Smart Electricity Meters

[Tobes]

That’s a wide range, what is required to take advantage of the two lower priced tariffs. Are they geared to having solar and or battery storage. Otherwise why would anyone choose the more expensive tariffs.

Inteligent Go is only available to EV drivers with certain cars or chargers.

Use the menu to click on "Tariffs at a glance" for an overview of the tariffs available.

Agile is open to anyone, but exposes you to 30 minute variable market rate pricing . If you have some way of load shifting away from the peak price times (16:00 to 20:00 - @GUMPY will correct me) then you can take advantage of very low and even negative costs where you are paid to use electricity.

Tracker is open to anyone, has a moving daily price, and can save you lots - that is seriously worth exploring.

Octopus Cozy is a time of day tariff designed for heat pumps. My time of day usage is totally off line with that tariff so it looks very expensive.

There is a dedicated tariff for battery owners - Flux - which also is focused on time shifting.

 

[GUMPY]

Inteligent Go is only available to EV drivers with certain cars or chargers.

Use the menu to click on "Tariffs at a glance" for an overview of the tariffs available.

Agile is open to anyone, but exposes you to 30 minute variable market rate pricing . If you have some way of load shifting away from the peak price times (16:00 to 20:00 - @GUMPY will correct me) then you can take advantage of very low and even negative costs where you are paid to use electricity.

Tracker is open to anyone, has a moving daily price, and can save you lots - that is seriously worth exploring.

Octopus Cozy is a time of day tariff designed for heat pumps. My time of day usage is totally off line with that tariff so it looks very expensive.

There is a dedicated tariff for battery owners - Flux - which also is focused on time shifting.

1600-2000 is worst case scenario normally 1700 to 1900 is the real peak rate on Agile.
Flux is ok if you don't want to bother playing the Agile game but cost me more last winter so this year I am staying on Agile.
Tracker is good but you do have the risk that prices can go up above the fixed rate. I was on Tracker for gas but I have a twitchy feeling that prices are going to rise above the present fixed level and Fixed rates will be going up or being withdrawn as well so I fixed last Monday.
With the tariffs available it's all about playing the game to get the best results, cheapest prices.
Keeps my brain active looking at the permutations that are possible.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I'm with Octopus but can't get a Smart Meter as no coverage on my area. About 5km down the road they can get a Smart Meter but it acts dumb. A couple more km further on they work as they should.

The. DDC network needs improving since a lot of people are losing out with not being able to access Smart Tariffs.

Maybe as time goes on they'll think about WiFi enabled meters although I'd be a little wary because of security issues.

 

[Tobes]

1600-2000 is worst case scenario normally 1700 to 1900 is the real peak rate on Agile.
Flux is ok if you don't want to bother playing the Agile game but cost me more last winter so this year I am staying on Agile.
Tracker is good but you do have the risk that prices can go up above the fixed rate. I was on Tracker for gas but I have a twitchy feeling that prices are going to rise above the present fixed level and Fixed rates will be going up or being withdrawn as well so I fixed last Monday.
With the tariffs available it's all about playing the game to get the best results, cheapest prices.
Keeps my brain active looking at the permutations that are possible.

I am on the gas tracker, and am sticking for now, esp as the cap jumped to 6p. I might regret it in about 2 months

 

[Buckman]

Octopus fixed tariffs have no change penalty - it's worth looking into.
To use - open the page via the link in Chrome or Firefox (Safari does not seem to work).
Click on the three lines at the top right to open the menu
Click on "compare tariffs" option. - this will take you to the "fill in the user" page.
Click on "fill in" and it will open a form.
Open a new window and log into your Octopus account.
Click on "menu - my account".
Under the "Hi xxx" at the top left is your account number - put this in the account number box.
Clicl on "personal details" and scroll down until you see "developer settings" and click "API Access" click on the "API Key" and it will copy to the clipboard, paste this into the API key box in the app.
Submit this data.
You should see your current tariff and the cheapest tariffs you can have access to.
Clicking on the menu and "dashboard" should give you all the information on your account.

Brilliant as your description made it a lot easier. Tracker and Agile seem to offer better rates than our current tariff, but I cannot find an explanation why it is better or whether it is a fixed rate or not bearing in mind we have a heat pump? Tracker is the lowest of all the options, but I do understand it can be volatile.

 

[Buckman]

1600-2000 is worst case scenario normally 1700 to 1900 is the real peak rate on Agile.
Flux is ok if you don't want to bother playing the Agile game but cost me more last winter so this year I am staying on Agile.
Tracker is good but you do have the risk that prices can go up above the fixed rate. I was on Tracker for gas but I have a twitchy feeling that prices are going to rise above the present fixed level and Fixed rates will be going up or being withdrawn as well so I fixed last Monday.
With the tariffs available it's all about playing the game to get the best results, cheapest prices.
Keeps my brain active looking at the permutations that are possible.

We looked at Cozy, but it did not seem to suit us. With our heat pump we have heating from 5am until 9am and then again from 4pm until 10pm. Sometimes at midday if it is a very cool day, we have it running from about 12pm - 2pm.

 

[Tobes]

Brilliant as your description made it a lot easier. Tracker and Agile seem to offer better rates than our current tariff, but I cannot find an explanation why it is better or whether it is a fixed rate or not bearing in mind we have a heat pump? Tracker is the lowest of all the options, but I do understand it can be volatile.

Tracker and Agile are both variable rate tariffs. Agile is VERY volatile and changes every 30 mins. Tracker is stabilised day by day based on the weather and predicted wholesale costs. Windy days are cheaper than still days.

Both give the opportunity to save a lot of money (if you stay away from expensive times) but _can_ end up more than a fixed rate. Playing with the "tariff Hopping" feature and selecting your current tariff vs tracker or agile can show you how it varies across the year.

 

[Buckman]

Tracker and Agile are both variable rate tariffs. Agile is VERY volatile and changes every 30 mins. Tracker is stabilised day by day based on the weather and predicted wholesale costs. Windy days are cheaper than still days.

Both give the opportunity to save a lot of money (if you stay away from expensive times) but _can_ end up more than a fixed rate. Playing with the "tariff Hopping" feature and selecting your current tariff vs tracker or agile can show you how it varies across the year.

Thanks. Think I will stick with the fixed rates for now and monitor it over the next few days. At present it si showing Agile as over .40p a kwh, but this morning it was down to just under 12p per kwh.

 

[GUMPY]

Agile works for me as I have a reasonable sized 11.6kW battery which means if there are no decent rates I can survive without the grid for 24hrs.
To make it work I have to watch various sites that predict ahead what's coming up rate wise with confirmation from octopus at 4pm the day before.
An example of the volatility over the coming 48 hrs

As you can see there is a peak now of about 37p and a peak tomorrow about the same time of 41p. Conversely at 3am tomorrow morning there is a dip to about 6p but Friday early morning is predicted to be 13p, that shows how volatile it all can be.

Swapping tariffs is simple I just send octopus a direct message on Twitter/X and it's actioned within an hour and we get email confirmation.
One thing to be aware of is that the cost of a smart tariff is subject to an algorithm, which means that for example a tariff taken out last year might not be paying the same price as one taken out this year despite them both having the same name.

 

[Tobes]

Thanks. Think I will stick with the fixed rates for now and monitor it over the next few days. At present it si showing Agile as over .40p a kwh, but this morning it was down to just under 12p per kwh.

Agile is _always_ expensive between 5pm and 7pm, artificially so. It's the peak period and Octopus add a cost boost to it in that time period. If you can avoid that period its can be much cheaper.

Tracker is the tariff I would be looking at. It has no peak period loading, but more closely follows the base price.

Clicking on the menu and "tariff hopping" and then setting tariff 1) to your fixed tariff and tariff 2) to tracker will give you an idea of what it may be like over winter.

If the dotted line (tracker) goes above the green line (your tariff) then for the historical data, it was more expensive on tracker in that period.

 

[Tobes]

Wow 1133.4 kWh for a month, for a full year I only import 3200 kWh maximum, however I export 3000 kWh.

There are between 3 and 6 of us here though, depending on the day of the week! But yes - its a lot!

We generate about 2.4MWh a year (average 200kWh a month) , and use basically all of it!

Towcestertoaster 3.120kW | Yearly

PVOutput.org - share, compare and monitor live solar photovoltaic output data

pvoutput.org

 

[Buckman]

Agile is _always_ expensive between 5pm and 7pm, artificially so. It's the peak period and Octopus add a cost boost to it in that time period. If you can avoid that period its can be much cheaper.

Tracker is the tariff I would be looking at. It has no peak period loading, but more closely follows the base price.

Clicking on the menu and "tariff hopping" and then setting tariff 1) to your fixed tariff and tariff 2) to tracker will give you an idea of what it may be like over winter.

If the dotted line (tracker) goes above the green line (your tariff) then for the historical data, it was more expensive on tracker in that period.

When I did the form as per your link for the past year, it showed Tracker as the cheapest followed by Agile, then Variable, Cozy and fixed. The latter being the most expensive.

The heat pump heating is off between 10pm and 6am, but hot water heating is on between 3am and 5am. Home heating is on between 6am and 9am and generally off for the rest of the day as we have a gas heater for a quick top up if it gets too cool around midday, but last year if we used it several times it would have been a lot.

Between 4pm and 6pm, the heating comes on, food is cooked and shower is used. Generally we use the air fryer and microwave for cooking. Can't get around the food issue, but maybe the heat pump heating can be brought forward to 3pm for initial burst and then after that it is switching in and out.

Now that we have lost the winter fuel allowance, we will need to be careful about our consumption and anyway that we can cut back without compromising our health needs to be investigated. Arthritis and cold do not like one another!

 

[Buckman]

Swapping tariffs is simple I just send octopus a direct message on Twitter/X and it's actioned within an hour and we get email confirmation.

Shame that Octopus penalise you if you are not on Twitter / X. Apparently if you are already an Octopus customer it can take 2 weeks to switch tariffs from i.e. fixed to Agile.

 

[Hutch]

Shame that Octopus penalise you if you are not on Twitter / X. Apparently if you are already an Octopus customer it can take 2 weeks to switch tariffs from i.e. fixed to Agile.

I have been with Octopus for several years now. I switched from Standard tariff to 1 year fixed, last month, using my normal account, It took 24 hours to switch tariff. Smart meter with economy 7. Octopus do not penalise your for not being on X.

 

[Tobes]

Shame that Octopus penalise you if you are not on Twitter / X. Apparently if you are already an Octopus customer it can take 2 weeks to switch tariffs from i.e. fixed to Agile.

If they have solid meter readings from you it should be quick. I would be focussing on Tracker rather than Agile - it takes all of the time of day issues out of the equation.

From the octopus website, click on the menu, then scroll down to "All our smart tariffs". You can do the quck quiz for recommendations or scroll down and click on "Tracker" for more information.

 

[GUMPY]

Shame that Octopus penalise you if you are not on Twitter / X. Apparently if you are already an Octopus customer it can take 2 weeks to switch tariffs from i.e. fixed to Agile.

They don't, I just find it the quickest way to get answers. I have used the app and email as well. I don't use the phone as I hate speaking to people.

 

[otherclive]

They don't, I just find it the quickest way to get answers. I have used the app and email as well. I don't use the phone as I hate speaking to people.

These days you are lucky to actually speak to anyone without an interminable wait whilst listening to rubbish music, and being told to try the website or chat lines.

 

[Buckman]

If they have solid meter readings from you it should be quick. I would be focussing on Tracker rather than Agile - it takes all of the time of day issues out of the equation.

From the octopus website, click on the menu, then scroll down to "All our smart tariffs". You can do the quck quiz for recommendations or scroll down and click on "Tracker" for more information.

Unfortunately when I do that and select Heat pump the only option coming up is Cozy. The Tracker is about 4p cheaper than our current tariff so not sure if it is worth changing as price can go up or down?

How strangely even if I wanted to change to another tariff, no option comes up? I simply get taken to the FAQ page. Horrible website to navigate around and app is not much better, but it is probably me.

 

[Tobes]

Unfortunately when I do that and select Heat pump the only option coming up is Cozy. The Tracker is about 4p cheaper than our current tariff so not sure if it is worth changing as price can go up or down?

How strangely even if I wanted to change to another tariff, no option comes up? I simply get taken to the FAQ page. Horrible website to navigate around and app is not much better, but it is probably me.

The quiz will home in on cozy as it thinks it will help you the most (it designed for heat pump). You can ignore it, scroll down to tracker on the smart tariffs page and go from there.

The octoprice tool shows you the current and historical tracker price (top menu option).

If you can - also look at the tariff hopping output - select your fixed tariff and the tracker tariff and post the graph here - You are looking to see if tracker was lower or higher price in winter. The winter tracker price is not a so different to summer - more wind means less gas, which is the expensive bit to run.

 

[Buckman]

The quiz will home in on cozy as it thinks it will help you the most (it designed for heat pump). You can ignore it, scroll down to tracker on the smart tariffs page and go from there.

The octoprice tool shows you the current and historical tracker price (top menu option).

If you can - also look at the tariff hopping output - select your fixed tariff and the tracker tariff and post the graph here - You are looking to see if tracker was lower or higher price in winter. The winter tracker price is not a so different to summer - more wind means less gas, which is the expensive bit to run.

I have tried looking for historical tracker data for last winter, but the link eludes me and I can only see data for today and a possible tomorrow. Same with Agile.

Viewing our consumption patterns over the past week Tracker seems the option. Yesterday Agile was showing up as the cheapest option followed by Tracker. Today it seems Tracker is the cheaper option?

If we were on Agile we will only have two peak periods which will be between 4pm and 5pm when we cook and those two are in the lower bracket of the peak period era. Most of the day we seem to be well below our current 28p.

 

[Buckman]

I started the switch to Tracker and was advised of an exit fee of £75. Looking at my most recent bill, it states;

Could you pay less?
Remember - it might be worth thinking
about switching your tariff or supplier.
For your electricity (on meter point )
You could save £231.11 a year by switching
to Octopus 15M Fixed, which is more than
the early exit fee of £75.00 per fuel on
your current tariff. Alternatively, you could
save £330.20 a year by switching to
Flexible Octopus, which is more than the
early exit fee of £75.00 per fuel on your
current tariff. It may involve changing how
you pay, your meter setup, or different
terms. Contact our team to find out more.
You may save a few pounds by switching to
Smart Pay-As-You-Go. Contact our team to
see if this would suit your circumstances.

 

[otherclive]

I started the switch to Tracker and was advised of an exit fee of £75. Looking at my most recent bill, it states;

Could you pay less?
Remember - it might be worth thinking
about switching your tariff or supplier.
For your electricity (on meter point 1410087512000)
You could save £231.11 a year by switching
to Octopus 15M Fixed, which is more than
the early exit fee of £75.00 per fuel on
your current tariff. Alternatively, you could
save £330.20 a year by switching to
Flexible Octopus, which is more than the
early exit fee of £75.00 per fuel on your
current tariff. It may involve changing how
you pay, your meter setup, or different
terms. Contact our team to find out more.
You may save a few pounds by switching to
Smart Pay-As-You-Go. Contact our team to
see if this would suit your circumstances.

Are you with Octopus at present or another company?

 

[Buckman]

Are you with Octopus at present or another company?

We are already with Octopus.

 

[Tobes]

I have tried looking for historical tracker data for last winter, but the link eludes me and I can only see data for today and a possible tomorrow. Same with Agile.

Viewing our consumption patterns over the past week Tracker seems the option. Yesterday Agile was showing up as the cheapest option followed by Tracker. Today it seems Tracker is the cheaper option?

If we were on Agile we will only have two peak periods which will be between 4pm and 5pm when we cook and those two are in the lower bracket of the peak period era. Most of the day we seem to be well below our current 28p.

Tracker historical data is in the Octoprice app, under Tracker Price (top menu option) Then scroll down on that page.

The fixed term exit fee for octopus is a new one on me. I was not aware they charged one. That might be worth a conversation with a support person.

 

[Buckman]

Tracker historical data is in the Octoprice app, under Tracker Price (top menu option) Then scroll down on that page.

The fixed term exit fee for octopus is a new one on me. I was not aware they charged one. That might be worth a conversation with a support person.

I would like to thank you for all your input which has been very valuable to me and maybe others?