Review contents
Energy that won’t cost the Earth… It's planet saving renewable energy at a good price, and with almost unbelievably good, multi-award winning customer service. You really can’t ask for anything more from an energy supplier. Most of our team have switched and we recommend you do too. You can get £50 credit when you sign up with Nuts About Money.
Octopus energy is on a mission – taking on the big 6 energy suppliers, the big, the bad and the greedy. That’s British Gas, E.ON, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), Npower, EDF energy and ScottishPower.
The ‘big 6’ built their industry dominance on fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), but now, thankfully, there’s an alternative – renewable energy!
In fact, they’ve achieved their goal already – they’re set to be the second biggest energy supplier in the UK, with over 7.7 million customers, and rapidly growing!
Renewable energy is mainly wind, solar, and water, otherwise known as green energy, and it’s what Octopus Energy is using to take on the industry and more importantly help you fight climate change with your energy choice.
Of course there’s more to them than just the choice of energy, there’s the price and customer service. Both are very important. Let’s take a harder look at all three and see if it’s worthy of your time and ..energy... switching.
Before that, we know what’s going through your head, switching deals on any service is a massive pain. Well enter the Energy Switch Guarantee.
Nuts About Money tip: if you do want to switch to Octopus Energy, you can get £50 for free with Nuts About Money, just get started on the Octopus Energy website¹.
It’s a scheme that suppliers like Octopus Energy subscribe to which means everything about your switch is taken care of by the new supplier, you’ll never lose power or even have to speak to your current supplier. All you have to do is register with your new energy provider, and they handle the rest, it’s as easy as that.
Now back onto saving the planet…
The nice guys at Octopus Energy will give our readers £50 for switching (that's you!) 🎉
Octopus Energy¹ is exclusively a renewable energy supplier. That’s no fossil fuels at all. Great for the environment and fighting climate change.
You might be thinking, why aren’t all energy suppliers now exclusively using renewable energy? We often think that too. But hey, one for the Government…
Here’s the most important thing you need to know, the electricity in your home is exactly the same from any supplier. The difference is how the suppliers source the electricity, so there’s no need to worry about less powerful electricity in your home, it’s all the same.
And it’s not a gimmick, Octopus Energy supplies 100% green electricity, there’s no off-setting or any ‘green-washing’ (that’s a word for pretending you’re green when you’re really not).
Better still, they’re on a mission to develop and implement new technologies to end the UK’s use of fossil fuels completely. We love that!
Energy prices have soared over the last few years, but thankfully there’s a price cap, which is the most energy companies can charge their customers. This is set by Ofgem, the energy regulator. Although this doesn't mean energy is cheap now, far from it.
Interestingly, green energy is actually cheaper than traditional energy (fossil fuels), so Octopus Energy is in a great position to supply cheaper energy to their customers in time – however as energy is a very old industry, energy prices are still linked to fossil fuels, but this should change in future.
With energy deals, you can get a fixed rate deal or a variable deal – a fixed rate deal is where the price of energy is fixed for a set amount of time, such as 12 months, and a variable rate is where the price changes depending on the cost of energy at that time.
Currently, with any supplier, as energy prices are so high, you’ll likely only be able to get a deal which is right at the top of the price cap (the most energy companies can charge).
But, when energy prices begin to come down and be more competitive, Octopus Energy are very likely to be one of the cheapest, and come down in price much faster than others – we’ll run through an example below to show you how Octopus Energy compares against other big suppliers (whenever normality returns).
In fact, Octopus Energy has already started to bring down the price of their energy – so you’re likely to get one of the best deals out there.
So let’s talk about price. We’d all love to use green energy, but it’s got to be affordable. Let’s compare it against the big 6 suppliers and see how it fairs.
Let’s take a typical living situation, a 1 bed flat in London. Here’s what the estimated yearly fees look like, alongside exit fees (cost to leave them) and let’s use Which? customer score (to measure for customer satisfaction and customer service).
Note: this is just a rough guide, energy usage will change for each household.
So it’s not the cheapest, but it’s also not the most expensive, it comes in 4th place out of 7. Bang in the middle.
It’s £29.14 per year more expensive than the cheapest, E.On. Which is not too bad at all actually. To pay an extra £29.14 a year to help fight climate change and significantly better customer service (more on that below), is worthwhile to us here, how about you?
In fact, you can make up the difference with the £50 cash Octopus Energy gives our readers when you sign up, all you need to do is head to the Octopus Energy website¹ to get started.
And, the odds are you’re probably not with E.On right now, and if you are, you might not be on their cheapest rate – always check regularly, and switch when a better deal comes along. Remember, with the Energy Switch Guarantee it's never been easier to switch.
Also, with Octopus Energy there’s no exit fees with their flexible tariff, but all the top 6 have a minimum of £30 exit fee… they’re so confident that once you move to Octopus, you’ll never want to leave.
Note: if you opt for a fixed tariff, where your price is fixed for 12 months, there can be exit fees.
If you’re with British Gas or the other large suppliers, it looks like switching to Octopus Energy could be a money saver, in this case by £62.87 per year – that’s like a month's free electricity!
In fact, Octopus Energy themselves claim 60% of people could save money by switching, and our findings roughly match that, so it’s definitely worth checking them out and getting yourself a quote (which you can do on the Octopus Energy website¹).
So the price is good, but did you notice that 73% customer score from Which? Let’s dive into what that actually means…
73%! A customer score almost unheard of in the energy sector. Perhaps it’s got something to do with the average time to answer customer calls (just 2 minutes). Have you ever tried to call an energy company before? It’s pretty painful, get used to on-hold music.
Which? also award certain companies with ‘recommended provider’ status. And guess how many times Octopus Energy has won that? 7 times so far, from 2018 to 2024. Not too bad at all.
And here’s the important bit, it’s nearly impossible to get it even once. In 2017, not one energy company were given the award at all. And then Octopus Energy came along.
And there’s more awards, they’ve also won Uswitch supplier of the year, have been rated top for customer service by The Institute of Customer Service, and have twice won 'Company of the Year' by the Renewable Energy Association. They all can’t be wrong, can they?
When it comes to getting in touch with support, you can call between 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, and 9am to 4pm on Fridays.
Or, you can email in, which runs 7 days per week. It’s not instant responses, but it’s pretty quick.
A tariff is simply the plan you’re on – so how much you’ll pay for your energy. Most customers with Octopus Energy are on the ‘Flexible Octopus’ tariff, which is where the price can change over time, both up and down.
There’s also a 12 month fixed rate tariff if you prefer some certainty in how much you’re paying.
And then there’s some special tariffs:
Octopus Energy has a great phone app to manage everything to do with your account, such as viewing your bills, making payments, view what tariff you’re on (and switch), and more.
Best of all, you’ll be able to see how much energy you are using! This is great, you can see how much gas and electricity you are using per day, how much it has cost you, and it’s broken down by month and year too. You’ll need to have a smart meter to get up to date information (supplied by Octopus Energy). You can see kWh (kilowatts per hour), and cost in Pounds.
It’s great for budgeting, and you can even see which days are more expensive and work out what caused those spikes.
You can also submit meter readings on the app, if you don’t have a smart meter to do it for you, or if you fancy sending a reading anyway.
This is pretty cool, and could save you some cash off your bill.
During the winter, Octopus Energy runs something called Saving Sessions, and this is where they’ll let you know a certain time of the day to reduce your energy use in your home, and in exchange, you’ll get some free money added to your account to help pay your bill (called credit). You technically get paid to use less power.
It works because at certain times of the day, energy use can have a bigger impact on the planet and the energy system (which also means it costs more), so if everyone cuts down during this time, everyone (and the world) benefits – and so Octopus Energy are giving you credit so everyone cuts down for a few hours while it’s expected to be busy.
Every month you’ll get a free spin on the Wheel of Fortune – it’s mostly a bit of fun, and it’s a real wheel that appears on your phone app or your account on their website, whichever you prefer.
Spin the wheel, and you can win real cash (added to your account), with prizes ranging from £0 (if you are unlucky) to over £500!
Octopus Energy runs a rewards scheme for their customers too – whoop!
It’s called Octoplus, and it’s got lots of great freebies such as free electricity when the ‘grid’ is greenest (the grid is the power network across the UK).
Here’s a run through of the main benefits:
As part of the rewards scheme, you’ll earn ‘Octopoints’ which you can convert into credit on your account (and use to pay the bill), or even buy things such as Octopus merch (like t-shirts).
In total, Octopus Energy reckon you’ll save around £200 per year.
If you’re keen to modernise your home, and get yourself a heat pump, which is an alternative to a boiler – and 4x more efficient (saving more cash), Octopus Energy can handle the process for you.
It works pretty much the same as a boiler, and handles all your heating and hot water, just like a boiler, except using air from outside. It’s all very modern.
They’ll arrange the engineer visit to check you’re able to convert your boiler to a heat pump, and arrange the installation, and best of all, they’ll apply for the £7,500 government grant you can get by converting to a heat pump, so it might not cost you much overall – meaning you can reap the benefits of low energy bills for life.
Yep! You might not have heard of them before now, but Octopus Energy is very reliable, and a huge company – your energy is in very safe hands.
It’s fast becoming the biggest energy provider in the UK, it’s set to be the second biggest provider soon. It’s just newer than other big names you’ve probably heard growing up – but don’t let not knowing the name put you off, it really is probably the best energy provider in the UK.
Octopus Energy is also part of the Octopus Group, which is a huge company that has businesses in a range of different industries, including real estate, financial advice, technology and investing.
It’s also a B-Corp, which means it’s signed up to put people and the planet as top priorities alongside profit. It has to meet strict criteria to be awarded B-Corp status. All the other energy companies simply chase profit (as we’re sure you’re aware with the fuel prices!).
👋 Bye bye fossil fuels: 100% of the energy supplied by Octopus is certified renewable. That’s super green
💯 Outstanding customer service: multi-award winning customer service, and rated consistently top by Which?. Better yet, they actually answer the phone when you need them, and in under 2 minutes (on average).
🏃♂️ No exit fees: they’re confident you won’t leave because the service is so good.
🚗 Electric vehicles: got a fancy electric car? Well Octopus Energy have a plan just for you. It provides 4 hours overnight super cheap, super off-peak electricity, perfect for charging your car.
☀️ Got a solar panel?: you’re probably already selling your power back to the grid, and if not, you can! But better still, Octopus Energy have developed the first smart export tariff, so you can decide when to sell your energy back at the most valuable time for you.
🌱 Got a vertical farm?: Octopus Energy has got a plan for you. It lets you avoid peak pricing and estimates a saving of around 8-15%.
⚡️ No disruption when you switch: you’ll never lose power when you switch to Octopus Energy. And they’ll do everything for you, even contacting your old supplier.
Right now, there’s over 260,000 reviews on Trustpilot (that’s the popular customer review site), giving an excellent rating of 4.8/5. Pretty impressive. In fact there’s so many good reviews it’s hard to find a negative one at all.
Lot’s of the reviews mention how amazing the customer service is, how good the app is, and of course the green energy.
Renewable energy with good prices and outstanding customer service, you can see why we gave them such a glowing review.
The energy price is reasonable, one of the lowest out there, and you’ll be saving the planet with 100% green energy. You can’t put a price on that.
Switching to Octopus Energy with the Energy Switch Guarantee is great too, you can avoid that awkward conversation with your current supplier. And there’s no fee if you want to switch to another supplier again later.
There’s a great rewards scheme for customers, so you can save cash on your bills, and the customer service is by far the best out there for an energy company.
It’s a big 5 stars from us. If you’re keen to switch, get started on the Octopus Energy website¹ (you’ll get £50 for free too).
Octopus Energy are providing our readers with £50 free when they switch their energy. Get started here to claim your free £50¹.
And full disclosure, we’ll get a small contribution too, thanks! It really does help us keep the lights on here at Nuts About Money, all powered by green energy from Octopus Energy of course.
If you don't want the deal, or just want to learn more. Here’s the Octopus website instead. You can always come back later for the deal.
The nice guys at Octopus Energy will give our readers £50 for switching (that's you!) 🎉
The nice guys at Octopus Energy will give our readers £50 for switching (that's you!) 🎉
The nice guys at Octopus Energy will give our readers £50 for switching (that's you!) 🎉
Christopher Dowling combines a communications degree with over 10 years experience in the financial services industry in London – with focus on educating people on a wide range of money topics in an easy to understand way. He writes about savings, investing, pensions, mortgages, insurance, banking, loans, business finance and other money topics.
This article was written, reviewed and fact checked by the expert team at Nuts About Money. You’re in safe hands. Learn more.
We're experts in all things money, with years of combined experience working in the finance industry and writing about money. We understand the ins and outs, how to get the best deals, save money, and how to communicate money in an easy to understand way (we hope you agree).
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The nice guys at Octopus Energy will give our readers £50 for switching (that's you!) 🎉
