Octopus Agile

brook_heather

If you use the Android Bright app they have now added the option to set the tarriff - either to a fixed cost or to a dynamic tarriff - they are currently just supporting Agile tarriffs but I am hoping they also add Tracker soon.  The app also shows the historical tarriffs - mine was last updated a year ago from the DCC - when I first went on Tracker my smart meter and IHD were updating daily but that stopped after a few months and hasn't updated since last summer.

la531983

Spies said:

There should be decent prices early hours of Sunday. 

Almost right - it's going to be cheaper early afternoon if the early indications today are anything to go by. Some 0p hourly auction pricing has occurred. 

mmmmikey

la531983 said:

Spies said:

There should be decent prices early hours of Sunday. 

Almost right - it's going to be cheaper early afternoon if the early indications today are anything to go by. Some 0p hourly auction pricing has occurred. 

Octopus Watch now predicting bargain basement prices for most of tomorrow - the luxury of soft, tumble dried towels awaits

la531983

Spies said:

There should be decent prices early hours of Sunday. 

Almost right - it's going to be cheaper early afternoon if the early indications today are anything to go by. Some 0p hourly auction pricing has occurred. 

Netexporter

[Deleted User] said:

Netexporter said:

Thank you. Just have to wait for the postie, now.

You might have a long wait!

I hope it isn't as long as the wait for my smart meter. Cephalopods don't seem to like Mid-Wales. No hope of solar or heat-pump from Octopus, in the foreseeable future, either.

mmmmikey

brook_heather said:

If you use the Android Bright app they have now added the option to set the tarriff - either to a fixed cost or to a dynamic tarriff - they are currently just supporting Agile tarriffs but I am hoping they also add Tracker soon.  The app also shows the historical tarriffs - mine was last updated a year ago from the DCC - when I first went on Tracker my smart meter and IHD were updating daily but that stopped after a few months and hasn't updated since last summer.

Good to know, thanks, will have a look later.

My own "home-made" tariff monitoring software is nearing completion, I just need to add some more error handling and make some efficiency impovements. The E7 comparisons would also benefit from some work to make them more meaningful. What I'm seing for E7 is what I would have paid for the same pattern of use as Agile, but in reality if I was on E7 the pattern would be different (e.g. I always heat water when it's cheapest which is sometimes in the afternoon for Agile, whereas with E7 I'd heat the water overnight).

I've got to the stage where I can see my most recent day's Agile cost (total for the day including standing charges and an average p/kWh) together with rolling 7 & 28 day average costs alongside what I would have paid for Tracker, SVR-standard or SVR-E7. The data is presented in a Home Assistant dashboard which works wherever I have an internet connection - web browser, smart phone, etc. All fully automated using the Octopus API to get the tariff and consumption data without a spreadsheet or manual input involved, and now the data is in Home Assistant I can configure an alert to pop up on my smart phone that tells me if/when one of the comparison tariffs would have been cheaper.

My thinking is that trying to predict future pricing anything other than a day or so ahead is a bit hit-and-miss at the moment (to put it mildly), so the best thing for me to do is just to automatically check that I'm on the cheapest tariff at the moment and trigger an alert if not. It doesn't mean I'll necessarily change tariff but it will prompt me to review. At the moment, Agile is a small but worthwhile amount better for me than Tracker and there's clear, blue water between Agile/Tracker and anything else. But who knows how long this will last?

Once this has been up and running long enough for me to iron out any bugs, I'll add the ability to monitor other suppliers' tariffs and to get the consumption data from n3rgy instead of Octopus. No reason for me to switch away from Octopus at the moment and even if another supplier proved a bit cheaper I'd probably stick with Octopus for the innovation, customer service and such like. But I would still prefer a vendor independent solution that gives me the flexibility to move if I chose.

Netexporter

No rates for tomorrow, yet.

Spies

Strange they're so delayed

Pat38493

Spies said:

Strange they're so delayed

I know this is going to sound crazy, but knowing working in large companies, I would hazard a guess that the person who normally approves the daily release of the Agile rates is on holiday and the backup person is not so strict with daily timekeeping.

Netexporter

But I need to know whether to go for a blat round the mountains to make some room in the car battery. It's not so much fun in the dark.