Benefits and Risks of the Agile Tariff

Posted on
Sun Oct 25, 2020 6:03 am
neilk offline
Posts: 714
Joined: Jul 13, 2015
Location: Reading, UK

Benefits and Risks of the Agile Tariff

Hi all,

I am now a few months in with Octopus Agile and the smart meter. My use case is domestic use with a relatively high base load (too many gadgets and a reasonably large house) and includes EV charging, albeit with massively reduce mileage. It is difficult to infer a "steady state" view here as we have of course been in the home more (less holidays, working from home, less socialising etc) but I have seen the following :-

- My bill from August to Sept shows an actual average rate of 10.01p per kWh, October will be worse as we had high wholesale rates as supply was constrained (almost no wind for a long period and unplanned downtime of capacity). Prior to the switch was over 15p

- I do not slavishly follow the rates, I use the Ohme charger to manage car charging. I messed up as I charged my car Friday night, when last night we had the longest negative period from midnight through 5 am, with a bonus hour as well. I could well have been paid significantly more than the 50p I was if the battery wasn't 90% full. You are taking the risk with the wholesale prices, and peak rates can be high up to the 35p cap.

- Combined with the Glow IHD/CAD that works with any smart meter and provider we have become more energy away, and carbon impact aware (for me more important the the pennies) as low rates combine with low carbon impact

- Agile is a beta service, billing is incredibly detailed but can be delayed if just one 30 minute period was not reported. The fix seems to be manual (if not by subscriber, certainly to a batch of them)

- The customer support is excellent, and the senior management engage in the forums and step in with issues.

It may not be for everyone, but certainly positive for me and making a financial benefit. Just don't drive yourself insane trying to squeeze every penny of savings.

If you do switch then consider using my referral code http://share.octopus.energy/cute-peak-364 that will allow us to share a £100 credit. Thanks to those that have, the last batch bought extra gifts for children undergoing Oncology treatment at the Royal Berkshire hospital, as we have now completed the refurbishment of the cancer suites.

Really interested in other peoples views or experiences, or indeed requests for the plugin.

Neil

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