This weekend, something awesome happened.
The rumours on Twitter are true. We paid customers to use energy: and gave it to them free for hours, because 70% of the UK’s energy was produced by clean renewable sources.
Can confirm 🙂 Agile customers paid nothing (and sometimes, we even paid them) to use power over the weekend. https://t.co/40A4FPstZ9
— Octopus Energy (@OctopusEnergy) March 25, 2024
Who doesn’t love a banging bargain in the supermarket? 3 for 2 on baked beans? Yes, please. It can be the same with your electricity.
When there’s more clean energy being generated than the UK can use, it can end up being switched off – we think that’s a colossal waste. So we created Agile Octopus.
Agile is a smart tariff, unique in that its price changes every half an hour based on the wholesale energy price. Typically, when there’s more green electrons in the wires, the wholesale price drops – so customers get cheap or free energy at the greenest times.
Sometimes, the price even goes negative: meaning WE pay YOU to use up spare green energy.
The average Agile Octopus customer saved £440 last year (vs being on a standard tariff). Interested?
1.8million @OctopusEnergy customers enjoy bargains from smart tariffs and services.
In a world of renewables there are many times we have surplus electricity – esp in Scotland, and many of the less wealthy regions of England and Wales.
System reform can slash prices https://t.co/nfefQ9bLMC
— Greg Jackson (@g__j) March 25, 2024
How did customers react?
Agile prices are cheap the vast majority of the time, but when they actually go negative, Twitter has a party.
EV drivers filled their boots. Some even invited the neighbours round to charge. Honestly, it got a little competitive.
I was kinda gutted I’d charged the car the previous night, so I could only top it up. I asked the neighbours if they wanted to charge their cars at mine 😄 It must be great exporting! A battery is definitely on my wish list 😎
— 👽 (@Earth2075) March 25, 2024
But you certainly don’t need any of the coolest home tech – thousands of customers ran the dishwasher, washed the clothes, hoovered and more on free green power.
Took full advantage too. Car charged fully, batteries charged fully, and other things like washes and dishwasher done too, all for almost nothing – the power of Agile. pic.twitter.com/kdqQQO9cUx
— COYS, Joe 🇺🇦 #PocketSunflowers (@Joe_DMB) March 24, 2024
Holy wow!! *makes note to do TONS of washing and drying and ironing and some hot drinks from 8am! Then with the free electric i can use my heaters and heatguns to help melt paint off doorframes to redecorate while washer and dishwasher and tumbke dryer etc is all on! 😂
— Jay Smith (Sonic/Dragonwolf) (@DragonWolf5589) March 22, 2024
John even made bread around his chores!
Imported 17.5kW at a cost of 48p and 53.95p of that was the standing charge. Exported 24kW so £3.20 profit. 3 washer then dryer loads, dishwasher X2 loads, bread baked. BOOM!
— John M Pearson (@JMPearson66) March 27, 2024
I don’t have solar panels. 🤷♀️
A smart meter is required for these tariffs, that’s all.— ivorykuro (@ivorykuro) March 25, 2024
On Sunday I used more than double what I typically use going by the app.🙂
I’m on Agile & very happy I switched! Saving a lot. 🐙♥️
5.25kWh cost me 31p on Saturday. (2 x half hour negative)
11.33kWh cost me just 42p on Sunday. (cooking and washing – 90min negative period!)
— ivorykuro (@ivorykuro) March 25, 2024
Want to ride the green rollercoaster like these awesome people?
With Agile, you’ll get access to half-hourly energy prices, tied to the wholesale market. There’s a flip side to the cheap rates: prices can spike at busy times, so you need to be able to use power flexibly to make the most of it.
It’s not every day the price goes negative – just the overwhelmingly green days – but rates are typically lower than a standard tariff most of the time.
And you’ll need a connected smart meter to join up too.
Published on 27th March 2024 by:
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