Posted 5 June 2022

Octopus Agile - 21p standing charge, electricity capped at 35p/kwh

octopus.energy/agile/

Thought I would post this having seen people signing up for tariffs in excess of 35p/kWh already with huge standing charges.

Note: this tariff requires you to have a v1 secure of v2 smart meter


Octopus Agile is a tariff that tracks wholesale electricity prices and regularly went close to or below 0p/kWh during lockdown. It is capped at 35p/kWh which at the time was seen as insanely expensive.

Fast forward a bit and most tariffs are at or exceed this price. Hence you may not pay more, and may pay less for electricity used when it is very windy/sunny or outside of peak hours.

This can be especially beneficial if you don't use much electricity as the standing charge is low.


Historical prices can be seen here

agileprices.co.uk

There are no exit charges so you can switch to any other Octopus tariff or another provider if they increase the cap.
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  1. alcurtis93's avatar
    It's up to 55p/kWh now with a fee of 12p per kWh when when use at peak times
  2. margamboy's avatar
    Is this cap voluntary or fixed, what guarantees do I have it will stay 35p, dont really want to be scrambling around in middle of winter to find another tariff if they decide to scrap the 35p cap.
    CynicalNurse's avatar
    Author
    Nothing guarantees but they have to give you 30 days notice of any price increases. You can switch to another tariff instantly on their website. So you might lose out versus a fix now if you then need to move onto a normal tariff. Coin toss really.
  3. ncd's avatar
    So basically, more for those that use most of their electricity at night (off peak)?
    CynicalNurse's avatar
    Author
    When the tariff was introduced that was the idea, 4-7pm were most expensive and usage out of that was cheaper. Now it is much more weather dependent, if there is high renewable generation the price drops, as well as smaller drops off peak.
  4. MrAlbert's avatar
    I'd be amazed if they didn't.
    CynicalNurse's avatar
    Author
    Their website says

    "Agile Octopus includes Price Cap Protect, which ensures you'll never pay more than 35p / kWh for your electricity, guaranteed."

    I wonder if they tried to raise prices and you are an existing customer you could pull them up on that. After all, it's not caveated in any way... "never" and "indefinitely" are very close in meaning.
  5. TristanDeCoonha's avatar
    It does go to show that the Smart Meter is used to monitor your precise usage, and as such, can be used to dictate a personal tariff and times of premium charge.
    Is it not Octopus that will allow free night time usage if the grid is producing more than can be used, as it would be uneconomical to shut down power producing plants?
    CynicalNurse's avatar
    Author
    Their Agile tariff tracks wholesale prices so in the past used to even pay people to use power when wholesale prices were low.

    Now electricity prices are much higher but they still offer Go which is 7.5p/kWh overnight to charge EVs etc.
  6. Pancake2021's avatar
    Currently 45.07p daily subscription charge. Do we also need to pay for standing charge too?
  7. gravy_davey's avatar
    Looks like it has a cap of 78p kWh which it has hit looking at energy-stats.uk

    Still thought provoking whether to try riding out the peaks and troughs.
  8. r4w80's avatar
    Website says up to 78p/kWh plus 45p standing charge. (edited)
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