Octopus Energy vs Scottish Power (2024 Comparison)

Lasted Updated: 10th October 2024

In this article we will compare energy suppliers, Octopus Energy vs Scottish Power, to see who offers the best all-round deal to their customers.

We look at the price, tariffs, how their customers rate them, their green credentials and more to see how they measure up where it matters:

Who is Scottish Power?

Based in Scotland but owned by Spanish utility company Iberdrola, Scottish Power are one of the UK’s big six energy suppliers. They have over 5 million customers, and that must mean they are doing something right.

However, they do not cover the whole of the UK. Only customers in Central and Southern Scotland, Merseyside, North Wales, and certain parts of Cheshire and Shropshire can choose Scottish Power as their energy provider.

Who are Octopus Energy?

Although not one of the UK’s biggest suppliers, Octopus Energy now also has around 5 million customers, considering they have only been around since 2016, which is pretty impressive.

It invests heavily in renewable energy and focuses on supplying its customers with renewable energy at a fair price.

Octopus has also taken on customers of suppliers that have recently collapsed, including Bulb, Avro Energy, Engie, Flow Energy, GB Energy Supply, Gen4U and Iresa.

Octopus Energy vs Scottish Power: What’s the difference in price?

We compared these two suppliers with a head-to-head comparison to see who offers the best value for money across all tariffs. For each comparison, we used the following details:

• Dual Fuel supply
• Standard Meter
• Medium usage (3-bedroom house with four occupants)
• 2,900 kWh of electricity and 12,000 kWh of gas
• Postcode in East Midlands

Let’s see if Octopus Energy is cheaper than Scottish Power or vice versa.

Here is how they measured up:

Scottish Power

Scottish Power offered us two tariffs on their website. It also states that others are available through other websites:

Octopus

We consulted the Octopus Energy website to obtain a quote. We used the same options to get a price from Octopus Energy.

Here are the prices they offered:

Octopus vs Scottish Power: What’s the difference in tariff options?

Here, we compare the tariffs which Octopus and Scottish Power offer their newest customers.

Firstly, let us look at Scottish Power’s options:

Scottish Power

Octopus

At this time, Octopus is just offering three tariffs:

Octopus vs Scottish Power: Who offers the greenest energy?

Renewable energy and being sustainable are integral to the tariffs these two energy suppliers offer. We compared their green credentials to see where they really stand on green energy:

Scottish Power

Scottish Power only generates renewable electricity, which their own UK-based wind farms make. So, although they are rightly proud that they generate 100% of their green energy, they do not need to rely on the purchase of REGO certificates to meet their demand for green electricity.

In 2019 they announced they are the UK’s first supplier to generate 100% green energy.

Octopus

While Scottish Power is indeed incredibly Green, Octopus is also contributing a lot to renewable energy generation. They generate 40% of the UK’s demand for green electricity using their own wind farms.

On their Super green tariff, they also offset 100% of the carbon emissions generated through their partnership with RenewableWorld to back sustainability projects around the world.

Octopus Energy vs Scottish Power: Who has better customer reviews?

We checked out how both Octopus Energy and Scottish Power measure up on Trustpilot to see how their customers rate their supply and the interactions they have with each energy supplier.

We choose Trustpilot reviews as it’s the most popular review platform that gives a complete picture of how real customers view organisations.

Here is what we found:

• Scottish Power scores 4.3 out of 5 based on over 88,000 reviews (source)
• Octopus score 4.8 out of 5 based on over 400,000 reviews (source)

18% of Scottish Power customers gave them a bad rating on Trustpilot. From reading the reviews, when a customer has a problem with their supply, their switch or makes a complaint, it takes far too long to resolve.

In fact, when they receive a 5-star review it’s to compliment an advisor that has gone above and beyond and not Scottish Powers Service which seems to be poor according to their customers using Trustpilot.

Octopus come off much better when being reviewed by their customers. With 89% of their customers giving them a 5-star excellent rating. Most customers state they always receive friendly service, and their queries are quickly resolved.

Both companies respond to customer reviews, both good and bad.

Who has the better website and app?

We reviewed both supplier’s websites to see how they compared:

Scottish Power’s website allows customers to submit meter readings, view their bills and make payments. There is also a live chat feature.

There is a lot of information on the Scottish Powers website, however, finding what you want isn’t simple and a search feature would help here.

Scottish Power also has an app that their customers can use to manage their account. It has an App Store rating of 4.8 out of 5 which is quite impressive.

By comparison, Octopus Energy has an easy-to-navigate website. You can log in as a customer and submit meter readings, check your bill and update your information.

Octopus also have an app which can be downloaded and allows customers to manage their account. It has a similar score, although slightly higher, of 4.8 out of 5.

Octopus vs Scottish Power: Who has the better customer service?

On the Citizens Advice website, you can review how energy suppliers perform in key areas that impact the level of customer satisfaction and their customer’s experience.

We believe they offer an unbiased view based purely on facts directly obtained from Ofgem and the suppliers.

Who has fewer complaints?

We look at the complaint data for both companies. Both companies publish complaints data on their own websites for the latest quarter. We have summarised the data in the below table. This is for Q2 2024:

Octopus Energy vs Scottish Power: What are the main differences between the two?

We’ve compared both suppliers in detail across various key areas. Here’s a summary of how they each performed:

Is Octopus Energy better than Scottish Power?

When comparing these two head-to-head, Octopus is the clear winner. They offer great value for money, greener energy, and they keep their customers happy.