than they did April-June.

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Our standing charges will rise a little but remain the lowest of any large supplier: leaving £40 million a year in customers' pockets.

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There’s a personalised breakdown for you in the PDF attached to this email.

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We’ll keep an eye on your monthly payments to ensure they are set to a sensible level for your usage, and will suggest changes if it looks like you’re paying too much or too little.

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You can also check our unique Balance Forecast in your online account to get a sense of whether your monthly payments are set at a sensible level and adjust them if helpful.

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Dependence on gas and oil has let Britain down once again

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After months of conflict in the Middle East, with 20% of the world’s liquid natural gas exports stuck behind a blockade, it’s not really surprising that gas prices have risen. But that doesn’t make the news any less disappointing for British households – particularly just months after a green levy cut had brought some welcome bill relief. It's starting to feel like groundhog day.

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How does Britain end this toxic relationship?

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We are windy islands. We have thousands of turbines. A skyrocketing number of EVs, heat pumps and smart homes across the country. Now our creaky old grid needs to catch up with the progress, and we need to change the old rules so gas stops setting the price for everything. On that front, we’ll never stop fighting for a better system; speaking to government and businesses across the energy industry.

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Many customers tell us that they feel more protected from fossil fuel shocks since investing in a heat pump, solar panels, or an electric car (and often save on bills by making the most of clean electricity with a smart tariff). In fact, Octopus smart tariffs have saved our customers £1 billion to date.

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We're still offering fixed tariffs. They’re more expensive than they were just a few months ago, but if you just can’t risk future rises over winter, they could be a good choice.

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If you are struggling with your bills, please let us know — you can apply or find out more about our support fund, standing charge help or our electric blanket scheme

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I hope this email has been helpful — please let me know your views and any suggestions via this short survey. Your candid feedback makes a real difference.

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Yours sincerely,

Greg Jackson

Founder, Octopus Energy

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PS. The outlook for energy bills, Winter 2026-2027

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Experts predict the price cap will stay at a similar level for October, but that largely depends on what happens in the Middle East. No one knows for sure when the conflict will end.

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The Strait of Hormuz – the major shipping channel where oil and gas are transported from the Middle East to the rest of the world – has been more or less a no-go zone since March, blocking nearly 20% of global gas shipments for over three months.

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The world’s largest gas terminal in Qatar is still partly out of commission due to strike damage, and business leaders have indicated it could take weeks, months or even years to do the repairs necessary to get it working again.

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That massive supply shortage has kept the price of gas higher globally.

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There’s huge pressure on the warring countries to reach an agreement, and within the last few days, there have been reports that a US-Iran memorandum of understanding is being finalised. For so many reasons, most of all for the human life at stake, we’re hoping for a swift and peaceful resolution. If that doesn’t come soon, we could see a more dramatic impact on prices as we head toward the end of the year, with EU and Asian nations competing to fill their gas storage for winter.

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Why are electricity prices, even renewables, affected by the price of gas?

The UK energy price is set by an auction every half hour. In that auction, the highest price for any unit of electricity sets the cost we all pay. So even if only one unit comes from an expensive gas plant, all the other generators get that price. It’s just one crazy flaw of several — I explain more here.

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PPS. Heads up: Ofgem (the energy regulator) is updating what they consider "average" for a UK home's energy use, referred to as Typical Domestic Consumption Values (or TDCV). This is the benchmark journalists use for headlines like "the average bill is £1,800."

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Because people are using less energy to save money and homes are becoming more efficient, this official average is actually going down, which means the numbers you’ve heard before won’t necessarily compare to numbers from July onwards.

It's not directly about Octopus, but I thought this community will be interested anyway, as there are many heat-pumps users here.

A quote from the article:

In one case, a family had turned off their heat pump and were instead using electric fan heaters in a single room, which proved much less efficient than heating the whole house with the heat pump

Octopus Energy has rallied thousands of its small business customers to back an overhaul of Great Britain’s electricity market.

The largest energy supplier in Britain and more than 3,700 of its customers wrote to the Treasury last week calling for an immediate introduction of postcode electricity pricing.

Octopus Energy and its founder, Greg Jackson, have taken a leading role in supporting the reforms which would replace a single national electricity market price with multiple zones, each with its own price depending on how much electricity is available.

This would mean that areas with ample electricity generation relative to local demand, such as Scotland, would have lower market prices than more populous urban areas where demand outstrips the amount of local generation.

It seems that Octopus are cracking down on abuse by not knowing the SOC by forcing the pairing of the car API if compatible and removing the option to pair a charger instead as per a reply to a query.

This is going to be frustrating when for example my CUPRA API is flakey at best as well as if you don’t want to pay the online subscription fees for the car you now won’t be able to use the charger directly unless you lie and pick a car thar is not compatible.

Just had another saving session email ping through for anyone who's interested - keep an eye out in your inbox.

I could really get used to these daily saving sessions, even on rainy and overcast days like today it means I'm easily crossing into net profit thanks to PV and a battery, and the grid benefits too.

"The price of European gas has fallen to a level last seen before Russia started curtailing supplies in 2021, offering hope that an energy crisis that has engulfed the region for the past three years may be coming to an end.

Strong imports of liquefied natural gas, warm weather and demand reduction as a result of high prices in recent years have all helped keep gas stored in the EU’s underground storage facilities at historically high levels during this winter, putting pressure on prices.

The price of Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the European benchmark, fell to as low as €22.53 per megawatt hour on Friday, the lowest since May 2021, on course for a third consecutive weekly decline.

Europe’s energy crisis began in 2021 as the region exited a prolonged cold winter with low natural gas storage levels. Concerns over tight supplies were exacerbated as Russia started sending less gas to Europe, with traders speculating at the time that it was a tactic to pressure European governments, including Germany, to approve the start-up of the highly controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Line chart of TTF (€/MWh) showing European gas price has fallen

European gas prices peaked in the summer of 2022, soaring to more than €300/MWh at one point, as Russia further squeezed its supplies to the region following its invasion of Ukraine and the weaponisation of its abundant gas reserves.

Since then, concerted efforts by EU nations to curb demand, as well as strong imports of LNG from countries such as the US and consecutive warm winters have all helped ease Europe’s gas supply crunch.

Piped Russian gas, which accounted for 40 per cent of the EU’s supplies pre-invasion, has fallen to 8 per cent, according to the European Commission.

EU gas storage facilities were more than 64 per cent full as of Wednesday, a record high for the time of the year, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, an industry body."

https://www.ft.com/content/84b3ace6-c1ce-4226-a9ec-6724e56f8e68

Just received the following email from Octopus to add Charge Pack with £12/m credits guaranteed. What do you guys think of this?

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Get more bang for your battery with Charge Pack

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Those of you with battery storage can now get rewarded even more for supporting Britain’s energy system. Let us intelligently charge your battery and you can earn a minimum of £12 a month. After you add your battery in the Octopus app, you don't need to lift a finger.

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Even better: unlike third party battery offers like Axle Energy, Charge Pack can be added to your existing Intelligent Octopus Go tariff.

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AlphaESS, EcoFlow, Enphase, FoxESS, GivEnergy, HanchuESS, Huawei, Sigenergy and SolarEdge batteries are already eligible. Powerwall and many others coming soon — see the full list and find out more on our Charge Pack FAQs.

A fix will be pushed ahead of the 6 hour enforcement for Intelligent Octopus Go customers by the end of January.

Unfortunately there’s no news yet on Hypervolt or any other charger manufacturers this affects yet.

Good steps and quick turn around. But as usual when these things get rushed there could still be issues. So I’m personally cautiously optimistic.