Agile Octopus explained

Agile is Octopus’s most dynamic tariff. Your electricity price changes every 30 minutes, tracked directly to wholesale market rates. When demand is low and wind is blowing, you might pay 5p/kWh or less. When everyone gets home and turns on the kettle at 5pm, you could be paying 35p/kWh or more. The potential for savings is significant, but it demands engagement.

How the pricing works

Every day, usually between 4pm and 8pm, Octopus publishes the next day’s half-hourly prices. These are based on the day-ahead wholesale market auction, plus Octopus’s margin and network costs. You get 48 individual price slots for each day, running from 11pm to 11pm (reflecting the CET timezone used by the European wholesale market).

You can see these prices in the Octopus app, on their website or through their API. Several third-party apps and websites also display them, often with helpful graphs showing the cheapest and most expensive windows.

The key pattern is predictable: prices are almost always lowest between midnight and 5am, rise through the morning, dip slightly around midday when solar generation peaks, then spike between 4pm and 7pm when household demand is highest.

Negative pricing

This is the headline feature that gets people excited. When there’s too much energy on the grid (typically windy nights with low demand), wholesale prices go negative. Octopus passes this through, which means you literally get paid to use electricity.

Negative prices don’t happen every day, but they’re not rare either. During windy periods in spring and autumn, you might see several negative slots per week. The amounts are usually small (a few pence per kWh) but if you have a battery or can run appliances during these windows, it’s free energy. In exceptional conditions, prices can drop to -10p/kWh or lower.

The price cap on Agile

Agile has its own price cap, separate from the Ofgem cap. The maximum you can be charged is currently 100p/kWh. This protects you from extreme wholesale spikes. In practice, prices rarely get anywhere near this. Even during peak winter evenings, 35-50p/kWh is more typical for the most expensive slots.

Who benefits most

Battery storage owners are the biggest winners. Charge the battery overnight at 5-8p/kWh, use it during peak hours when prices hit 30p+. The daily arbitrage adds up quickly. A well-managed battery can easily save £400-600 per year compared to a flat-rate tariff.

Home workers with flexible schedules can shift heavy usage (washing machines, dishwashers, tumble dryers) to cheap periods. If you’re home during the day and can run appliances during the midday solar dip, that helps too.

People with solar panels benefit because they’re already generating during the expensive daytime periods, reducing their reliance on grid electricity when prices are highest.

Night owls and early risers naturally use energy during the cheapest windows without having to change their habits.

Who should think twice

If your household is busy between 4pm and 7pm with cooking, heating, TV, baths and everything else that comes with family evenings, Agile could cost you more than Flexible. Those peak slots are expensive and they coincide with exactly when most families use the most electricity.

If you don’t want to think about when you use energy, Agile isn’t the right fit. It rewards attention. Leaving the dishwasher until 11pm saves money. Running it at 5:30pm costs you extra. Some people find this engaging. Others find it exhausting.

Typical savings

On average, an Agile customer who shifts some usage to cheaper periods can save 10-20% compared to the standard Flexible tariff. People with batteries who actively optimise often save 30% or more. People who don’t change their behaviour at all sometimes end up paying slightly more than Flexible, because the peak prices outweigh the overnight savings.

The average Agile rate across a full day tends to be similar to or slightly below Flexible, but domestic usage isn’t evenly spread. Most households use more energy during peak hours, which means the simple average is misleading. A realistic estimate applies a weighting of about 1.10x to the raw average to account for typical domestic usage patterns.

Tracking prices and planning ahead

The Octopus app shows upcoming prices. Several dedicated tools make it even easier:

• Octopus Watch (iOS app) sends notifications when prices drop below a threshold you set
• Energy Stats UK shows graphs and averages
• The Octopus API provides raw price data if you’re technically minded

Some home automation setups (Home Assistant is the most popular) can automatically trigger appliances when prices drop below a certain level. This takes the thinking out of it entirely.

Practical tips for Agile customers

Run the dishwasher and washing machine overnight. Most machines have delay-start timers. Set them to start at midnight or 1am. This is the single easiest way to save money on Agile.

Avoid 4pm to 7pm where possible. This is consistently the most expensive window. Pre-cooking, shifting mealtimes slightly or using a slow cooker that finishes before 4pm will help you dodge the peak.

Charge devices overnight. Phones, laptops, tablets, anything with a battery. Plug them in before bed.

Check prices before running high-draw appliances. The oven, the tumble dryer, the immersion heater. These use significant electricity. If you can wait an hour or two for a cheaper slot, it’s worth it.

Consider a battery. If you’re serious about Agile, a home battery takes the strategy from manual to automatic. It charges when prices are cheap and discharges when they’re expensive, without you doing anything.

Use the tariff comparison tool to see how Agile rates compare to other tariffs in your area.