Octopus Agile

TroubledTarts

debitcardmayhem said:

Looks like gas is not going to give us a breather this week, needs wind to take up the slack from the gas power plants.

More than just last week, ever since early Jan with gas nearly hotting 40% of all the nations electricity demand since then

Slinky

Looking at Agilepredict, it's only going to get much worse. No signs of it getting any better in the next fortnight.

TheElectricCow

Slinky said:

TheElectricCow said:

Slinky said:

I've bitten the bullet and asked to move onto Economy 7 from Agile. Should take a couple of weeks for the meter to be re-programmed to be dual rate, but that 7 hour charging window overnight at 13.52p is a better option for us than trying to find 3 cheap slots overnight to progamme the battery to. Our inverter limits us to 3 slots at a time. Should have done it weeks ago. On a grey day we can get by on the capacity of our battery.

Has anybody swapped from an Economy 7 setup to Agile? How long did that take to go the other way?

I had Octopus swap my single rate to E7, and then later eventually ended up switching to Agile - in both cases the actual switching was done same day with no issues, albeit on the switch to E7 it did take a few attempts to get through to someone at Octopus who both understood the request and was able to action the change. The process for switching to Agile is entirely automated if done online, so naturally doesn’t suffer from the same issues as when dealing with humans.

E7 uses two of the actual meter registers (the incrementing numbers that form the meter readings), while Agile is based on the 30 minute usage data stored separately in the meter, so the two essentially operate on different systems of readings which shouldn’t interfere with each other. While on Agile, my meter remains on the E7 profile and the two registers still continue to operate as normal, switching and recording usage separately at the normal E7 times.

Thanks for this useful info.

I'm presuming that having a two rate meter can make it difficult to get single rate quotes from other suppliers. I tried getting a quote from Tomato recently, and they thought we still had the two rate meter which was actually swapped out by EDF nearly 2 years ago.

That is a potential downside, yes, with it being a two rate meter on the database any online quotes specific to my property are now only based on E7. 

I did at one point also spend some time back on a single rate fix after having the profile switched, just by having both registers charged at the same rate (which Octopus were happy to do). From my discussions with them, they claimed it would be more difficult/complex to switch the meter profile back to single rate from E7 and were reluctant to do so, but they didn’t say it was impossible/outright refuse this as a potential option. 

If I was planning to switch suppliers and definitely didn’t want to stick with E7 I may pursue that further, as if the meter configuration needs messing with I like my chances more with Octopus doing it than another supplier, but I felt it would be best to avoid the unnecessary complication at the time without knowing for certain what tariff I may want to move onto in future.

northernstar007

Slinky said:

Looking at Agilepredict, it's only going to get much worse. No signs of it getting any better in the next fortnight.

my current offer for a 16 month fix is 23.49p, steep yes but that covers me till june next year, do i or do i not take the leap, someone HELP lol

EssexHebridean

That's me off onto the 16 month fix - unit rate just the tiniest fraction below SVR and the standing charge the same as we were paying on Agile. I'll continue to keep an eye on things and review with a view to jumping back if things improve further into the Spring. 

We've averaged out at 18p/kWh since October with a saving of 22% on the SVR since that time, so all in all I'm not too unhappy, and I would certainly be happy enough to go back to Agile again when things look right for us. Right now though, my plan is to go home and start cooking tea t whatever time suits me, might even stick a wash on....! 

northernstar007

EssexHebridean said:

That's me off onto the 16 month fix - unit rate just the tiniest fraction below SVR and the standing charge the same as we were paying on Agile. I'll continue to keep an eye on things and review with a view to jumping back if things improve further into the Spring. 

your pushing me to do the same tonight, got to pop out in sec and see what other replies are and then maybe enough to push me over the edge
also my gas fix 5.52p has been a blessing thats saved a few bob to cover the high agile prices

MikeyPGT

EssexHebridean said:

That's me off onto the 16 month fix - unit rate just the tiniest fraction below SVR and the standing charge the same as we were paying on Agile. I'll continue to keep an eye on things and review with a view to jumping back if things improve further into the Spring. 

We've averaged out at 18p/kWh since October with a saving of 22% on the SVR since that time, so all in all I'm not too unhappy, and I would certainly be happy enough to go back to Agile again when things look right for us. Right now though, my plan is to go home and start cooking tea t whatever time suits me, might even stick a wash on....! 

I'm making the most of the last 5 days of a 52p standing charge - that extra 12p a day is going to make a big difference when I'm usually still averaging around the £1.00 - £1.20 a day on average including SC!  I'll probably just go with Flexible Octopus - the tiny difference with the rates isn't worth the bother.

teaselMay

I think I'll be bailing too, I looked back through the weekly bills since last summer and they're pretty consistent even lately, but that's only because I've reduced my usage because it's become so much more expensive. As my usage wasn't high in the first place I'd prefer to pay the same and not worry about it for a bit. I'm just waiting for my most recent payment to clear in case they bill early when I change as only £30 credit in my account and this months electricity will be £37

QrizB

TheElectricCow said:

Slinky said:

TheElectricCow said:

Slinky said:

Has anybody swapped from an Economy 7 setup to Agile? How long did that take to go the other way?

I had Octopus swap my single rate to E7, and then later eventually ended up switching to Agile -

I'm presuming that having a two rate meter can make it difficult to get single rate quotes from other suppliers. I tried getting a quote from Tomato recently, and they thought we still had the two rate meter which was actually swapped out by EDF nearly 2 years ago.

That is a potential downside, yes, with it being a two rate meter on the database any online quotes specific to my property are now only based on E7. 

I did at one point also spend some time back on a single rate fix after having the profile switched, just by having both registers charged at the same rate (which Octopus were happy to do). From my discussions with them, they claimed it would be more difficult/complex to switch the meter profile back to single rate from E7 and were reluctant to do so, but they didn’t say it was impossible/outright refuse this as a potential option.

All "smart" smart meters - which means all the ones reporting 30-minute data for Agile - can be switched between single rate, E7, E10 and more complicated tariffs (up to four different TOU rates) remotely by the supplier. It's as simple as sending a new set of settings via the DCC.

northernstar007

ive tried to change my electric agile to the fix but wont let me online, i'm getting this

Your electricity tariff isn't up for renewal yet. Come back closer to your tariff end date.

Good to know: Your current tariff is agreed until 26th September 2025

lets see if someone from octopus is on twitter tonight