My Octopus Agile &Go Tariff analysis website

Regional Discussions United Kingdom
#1

Using the Agile tariff from Octopus Energy is a great way of shifting usage based on pricing.

With that in mind, the Octopus Agile tariff has really piqued my interest in time of use tariffs using Smart Meters.

Whilst you could grab bits and pieces of historical data from Octopus about ‘Agile’ it was a bit limited. ie it didn’t show all DNO areas and wasn’t complete back to Feb 2018.

So i’ve written a few scripts and pulled all the data in to one place.

  • All 30 minute data from all 14 DNOs going to back to the first day of the Agile tariff (Feb 19th 2018).
  • The data also updates at 5pm each day after Octopus have released their next day’s figures.

I’ve then layered Grafana graphs on top so you can visualise the data yourself on my new website.

Plus, there is a Google Spreadsheet with all the historical data on.

I would be interested in people’s thoughts on the project.

What could be done better?
What else would people like to see in terms of graphs?
Is this stuff useful?

I’m hoping to expand the project into their GO tariff as well as their new Agile Export figures too.

Cheers.

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#2

That’s really useful. I’ve just started my switch to Octopus and intended to join their Go tariff but I’ll study your data to see if we would be better off on Agile. A monthly graph (like the weekly) would be useful where you can select the month. I’d need to look at the winter months as our PV plus battery storage provides all our electricity requirements for most of the year.

Bob.

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#3

Thanks for the comments Bob.

I’d like to add pull down month selectors etc, but its almost impossible because of the way the underlying graphing tool works within a webpage.

And really I don’t want to put 12 separate graphs on each page.

Could you download the data from the Google spreadsheet into Excel or something and create the graphs that way?

#4

Sorry I missed the link to the spreadsheet. Yes I will certainly have a look at that.

Bob.

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#5

I have found the Octopus REST API nice and simple and you can get lots of useful data without any authentication. With your account userid pulling in smart meter readings it’s quite easy to build a basic set of usage queries too.

For those wanting to play with consumption data, I would note that depending on how you parse the JSON the timezones for the tariff versus the consumption data is different (but the offset is in the string, you just have to fully parse the date/time).

I am now on their Go tariff as after I got Powerwalls it’s much simpler to have fixed off-peak costs for non-solar top-ups.

I used node-red for both Agile and Go to do “stuff”, and it works well.

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#6

Interesting, overnight last night Agile had a low of 3.11p per unit. It was no higher than 6p from midnight through to 6am, then 7p through the most of today.

I think alongside a small battery to get you over the 4pm to 7pm (20p to 23p per unit today) period if solar can’t cover it, this could be a decent option for many people?

#7

I had a good look at the data the other day and think that on balance that the Go tariff is best for me. For most of the year our house runs on PV and battery storage and in the winter the certainty of a 5p off peak rate will allow us to charge the house batteries and our Renault Zoe overnight. Without the battery storage I think Agile would work out cheaper though.

Bob.

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#8

I’ve added a simple single page showing what the Go tariff looks like in graph form as well as the current “out of the 5p four hour slot” pricing across the UK.

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#9

Electricity pricing was as low as 2.1p per unit overnight. Crazy!

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#10

Hi all,

I’m pleased to announce an update to my little home-brew website; Go versus Agile

This was actually a feature request from a user so I was happy to oblige.

There are two new graphs for each of the 14 UK regions.

  1. Go versus Agile (00:30 to 04:30 only) for the last 365 days
  2. Last 7 days of full daily pricing from both tariffs

https://www.energy-stats.uk/octopus-go-versus-agile/

I think if you have an EV then Go seems to win hands down with its fixed 5p for 4 hours each and every day.

If you have Solar PV and/or maybe a battery that can get you over the 4pm to 7pm period then I think Agile could well be the cheaper option?

But everyone has different usage patterns and configurations, so ultimately the decision is up to you.

These ‘time of use’ tariffs in conjunction with smart meters are surely the future of electricity provision?

Hope you are finding this data useful? Please let me know your thoughts etc.

Hoping to add some more features in the coming weeks. Next up I want to look at the new Outgoing / Export tariffs.

Cheers.

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#11

In my case my battery is big enough to get me through most days and when it’s not sunny I can charge it from off-peak. Your graphs confirm that Go is definitely the best tariff for me :slight_smile:

Bob.

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#12

Hi Zarch

Great site.

How are you using this data to update your PVOUTPUT stats?

#13

Thanks for the feedback! :grinning:

No… I think its going to hard to do that… the PVO calculations seem to expect either fixed or very simple timed tariffs. If any calculations were to be to done I think i’d need to pull my generation/export data and collate with the Agile tariff pricing somewhere else.

#14

New Website Update - Octopus Outgoing / Export tariff historical and current data.

This data is just what those Solar PV owners have been waiting for.

Discussion points and my notes/thoughts for Octopus Outgoing Export Tariffs

  • Their fixed 5.5p per kWh fixed outgoing is a 2.2% increase over current Feed in Tariff (FIT) based 5.38p.

  • These Outgoing tariffs only replace the ‘export’ element of the FIT. Your generation payments will still come from your registered FIT supplier.

  • Both Fixed and Agile Outgoing are “actual” export rather than “deemed” 50% as per FIT.

  • You are likely better to stay put on deemed 50% if your export less than 50% of what you generate. ie, if you have immersion diversion, EV or other high daytime usage.

  • If you export more than 50% of what you generate the maths suggest you’d be better off on an ‘actual’ export tariff. The could well be the case with larger Solar installs.

  • Octopus add credit to your bill each day for your exports. Assuming you spend more on “inbound” energy than you earn on “outbound” they’ll aim to set direct debits at a level consistent with the estimated annual net amount. If you’re in credit you can withdraw at will online. (From Octopus CEO)

  • In comparison current FIT payments are usually every 3 months.

  • You need to be on an Octopus import tariff to have one of their export tariffs.

  • It will be very interesting to see the Agile Outgoing price through the winter months. The outgoing tariffs only started on 19th May 2019, so we have little historical data to analyse.

  • Whilst its easy to claim 11p per unit and above between 4pm and 7pm during the summer because of late sunset times, its going to be impossible through the winter months with 4pm sunsets.

  • Moving to Octopus requires a 12 month commitment for FIT payments. This is across the board, you can only move FIT supplier once a year.

  • But this does not apply to ‘export’ supplier. You can move when you want. Plus, you can freely move between Fixed and Agile Outgoing / Export plans once with Octopus.

  • So maybe there is opportunity to crunch the numbers to see if Fixed or Agile are better suited at different times of the year?

  • Will the Octopus Fixed Outgoing tariff increase with inflation as per the current FIT rewards?

  • The FAQ says there is nothing stopping you charging a battery using Solar during the day for free then selling back that energy between 4pm and 7pm for 11p+.

Find all the Outgoing current/historical stats and pricing at https://www.energy-stats.uk/

If you have any ideas of what else you’d like to see please let me know.

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#15

More crazy Agile prices overnight. Down as low at 1.26p per unit and below 8p through most of tomorrow. :slight_smile:

#16

Website update:

As Octopus Energy outgoing tariff (ie the FIT export replacement) tariff is now 2 months old i’m now showing 60 days data from the Agile version of the tariff.

Hopefully more info for those considering moving away from FIT export payments or for new installs needing someone to take their excess generation.

Full details over on the site. https://www.energy-stats.uk

#17

As their Export tariff (Outgoing) is coming up to 3 months old I’ve updated the site to show up to 90 days data now.

#18

Agile pricing down as low at 1.68p per unit at 7am.

They’ll be paying us to use it soon!! :slightly_smiling_face:

#19

1.05p per unit coming up overnight… must be super windy and those turbines meaning lots of surplus energy when most folk don’t need it!

#20

My new Powerwall 2 is taking the excess generation :grinning: but not Octopus Agile - I think I’ll keep the assumed 50% export :laughing: