Octopus Energy vs SSE: Which is Cheaper?

In a choice between Octopus Energy or SSE which supplier will you get a better deal from? Does SSE offer better customer service than Octopus and which energy provider has the greenest energy supply?

Octopus and SSE are both considered large energy suppliers in the UK. In 2019 SSE held about 12% of the domestic electricity market compared to about 4% for Octopus. Since then SSE has been taken over by OVO Energy to becomes the UK's second largest energy supplier behind British Gas.

Whilst OVO owns SSE it is still operating as a brand in its own right offering their own SSE energy tariffs. Octopus Energy now accounts for 5.7% of the domestic electricity market so is relatively small compared to SSE. So both are large gas and electricity suppliers but how do they compare on price?

Lowest Price	£88.89/month	£81.39/month
100% Green Cost	£91.89/month	£81.39/month
Range of tariffs	3 Tariffs	6 Tariffs
Electricity	Standard	100% Renewable
Gas	Standard	100% offset
Trustpilot rating	4.4/5	4.8/5
Exit fees	None	None

Both suppliers offer both variable rates and fixed price energy plans. The cheapest tariff offered by both companies is their variable rate gas and electricity tariffs. As with all comparisons we compare based on a typical UK household using 3,100 kWh/year electricity and 12,000 kWh/year gas. Based on these figures SSE's cheapest deal is £88.89/month compared to Octopus who charges far less at £81.39/month.

If price is a priority and excellent customer service essential then take a look at our comparison of Avro Energy vs Octopus.

Which is cheaper, Octopus or SSE?

So based on the cheapest gas and electricity tariff on offer from both suppliers the lowest cost energy is from Octopus. The Flexible Octopus tariff costs £81.39 per month compared to SSE's Standard tariff which is more than £7 more expensive at £88.89 a month.

Both tariffs are variable rates which means that the kWh unit price and the daily standing charge can increase or decrease at any point. As they are variable there are no exit fees so you are free to switch to another tariff or supplier at any point.

Octopus Energy does offer 100% renewable electricity as standard so their Flexible Octopus deal includes green electricity. SSE does not offer renewable energy as standard which is ironic as SSE Renewables are a big renewable energy generator.

It doesn't mention it clearly on the site but buried in their terms and conditions existing customers can opt to pay an extra £3 a month on top of their existing tariff to get 100% renewable energy. That would take their deal to £91.89 a month to make it a green tariff like Octopus.

In terms of price Octopus Energy offers far better value being much cheaper than the equivalent SSE deal, more than £10 a month cheaper if you compare the Go Green add on option offered by SSE to make it green.

Octopus Energy was better on price at £81.39 a month for the average UK household, has fewer customer complaints, more positive reviews and 100% renewable energy as standard.

Octopus vs SSE on fixed energy deals

If you were looking for a 1 or 2 year fixed energy plan because you wanted the rate you are charged for each kWh of gas or electricity you use to remain constant then does SSE or Octopus offer the best deal?

Both suppliers offer fixed term tariffs and both have no early exit fees which means you can leave at any point and not incur any fees for leaving before the end of your agreement.

SSE has 2 fixed price tariffs covering 12 months and 2 years. The 'SSE 1 Year Fix v3 tariff' costs £92.54 per month whilst their 2 year fixed 'SSE 2 Year Fix v5 tariff' costs £92.55 a month. Both of their fixed tariffs require you to have a smart meter installed, they don't make this clear on their website as you have to scroll down and expand their 'energy tariffs - important information' section to see this.

Octopus Energy only offer a 12 month fixed term tariff although they have two, a standard 1 year fix called 'Octopus Fixed' costing £88.20 a month or their 'Super Green Octopus' costing £88.73 a month which includes 100% offset gas as well as 100% renewable electricity.

Other than the cost the fixed price tariffs from both suppliers have no early exit fees however the electricity from Octopus has the bonus of being 100% renewable.

The cheapest 1 year fix is Octopus's costing £88.20 at more than £4 a month cheaper than the SSE offering. Even if you opted to have your gas usage offset the Octopus fixed tariff would still be cheaper making OCtopus Energy the better supplier based on price and green energy.

You can often find cheaper exclusive deals on comparison sites where the same tariff is cheaper by doing an energy comparison compared to going direct to the supplier.

SSE and Octopus can be cheaper through comparison sites

It is always recommended to use a comparison site in order to compare deals from many energy companies at once. However you may not be aware that suppliers offer exclusive deals that are only available through energy comparison sites where they are cheaper than switching directly with the supplier.

SSE was £7 a month more expensive for the average UK household, had more customer complaints and fewer positive reviews.

Cheaper SSE deals on comparison sites

With SSE their standard rate tariff is the same price going direct or on a comparison site. Their 'SSE 1 Year Fix v3 tariff' costs £92.54 on the SSE website but you can get a 1 year fixed SSE deal on a comparison site for less. The SSE 'Online Energy v9 Paperless Billing' tariff costs £87.43 making it £5 cheaper per month, that's a saving of £60 over the 12 month term. The only downside is that the SSE tariff on comparison sites include a £30 per fuel early exit fee so take the cheaper exclusive comparison deal if you are going to stick with SSE for the full 12 month, if not it's £60 more expensive but there are no exit fees.

Cheaper Octopus deals on comparison sites

The same is true for Octopus where you can get their 1 year fixed tariff called 'Octopus Exclusive 12M Fixed February 2021 v1' at a cost of £81.87 on a comparison site compared to paying £88.20 going direct with Octopus to get their Octopus fixed tariff. There is no difference between the tariffs, both are still fixed for 12 months, have no exit fees but you get it more than £6 cheaper per month going through a comparison sites exclusive deal.

You can save £72 a year by switching to a 1 year fixed deal from Octopus via an energy comparison site compared to switching direct with Octopus which is a great deal considering both tariffs are identical. You do have a further option with Octopus as they have a refer a friend offer, if you use an Octopus energy referral code both you an the person who referred you get £50 credit.

Before deciding on a switch make sure you check if you can get the same deal cheaper or if another supplier has an even better offer.

Octopus Energy vs SSE: Customer service

Cheaper isn't always better. If you never have to contact an energy company and they never mess up your account then it wouldn't matter how bad their customer reviews were. There's no guarantee that you won't run into problems with a supplier but thankfully problems generally only affect around 2% of the customers of large energy companies in Britain.

You probably don't want to be in that 2% of customers that have issues with their supplier so it is best to avoid companies that have a history of poor customer service. When it comes to a comparison between SSE and Octopus Energy we will compare their performance to see which provider comes out on top for service.

SSE customer service ratings

According to Trustpilot SSE has a 4.4 out of 5 overall rating with 13% of customers rating the company as bad. A high bad percentage rating can highlight issues with a provider and generally should act as a warning to stay away. Whilst an overall 4.4/5 is quite good a 13% bad rating isn't, it's not the worst out their but we're not comparing SSE with any other provider, just Octopus.

The number of official complaints for SSE are only available upto Q4 of 2019 and the Ofgem figures show 2,239 complaints per 100,000 customers. Since OVO took over SSE the Ofgem complaints figures come under OVO where the latest Q3 2020 figures published are 2,293 complaints per 100,000. In fact historically SSE tends to remain around the 2,000 per 100,000 complaints, around 2%.

In terms of SSE resolving customer complaints they tend to resolve about 80% of complaints by the next working day and reach about a 96% resolution rate by the 8 week mark.

Find out which other large UK suppliers are good with our Bulb vs British Gas comparison.

Octopus Energy customer service ratings

Trustpilot ratings rank Octopus at 4.8 out of 5 which is about the highest rated energy suppliers in the UK. The number of bad reviews left are 3% for Octopus compared to 13% for SSE. Our energy reviews put Octopus in the top 5 suppliers whilst SSE is just outside the top 20.

Ofgem official complaints show Octopus gets 565 complaints per 100,000 customers. Compared to the other large UK gas and electricity suppliers it is the lowest level of complaints by quite a margin. Although Octopus only gets around a quarter of the amount of complaints to SSE they are not as quick as SSE at resolving issues with 64% of issues being resolved by the end of the next working day.

By the 8 week mark they do resolve 93% of customer complaints which is slightly less than SSE's 96% although complaints to SSE are four times higher per 100,000 customers than Octopus.

Octopus Energy vs SSE: Green Energy

When it comes to renewable energy Octopus beats SSE hands down. Octopus offers 100% renewable energy as standard and has a tariff that offers 100% carbon offset gas. SSE does not offer wind, solar or hydro generated clean energy to its domestic customers as standard.

There is an option to upgrade to 100% renewable electricity via their Go Green upgrade at an additional cost of £3 a month but the only mention of this on their website is buried in their terms and conditions. It's almost as if they don't want to offer green energy which is strange as their are a major renewable energy generator of electricity.

Octopus Energy vs SSE: Conclusion

Octopus Energy is clearly the winner in a choice between the two energy suppliers. Octopus has cheaper prices, greener energy and better overall customer service.

See how well they do on green energy in our Ecotricity vs Octopus comparison.

SSE seems to have gone out of their way to make sure you never speak to them, it's almost as if they don't like their customers. I had no way of contacting them easily to clarify some points about their service. There is no webchat, no email and no telephone number unless you go through a series of not very straight forward interrogation.

The reason they give is that they say they are focussing their efforts on vulnerable customers and customers financial difficulty. Surely if Octopus manages to provide clear lines of communication for their customers then SSE can too.

The other issue I noted was that it took about twice as long to get a quote from SSE than it did to get a quote from Octopus. It's not a major issue but having to go through 5 or 6 screens of questions to get a price compared to a single screen of questions where I put in my postcode and kWh gas and electricity energy usage to get an accurate instant quote.