Octopus - Pay you to use electricity

[Deleted User]

Well Octopus Energy are launching a new tariff which tracks the wholesale market and they may even pay you to use electricity when the wholesale price is negative. There is a price limit of 35p per kWh for when the energy prices are high in peak times.
And of course you need a smart meter.

Octopus Energy’s new Agile tariff tracks wholesale electricity prices, allowing customers to take advantage if there is an excess of supply and the electricity price “goes negative”.
Across Britain, whenever more electricity is generated than consumed, wholesale prices fall – sometimes to below zero – at which point suppliers are paid to take energy off the grid.
Greg Jackson, founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy, said: “This tariff is groundbreaking. By reflecting the real cost of energy on the grid every half-hour, customers can capitalise on times when prices are especially low. Indeed, if the wholesale price goes below 0p/kWh, Octopus Agile will actually pay you to take the unwanted energy from the grid. As renewable energy production grows, these events are only going to become more frequent.”
The company said most customers will benefit as the wholesale cost is below the standard price 80% of the time. It only expects prices to be at the maximum for 0.1% of the time.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/feb/22/energy-company-promises-to-pay-customer-to-use-electricity

dogshome

This is what I've always guessed 'Smart' meters were all about - Forget the blandishments of Accurate Bills and Real Time cost readings on your remote reader - The name of the game is to charge for energy according to the time of day it's used.

Cook your evening meal in early evening along with everyone else, and it's going to cost.
Getting the family out of bed at 2am to feed them roast beef and yorky pud, will cost less

System

And Octopus is insisting on 30 minute smart meter readings. Reconciling the subsequent bill will help people stay awake whilst they are waiting for their 2am roast.

blueacid

dogshome wrote: »

This is what I've always guessed 'Smart' meters were all about - Forget the blandishments of Accurate Bills and Real Time cost readings on your remote reader - The name of the game is to charge for energy according to the time of day it's used.

Cook your evening meal in early evening along with everyone else, and it's going to cost.
Getting the family out of bed at 2am to feed them roast beef and yorky pud, will cost less

Hengus wrote: »

And Octopus is insisting on 30 minute smart meter readings. Reconciling the subsequent bill will help people stay awake whilst they are waiting for their 2am roast.

Except the paradigm of power being cheap overnight is ebbing away. It's mostly expensive 4pm-7pm, but in the daytime it can sometimes drop lower than nighttime - with the increase in renewables this could become more pronounced.

I presume this tariff would be ideal for situations where you don't really care when some loads are run - eg, if you've got electric heating of the water in your hot water tank, or if you don't mind running the washer/dryer on a timer.

Weekend wholesale prices are typically lower than weekday; your Sunday roasts aren't as at risk as you might think!

rtho782

With something like a tesla powerwall, or an EV like the new Leaf with V2G capabilities, this could be an excellent tarriff.

Assuming their prices are available via some sort of API, so that you can use a microcontroller to control charge/discharge of the powerwall.

System

rtho782 wrote: »

With something like a tesla powerwall, or an EV like the new Leaf with V2G capabilities, this could be an excellent tarriff.

Assuming their prices are available via some sort of API, so that you can use a microcontroller to control charge/discharge of the powerwall.

Sadly, not for the Leaf V2G as Nissan is partnering with Ovo Energy.

[Deleted User]

rtho782 wrote: »

Assuming their prices are available via some sort of API, so that you can use a microcontroller to control charge/discharge of the powerwall.

Prices to be released daily at 4pm for the coming 24 hours via text, email or online account.
Also really unlikely to get paid for usage as MSE news article says

Over the last year though, this has only happened four times - for a combined total of two hours overnight. The lowest rate also hit a mere -0.3p/kWh

Contrast that with 35p kWh capped rate which indicates that peak pricing does get high and if you manage to save any money over a standard Octopus tariff, I would be amazed.

Consumerist

gsmlnx wrote: »

. . . And of course you need a smart meter.

What will the energy suppliers think of next to offload stocks of SMETS 1 (semi) smart meters?

Staceymcalpine

I have just joined octopus energy moving from Scottish power as they claimed I would save £30 monthly. They told me to cancel my bill with Scottish power as they would owe me money but I didn't so I paid 2 direct debits in one month. When I gave my metwr reading they changed it stating that this was easier for the transition but then instill eneded up with a £40 bill from Scottish power based on the amended reading and octopus have also increased my billing by £35 making them £6 per month more expensive than soctish power. Has anyone else experienced this? I do not have a smart meter.