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What is the main ‘dictator’ of Agile’s unit price?

 
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Electricity, Tariffs, Monitoring, Electrics & Providers
Last Post by ChandyKris 2 weeks ago
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Toodles
 Toodles
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Topic starter 21/03/2026 5:29 pm   [#2902]

First, I should declare I haven’t used OE’s Agile tariff for several years as it requires more attention than I could devote as I don’t use automation. Nevertheless, out of curiosity, I have kept an eye on the daily rates for the Agile HH’s - it seems to me that if it is windy, this is often reflected in lower rates for the lowest demand hours. With the almost ‘wall to wall’ sunshine we have been experiencing in the last few day, I expected to see a similar low rate charge at certain times - but, quite the contrary! Even the cheapest hours have been over 20 pence per unit whereas some days back, there were 10 or more HH’s at less than 10 pence. I conclude that the solar energy generation is not the governing (or even one) factor in the auction then? Curious, Toodles.


Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.


   
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Jeff
 Jeff
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22/03/2026 5:36 pm  

https://octopus.energy/blog/agile-pricing-explained/

Also wind turbine curtailment when it is very windy is both larger and more common than solar farm curtailment when it is sunny. Hence wind tends to have a bigger impact than solar.

It is going to be interesting when the majority of energy in the UK falls under CfD contracts. The older renewable sites under ROC contracts may well get all repowered over time. 


This post was modified 1 month ago 2 times by Jeff

   
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 Old_Scientist
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22/03/2026 7:05 pm  

There is simply not enough solar on the grid to meet demand, even when it's very sunny, so solar alone is not enough to shift the price.

Google tells me there is approx 19GW of solar installed in the UK, and looking at today's data, solar output peaked at 10.47GW at around 11:30am, whilst demand was 32.4GW (I acknowledge today wasn't overly sunny across the whole of the UK). With daytime demand at around 30-35GW, solar is rarely going to cause negative pricing by itself, especially when combined with little wind on a sunny still day.

Even with large amounts of solar, we are still using some FF generation (gas), and as we all know, that sets the price as the highest bidder.

 


Samsung 12kW gen6 ASHP with 50L volumiser and all new large radiators. 7.2kWp solar (south facing), Tesla PW3 (13.5kW)
Solar generation completely offsets ASHP usage annually. We no longer burn ~1600L of kerosene annually.


   
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 ChandyKris
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03/04/2026 6:42 pm  

There are seven negative price half-hour slots tomorrow. Would be interesting to see what's the electricity mix. I would assume a lot of wind but also good solar in the mix. Surprising not to see free electricity from Octopus though.


16 * 435 watts PV
13 kWh Growatt battery
1 EV - Mercedes EQB
6 kW Aira Heat Pump
Bosch Induction Hob
Pod Point Solo 3 charger


   
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Toodles
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Topic starter 10/04/2026 4:54 pm  

There are 30 plus HH’s tomorrow where Octopus Agile are eager to throw kWh’s to you and pay you to take them! Greeen Toodles (On Cosy).


Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.


   
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 ChandyKris
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10/04/2026 5:15 pm  

@toodles But surprisingly Octopus are not giving any free electricity tomorrow (for non agile customers) like they used to give last summer and even until October 2025. I wonder what level of negative rates make them give free electricity to everyone. My EV wouldn't mind a few free miles!!


This post was modified 4 weeks ago by ChandyKris

16 * 435 watts PV
13 kWh Growatt battery
1 EV - Mercedes EQB
6 kW Aira Heat Pump
Bosch Induction Hob
Pod Point Solo 3 charger


   
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Majordennisbloodnok
 Majordennisbloodnok
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10/04/2026 5:22 pm  

Posted by: @toodles
↑

There are 30 plus HH’s tomorrow where Octopus Agile are eager to throw kWh’s to you and pay you to take them! Greeen Toodles (On Cosy).

You're not wrong, @toodles.

Octopus goes blue

Not only is that a lot of blue, 11.59p is a lot per kWh for them to be paying us to take their leccy.

 


105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"


   
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Toodles
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Topic starter 10/04/2026 5:23 pm  

@chandykris Fortunately, with a light load on the heat pump at present, my 28 kWh’s of Powerwall are topped up by lunchtime, the Sunamp heat battery then tops up to Max Temp, and the dinner has been cooked and consumed whilst we export a few kWh’s to the grid. (We have 8.1 kWp. of solar panels) The Tesla system seems to keep in contact with the grid every minute or so and seems to draw ~100 watts per day - otherwise, our grid consumption would be zero. Regards, Toodles.


This post was modified 4 weeks ago by Toodles

Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.


   
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Batpred
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10/04/2026 6:41 pm  

Posted by: @chandykris
↑

@toodles But surprisingly Octopus are not giving any free electricity tomorrow (for non agile customers) like they used to give last summer and even until October 2025. I wonder what level of negative rates make them give free electricity to everyone. My EV wouldn't mind a few free miles!!

With our Intelligent EV rate at 3.5p/kwh (since the gov dropped the ECO tax), it feels free... too good to be true


This post was modified 4 weeks ago by Batpred

8kW Solis S6-EH1P8K-L-PLUS hybrid inverter; G99: 8kw export; 16kWh Seplos Fogstar battery; Ohme Home Pro EV charger; 100Amp head, HA lab on mini PC


   
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Toodles
 Toodles
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Topic starter 10/04/2026 6:45 pm  

@batpred I wonder if a Sinclair C5 would count as an EV?


Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.


   
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Batpred
 Batpred
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10/04/2026 6:46 pm  

@toodles 

Better, you just need an EV charger!


8kW Solis S6-EH1P8K-L-PLUS hybrid inverter; G99: 8kw export; 16kWh Seplos Fogstar battery; Ohme Home Pro EV charger; 100Amp head, HA lab on mini PC


   
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 ChandyKris
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10/04/2026 7:43 pm  

@batpred Unfortunately, we were on Octopus Go variable and decided to move to Octopus Go fixed thanks to geopolitical chaos, and ended up at 9.5p per kWh. Sounds extortionate when compared to your 3.5p!! So, don't mind some free electricity for our EV.


16 * 435 watts PV
13 kWh Growatt battery
1 EV - Mercedes EQB
6 kW Aira Heat Pump
Bosch Induction Hob
Pod Point Solo 3 charger


   
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