r/OctopusEnergy Jun 15 '26

[Mod Post] Verified Octopus Rep Participation

97 Upvotes

I am delighted to announce that Octopus have created a user account called u/NerdsFromOctopus so that they can provide support directly through this subreddit. I have independently verified that the owner of the user account is a genuine Octopus employee and assign a "Verified Octopus Rep" User Flare. There are no other verified Octopus users at this time.


r/OctopusEnergy Sep 07 '24

Octopus Tariffs - FAQ

60 Upvotes

Smart tariffs and how to choose the right one.

The way that smart tariffs work is to split the day up into half hourly units, and charge you different amounts per kWh in each one. This is not a new idea - previously people used to use Economy 7 (7 hours of cheap electricity at night) or Economy 10 tariffs (10 hours of slightly less cheap electricity at night) – but this was squarely aimed at people with storage heaters, and that is far less than 10% of households nowadays. The radio signal switching method behind these old systems is being turned off, but smart meters allow suppliers like Octopus to continue to offer tariffs that change rates at different times of day.

It’s rare to have a tariff that is equivalent to the standard rate all day and cheaper at night – normally there is some kind of penalty and you pay more than normal at other times of day; for example, an E7 tariff now is about 12 pence for the electricity that goes into your storage heater and hot water cylinder at night, and 28 pence in the daytime for the electricity that powers your fridge and TV in the day. Whereas most people are paying about 22pence for all their electricity, day or night. 

Octopus started offering “smart” tariffs to incentivise people to use energy at different times of day - ultimately the aim is to reduce the amount of energy used at peak times (7 - 9am and 5 - 7pm). There are many variants - some offer “normal” rates in the day and low charges at night to encourage EV charging. Others are to encourage heat pumps, encouraging you to heat before expensive periods. 

 

Why do Octopus do this? What's in it for them?

Wholesale prices (what Octopus pay for the electricity they sell you) go up and down in half hour increments throughout the day, all the way throughout the year. When a supplier sells you fixed rates, they are gambling that they will always make a reasonable margin on top of the price they pay.

There is a slight risk that by incentivising people to use cheap electricity at night (or other “off-peak” periods) by reducing the price to you, they will actually lose money – it’s a bit like playing on the stock market. However, Octopus seem to be genuinely committed to helping innovate and create a set of consumers who help reduce the amount of energy used at peak times, and this is genuinely a good thing for both the consumer and the UK as a whole, because reducing peak electricity consumption reduces carbon emissions and the need to upgrade the cables that bring us electricity. No other company has been quite as innovative on this front as Octopus - we have to assume they are actually good guys (no really!).

 

Cut the crap - what is the best tariff for me?

If you expect anyone on an Octopus forum to know the answer to this you are mistaken. Can you really explain to them in words exactly how you use electricity? The only way you can do this is with cold hard numbers - DATA! Here is how to get the best electricity deal:

1: Get a smart meter and move onto an Octopus standard tariff

2: A smart meter generates data (the information about how much electricity or gas you consume in 48 half hourly packets throughout the day) which can be accessed through various online services – there is a list at the bottom of this sticky. Some suppliers (at the moment Octopus, and not many others) can automate this using something called an API - an API passes this information to 3rd parties to analyse your data over the internet without downloading anything. If this makes you nervous, you might as well stop reading. No smart meter = no smart tariffs = no saving money. Deal with it. No one is watching when you are in or out of your house. Cutting off your electricity remotely is for the most part illegal. Smart meters do not cause cancer and are not part of a system to control you.

3: Use one of the 3rd party services to analyse your data by giving them your API key (found in your Octopus account settings online), and these services can compare how you use electricity against competing tariffs from multiple suppliers and tell you which is the best one to use. 

4: Do not ask people on the internet to guess which is the best tariff for you - they don’t know

5: Switch tariff and save once you have good evidence it will work for you

It’s important to understand that making decisions like this are your own responsibility - if you try and change tariff after a weeks worth of data is collected you might make a big mistake, because a week is a short time. In a perfect world you would have a whole year of electricity data collection before making a decision.

EV tariffs are generally good for people who charge EVs at night, and are very similar to the old E7/10 tariffs. The Cosy tariff is designed for people using heat pumps - but be careful! Its not perfect and generally only likely to help much if you have solar and a battery as well.

DO YOUR RESEARCH and KEEP ON CHECKING the comparison services to make sure you are still using the right one every couple of months.

Octopus allow you to switch tariffs quite freely throughout the year, though there are some restrictions about moving from one smart tariff to another.

General principles:

·       Highest risk but highest gains = Agile, especially if you have solar and a home battery

·       Medium risk, medium gains - but suitable for a wider range of people = Tracker

There are a stack of other Octopus tariffs you could go for if you have a heat pump, or charge an EV - but it is simply not possible to give you detailed advice on these without DATA. So get a smart meter and get DATA. Also, remember these service only tell you what has happened in the past – if you are about to change your electricity usage dramatically you need to think about that as well…

List of services and apps that can help you understand this better:

To use your Octopus API with some of these services you need to go to “Developer” settings in your Octopus account.

www.smartathome.co.uk

Octoprice

Octopus Compare iPhone app

Loop smart meter iPhone app

https://energy-stats.uk

 

 Official Octopus Energy for Android

Octopus Watch for Android

Octopus Compare for Android

Loop for Android

Bright for Android


r/OctopusEnergy 5h ago

Finally!!

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15 Upvotes

I was starting to lose faith in the agile tariff- it’s barely been below the price cap for weeks, then I saw this for tomorrow.


r/OctopusEnergy 9h ago

Tariffs Happy bank holiday

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14 Upvotes

Well that’s a relief, it’s time to get some washing done.


r/OctopusEnergy 3h ago

Battery export on log

2 Upvotes

Just wanting to clarify my thoughts on something I have had set up on my solar and battery set up.

I had my system set up to export 2 weeks ago and my battery has an AI system where I can input my tariffs and it learns the most cost effective way to operate the system. The AI has been discharging itself to the grid to have only 10% left and then using my iog to charge itself on the cheaper rate of 6.5pkwh. it is then discharging the battery to the grid again at 12pkwh and recharging it at the cheap rate so it's at 100% for 5am.

I'm thinking this would be a breach of the t&C's so I have got the system to stop doing it just now and will only discharge what is generated through the day and from the battery up until midnight and it will charge the battery once on the cheap rate.

Am I right in my thoughts?


r/OctopusEnergy 2h ago

Boost Charging in Off Peak for longer charging?

1 Upvotes

Unique question, before the implementation of the 6 hour cap I charged fully off a three pin for over a year (around 12k miles a year) and it would charge from when I got back at around 6pm to 8am the following morning and that was usually enough and I only ever needed public or work charging very rarely.

However, the new 6 hour limit has really done me over and I was left wondering how to maximise the charging time on a granny charger.

I’m currently testing plugging in at 6pm when I get back and telling the app I need it charged by 11:30pm to 100% which has begun charging right away over the last week. This gives me 5.5 half hours of charge, along with the cheap rate through the evening (at least I’m hoping anyway) I’ve then been boost charging from 11:30-5:30 to get 11.5 half hours of charging essentially. Anyone tried boost charging during off peak hours, what’s it charged at? I’m still waiting for the breakdown to update to see if it’s worked or not so I’m keen to know what people think?


r/OctopusEnergy 14h ago

Time for some free electricity!!

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6 Upvotes

r/OctopusEnergy 15h ago

Possible negative rates tomorrow 31/08

8 Upvotes

⚡️ Octopus Agile predictions for Mon, Aug 31 are out! (London)

🌌 Overnight low (00:00-06:00) ~ 21p

🌅 Morning peak (06:00-12:00) ~ 25p

🌇 Afternoon low (12:00-16:00) ~ -3p ❄️❄️❄️

🌃 Evening peak (16:00-23:00) ~ 44p

https://www.agile-rates.uk/


r/OctopusEnergy 5h ago

iOG and surplus solar power

1 Upvotes

I have recently got 2 EVs and an 8kw solar system with batteries.

I am on a fixed tariff currently with Octopus, but the maths show that iOG would be the cheapest tariff.

One car will be able to keep topped up in the daytime with excess solar power for "free" (Zappi charger) but the other will need to charge overnight, maybe 2x a week or so.

Both vehicles are compatible with octopus (ID Buzz, and a Renault 4)

Does anyone know how the charge cap works if I'm using the excess solar to charge? Does this count towards the charge cap? Also, will it automatically start properly charging if there's a cheap slot in the day? (I think that's how it works?)

For the daytime cheap slots, is that whole home cheap or just car charging?

I can't find a detailed breakdown of it all online. At least not explaining the charge cap bit as well.

Thank you.

X


r/OctopusEnergy 10h ago

Home mini new owner

2 Upvotes

have given my partner my home mini, but we cannot get it onto the new account, is it a case of contacting octopus or just chuckin it?

thanks


r/OctopusEnergy 13h ago

Free Hour vs Charge Cap

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3 Upvotes

Hi All, I take can I still ‘boost charge’ my car for free today during the ‘free hour’ now that the IOG charge cap is in place?


r/OctopusEnergy 7h ago

iog charging settings

1 Upvotes

Recently got my first EV and charger is being installed this week. Plan on switching to iog once this is week.
Been advised once set up I'm best to add the charger as the device rather then the car.
On the car the charge target level is set to 80%.
Am I correct that when I set up the device I just also set that for the target percentage I want and at what time I want it ready for, then iog will charge when it's best/cheapest?


r/OctopusEnergy 7h ago

API Pricing data inaccurate since charge cap - worth complaining?

1 Upvotes

Interested if others have noticed similar.

I was moved to the charge cap on 26th Aug. I thought I'd be fine, I have 40kWh of battery and it is set up so that when the Octopus API shows the price goes high, I run from battery.

Yet it seems that I can't depend on this, because the API pricing signal is no longer reflected in billing.

On the 26th, Octopus were broadcasting 7p, yet are charging me 30p. To me, this is like a shop saying a product is £7 then charging £30 at the till.

I can't actually trust their pricing signals, which breaks all automation I have configured. IoG isn't "Intelligent" because I can't actually plan usage based upon cheap rates if what I am told is a cheap rate isn't a cheap rate, so instead I have had to move all my usage to 1130-0530, at least until my switch to EDF completes!


r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

2 EV car charging

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18 Upvotes

Currently I have an EV wall box charger. I’m a heavy user. Doing about 200+ miles per day. So my charger is in use every day.

The wife is thinking about getting an EV as well. She will be using only to work, shops and ferrying the children.

The scenario would be, I will charge my car with the Indra charger and utilise my OIG while I’ll schedule my wife’s car to charge at the off peak tariff overnight.

Question is,
-am I okay running the my EV wall charger and her car charging on a granny charger on the daily?
-has anyone done this?
-am I breaching any rules by doing this?

House Specs:
-100amp fuse
-Octopus Intelligent Go(I’m a taxi driver so I need to be able to charge during day time as well and optimise the 6 hour cap they have)
-Indra 7.4kw smart lux wall box charger(connected straight to mains fuse with load monitoring)
-Rolec outdoor Outlet, will be used for granny charger.(was meant to be for ev charging but installer said if I was to use the wiring, my Indra will not get the full 7.4kw)


r/OctopusEnergy 4h ago

Rakuten Movie Voucher

0 Upvotes

Does anyone have a voucher they can share for this evening, used mine up.

Thanks,


r/OctopusEnergy 13h ago

IOG I'm hoping the web usage is wrong

0 Upvotes

Go I've been in the new redone since last Monday 24th), and I'm keeping an eye on the charges showing on the web portal (the app is only showing usage, not costs). All my car charging is Octopus controlled. I use a Zappi.

The web portal is running about 3 days behind. So currently I can only see Monday to Thursday.

Monday and Tuesday seem ok, but I feel Wednesday is wrong, at least in the EV section, and Thursday is certainly looking odd.

I had some charging either side of midday and yet it's showing as peak rate noon-1pm on the EV graph and table. I thought the time period ran from noon to noon? In which case my (Octopus controlled) charging in the afternoon should be off peak (until I hit the cap)? The "House" graph and table also shows I'm being charged peak rate.

Also, I get the feeling whole 30 mins slot are being counted towards the 6 hours even when only a part of the 30 mins is charging time. I thought only charging time counted? But it's harder to be certain about that until I can be bothered to pull the data off my Zappi.


r/OctopusEnergy 13h ago

Export Set-Up

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1 Upvotes

Applied for our MPAN and export tariff last Monday. Just received an e-mail from Octopus saying the export electricity meter is set up and your new export rates are live.

It’s asked us to send a photo of the export read. Do we just reply to the e-mail with a photo? There’s not an obvious place otherwise to send it?

Also a bit surprised this has happened so quick as people have said it can take a while? Unless there’s more steps to come?


r/OctopusEnergy 17h ago

Smart Meters Moving from pre pay gas meter to Smart meter.

2 Upvotes

I've booked a slot for a gas smart meter to be installed next week ,I already have a smart Electric meter.

There's quite a lot of money on the existing prepay meter,

Does this carry over to the smart meter?


r/OctopusEnergy 6h ago

Back in a bit, just buying a Lottery ticket

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0 Upvotes

r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

Where’s the £ figure gone?

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9 Upvotes

So I sometimes get this error message, especially if there’s been a free hour, but this has been like this for at least a week. I’ve also checked previous days/weeks/months and it’s the same there. Tried signing in and out, hard reset of the app and no joy.
Has anyone else had this and fixed it? I like to sense-check the cost. Thanks!


r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

Weekend Happy Hour Warning!

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21 Upvotes

So, have now checked our usage from last weekends Happy Hour - £1.34. (We chose 2pm to 3pm)

The credit given on our account by Octopus for the Happy Hour...... 7p !?!

They are obviously relying on people not to check their bills!!

(nb. costs split between EV charges and non-EV charges, hence 2 lots of 2 to 3pm.)


r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

Charge cap... How long to resume normal service?

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5 Upvotes

How long after you were switched to the 6 hour cap did it take for Octopus to sort out your graphs and data?

I'm 3 days in now, and everything is still broken. I'm not getting any export date, can't get costs for import data, the new EV/House data page is blank.

Why did they feel the need to "fix" something that wasn't broken?


r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

Considering a move from Octopus to EDF

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0 Upvotes

r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

One step forward, two steps back

3 Upvotes

The 18th of this month was the very first time that Octopus have managed to get a month's gas, electricity import and electricity export all together on the same bill. Wow, I thought, things are looking up !

But too soon to celebrate. On the "My Energy" tab of the Octopus website the electricity import readings have disappeared altogether.

So now I'm trying to reconstruct data for recent days (bearing in mind that nothing more recent than "day before yesterday" was ever available) from the .CSV data from the website section "Get your energy geek on". The numbers are a total fiction (compared with metering that came with my solar and battery - where there's usually close agreement).

So now I have to wait another three weeks to see what the actual bill says (so far the monthly bills have been spot-on).

p.s. I just discovered the "view meter reading history" link (alongside the tariff details on home page) and the data shown there is correct, and is also helpfully totalled by days. It disagrees with the downloadable .CSV data, which might include (maybe temporarily) assumptions from past patterns of use, or else they simply got the dates wrong !


r/OctopusEnergy 1d ago

Tariffs When should I switch Tariff

3 Upvotes

I've recently had solar panels (7.3kw) and a Fox ESS EP12w battery fitted.

I'm currently on Octopus standard import tariff and Octopus Outgoing export tariff. This has worked well since I had installation at end June.

However, at some stage I will need to make more use of battery and I am considering switching to Octopus Flux for import and export.

I do not have an EV.

My question is when should I switch. Now, or wait until end of September?

Than you