Octopus Agile

TheElectricCow

My current average for the past week is 4.6p/kWh, which I think comfortably blows the rates on any other tariff I could have chosen out of the water. Alas I don't believe my friends & family hold quite the same level of enthusiasm for their energy bills as myself so I doubt I'd win any converts either.

NedS

Just received my bill for the first month on Agile. No Solar, batteries, EV etc but quite high regular usage at ~500-600 kWh/month, and we have averaged 11.4p per kWh (inc VAT).

That figure is skewed somewhat by free/negatively priced days (where I then use up to 5 times my normal usage), so if I exclude those days, my average price rises to 15.5p per kWh

This compares with the 30-day average tracker price for my region of 17.5p (which does include the cheap days) and Ofgem cap of 24.5p

So we are beating Tracker and are making really good savings over the standard Ofgem cap.

MP1995

NedS said:

Just received my bill for the first month on Agile. No Solar, batteries, EV etc but quite high regular usage at ~500-600 kWh/month, and we have averaged 11.4p per kWh (inc VAT).

That figure is skewed somewhat by free/negatively priced days (where I then use up to 5 times my normal usage), so if I exclude those days, my average price rises to 15.5p per kWh

This compares with the 30-day average tracker price for my region of 17.5p (which does include the cheap days) and Ofgem cap of 24.5p

So we are beating Tracker and are making really good savings over the standard Ofgem cap.

Tracker added another half pence to their formula I think on the 3rd April so there's a more expensive formula to compare as well as you couldn't join the December 2023 formula now.

NedS

MP1995 said:

NedS said:

Just received my bill for the first month on Agile. No Solar, batteries, EV etc but quite high regular usage at ~500-600 kWh/month, and we have averaged 11.4p per kWh (inc VAT).

That figure is skewed somewhat by free/negatively priced days (where I then use up to 5 times my normal usage), so if I exclude those days, my average price rises to 15.5p per kWh

This compares with the 30-day average tracker price for my region of 17.5p (which does include the cheap days) and Ofgem cap of 24.5p

So we are beating Tracker and are making really good savings over the standard Ofgem cap.

Tracker added another half pence to their formula I think on the 3rd April so there's a more expensive formula to compare as well as you couldn't join the December 2023 formula now.

We are happy to stick with Agile as we are home all day and have some flexibility to shift usage around, plus we have quite high background usage of things running 24/7 with no solar to offset that background usage. The comparison to the Ofgem cap is my real benchmark comparison, to ensure we fall significantly under that.

Newbie_John

Comparing to Flexible tariff only makes you feel happy as you could see higher savings. You could also do "nothing", not bother shifting, checking rates.. and be on Tracker. As Tracker is significantly cheaper than Flexible, Agile is only worth it if you make savings against it.

Let's say you paid £100 in January on Agile (while doing some usage shifting and checking prcies daily), Flexible would have been £300 - great, we saved £200 ;-)
But then if you compare to Tracker and it comes back as £108 then one would have to ask themselves a question if all the efforts were worth the difference? 

spot1034

The reason Agile and Tracker have been so significantly cheaper than the SVT is because in recent times they have been based on present wholesale prices which have fallen a long way since the past and (to a lesser extent) present SVTs were set. That advantage is now being unwound as wholesale prices reach a likely floor and will, going forwards, either bounce around within a small range so the prices that determine the various tariffs will no longer be so different or, even worse for Agile and Tracker, prices might start to rise which will take a while to filter through to the SVT.

It might also be pointed out that the rather unusual recent weather patterns, with a whole succession of storms bringing exceptionally windy weather over and over again, have also brought a benefit which I don't think too many people expected to last for the whole of the winter, and inevitably we will at some point see some prolonged periods of calm settled weather which will swing the pendulum the other way. When that happens the SVT will perhaps not look quite so expensive relative to the alternatives.  If we get a big blocking high sat over the whole of Europe next winter, meaning hardly any wind and sub-zero temperatures, perhaps for several weeks, the situation could be very different to what it has been recently.

Newbie_John

You can feel the change a little bit now too, the fixed rate went down from 29p to 25p - tomorrow's Agile 29p peak used to be cheaper than SVR (in March), now is nearly 20% more expensive.. and they yet to drop again in July.

I've changed my colour thresholds on Octopus Compare to >25p red.

Slinky

TheElectricCow said:

My current average for the past week is 4.6p/kWh, which I think comfortably blows the rates on any other tariff I could have chosen out of the water. Alas I don't believe my friends & family hold quite the same level of enthusiasm for their energy bills as myself so I doubt I'd win any converts either.

We're not big users, and have solar and batteries. According to Octopus Compare, our average rate from 4-8th April is 0.84p/kWh!!!

silverwhistle

I changed from Intelligent O last week and on that was averaging around 15p last time I had a bill, so will be interested in my Agile bill. Certainly some good prices to take advantage of this week. Topped up the car this afternoon at 0.88p and did around 55 miles tonight. Cheap prices tonight but might wait to top up again tomorrow night as 22.30 is even less at 0.22p although don't know what follows yet. Handy when my normal train is too risky post strike and at a lot less than a penny a mile in fuel (!) cheaper, and quicker too.

Telegraph_Sam

spot1034 said:

The reason Agile and Tracker have been so significantly cheaper than the SVT is because in recent times they have been based on present wholesale prices which have fallen a long way since the past and (to a lesser extent) present SVTs were set. That advantage is now being unwound as wholesale prices reach a likely floor and will, going forwards, either bounce around within a small range so the prices that determine the various tariffs will no longer be so different or, even worse for Agile and Tracker, prices might start to rise which will take a while to filter through to the SVT.

It might also be pointed out that the rather unusual recent weather patterns, with a whole succession of storms bringing exceptionally windy weather over and over again, have also brought a benefit which I don't think too many people expected to last for the whole of the winter, and inevitably we will at some point see some prolonged periods of calm settled weather which will swing the pendulum the other way. When that happens the SVT will perhaps not look quite so expensive relative to the alternatives.  If we get a big blocking high sat over the whole of Europe next winter, meaning hardly any wind and sub-zero temperatures, perhaps for several weeks, the situation could be very different to what it has been recently.

≈======≈=====≈=≈

Interesting. What are the consequences if you are correct? 1. Thankfully we are free to change tariffs in the face of price trends generally. 2. With the notable exception of Tracker with its 9 month re-entry waiting period. 3.Whilst prices are getting more "normal" there are opportunities to accumulate and bank savings against future use.
I wonder myself if Tracker is the safe(er) middle ground between Agile and the SVR.

Do I now have to change my Compare settings to recognize the increased Agile SC's

≈==≈=======≈==========