If you’re an Octopus customer (or know one), then you may have heard about a new scheme they have introduced called Saving Sessions. But what’s involved and how much can you really cut your electricity bill by?
Octopus Saving Sessions
Over the last decade or so, without fail, I would change my energy provider every year. Why stick with a company if you could get a better deal elsewhere?
That is until I met Octopus. With their quotes always being competitive and customer service spot on when I needed help, I decided to stick around.
Of course, the last couple of years has meant that finding cheaper prices from other energy companies has been almost impossible. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t switch to a company with better customer service or new ideas.
And Octopus has been one of the best. As you may or may not know, they have been giving struggling customers a helping hand with gifts such as a free electric blanket. And now, they’re offering Saving Sessions.
What are Saving Sessions?
These are set periods of the day where you’re encouraged to lower the amount of electricity you use. Usually, it will be based around a peak time in the evening when we tend to use the most electricity.
The first Saving Session took place between 5 and 6 pm on Tuesday 15th of November with over 250,000 people taking part.
What do you get in return?
For cutting down the amount of electricity you use, you’ll earn OctoPoints. 8 OctoPoints are equal to one pence and they can be redeemed for account credit.
The number of points you earn will depend on how much you can decrease your usage compared to an average day.
To calculate your average, Octopus look at your smart meter readings to find out how much electricity you typically used at the same time of day over the previous 10 days (excluding days when there’s been a Saving Session).
My email told me I would earn 1,800 OctoPoints (worth £2.25) for every unit of electricity I saved.
How do you take part?
First of all, you need to be an Octopus customer and have a smart meter installed. Then, you need to opt into a session.
Octopus will send you an email or a notification through their app before each session starts. They aim to give you around 24 hours’ notice. All you need to do to opt-in is to click on the link in the notification.
When do you find out how much you’ve earned?
It usually takes around 12 hours for Octopus to calculate your OctoPoints from your smart meter. And your earnings should be awarded to your account within 14 days.
Why are Octopus offering Saving Sessions?
Why would Octopus offer this way to save money and not just drop their rates? Well, there are rumours that the UK government has been looking as to whether we will soon need to ration our energy usage. This could mean that on certain days or for certain times we’ll be limited in how much energy we can use.
By encouraging you to save money by reducing your energy usage over an hour period, will give both you and Octopus an idea about how much money and energy we really could save.
However, the money you earn actually comes from the National Grid and it’s all part of something called the Demand Flexibility Scheme (DFS).
How much did we earn?
Well, we earned 1616 OctoPoints, which was worth £2.02. We managed to cut down our usage by 80% and used 55% less electricity compared to our neighbours.
Is it worth doing?
Why not? You probably won’t make much money but it’s a great way to learn how to make energy savings in the short term. And it’s good practice as, you never know, one day it could be even forced upon us.
Not a customer?
If you’re not a customer of Octopus, then they are still taking on new customers. Take a look at my post for a referral code and you can earn a bonus £50.
Tips for taking part
If you do decide that the Saving Sessions are for you, then there are a few things you can do to cut your energy usage.
- Cook either side of this time or just use gas.
- Turn off unnecessary electronics such as TVs and consoles.
- Take anything off charge.
- Turn off unneeded lights.
You could take this a little further and turn off items like your router. But I wouldn’t recommend turning off essential items like a fridge or freezer. Although these are designed to go for short periods without electricity, I would hate for it to cause an issue for your appliances by keep turning them on and off.
Of course, you could spend that hour doing something like reading or even play a board game with your family. But then why ruin that lovely hour…
Mrs B
Sunday 3rd of December 2023
If you have friends or family already on Octopus, you will each receive a credit of £50 if you ask them for their referral code (Available from their account page).