Moving from Powershop to Octopus Agile. Any comments on Agile?

MRB

Hi folks!
I've got a self-catering in northern Scotland. When I first got it in 2017 the electricity only 2 bed house cost around £3k in the first year due to old storage heaters, a crappy immerser and various other issues.
I've since upgraded everything and got rid of storage which is frankly worthless these days, and I also left Ovo to go to Powershop. I found PS to work really well for me, and with the combined technology advances in the house and their Top Shopper rates, I shaved over £1500 off my annual bill. Because the house has a hot tub which is on 24/7, I use a lot of energy in spikes during the wee hours. Because of that, I've looked at Agile and I've painstakingly compared every day since 13th of January 2020 (which was when my SMETS2 got installed) until today. For the most part, I seem to be making an overall saving with Agile, even if the odd day here and there is more expensive on a like for like basis. I've got the potential to knock another £500 off my bills.

Before I make the leap, as PS have been excellent throughout to me, I want to make sure I'm making the right choice, and money isn't always the leader if what you're paying is getting you top quality service as well.

Has anyone got any bad experiences of Agile or anything to be wary of? I've noted the peak hours are up into the mid 30ppkwh but even then, the off-peak and small hours balances it out. Because I've installed smart ceramic radiators which are app controlled, my plan is to heat the house up until peak starts and then kill the heating, which should carry through for the few hours the tariff spikes.

Thoughts?

Cheers!

MWT

As long as you minimize your use in the 4-7pm period it is a great tariff.

I've saved a lot by moving onto Agile, even though we still use electricity for cooking in the peak period.

Everyone is different though and this is a tariff that suits those who can make good use of the cheap times of day.

UnclaimedEnergy

If you have any historical HH data then it would be worth comparing it to the historical octopus agile rates and seeing how much it could have cost you compared to powershop: https://www.energy-stats.uk/download-historical-pricing-data/

For North Scotland in 2020, the average unit rate has been 9.41kWh and it's only gone over 30p/kWh in 58 HH out of a possible 12,860.

It's worth keeping in mind that we've had ridiculously low wholesale costs throughout the year which may not continue for 2020 (it's already back on the rise).

For the most part though, if you keep an eye on when the prices are high and avoid using during those times as much as possible, you should be able to save a lot of money.

tlcgrantham

Points to bear in mind. 

1. Powershop is currently at or near the top of which price comparison.
2. As you know Power packs are more heavily discounted in winter so electricity is cheaper in winter.
3. You probably have a good reserve of winter future packs which would enable you to easily beat Top Shopper prices when combined with above.

[Deleted User]

Worth a read:

https://octopus.energy/blog/wholesale-price-watch/

Agile prices have risen over the past month or so. If you want cheap electricity then changes to usage patterns are necessary ( the whole family needs to buy in to Agile) eg, avoid the 4 to 7pm (8pm in the past 10 days) period; and put the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer on in the early hours when prices are cheapest, and take note of the daily changing prices.

Gerry1

Dolor said:

put the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer on in the early hours when prices are cheapest

Put new batteries in the smoke alarms, put the Fire Brigade on speed dial !