The Agile tariff is an interesting one. For those who would like to do their own research, this site has an invaluable back history of rates by settlement period:
Note that the tariff offered has varied significantly in the past, with the cap in particular being a much more wallet friendly 35p/kWh. That was massively loss making for Octopus during the energy crisis, which is why the numbers have been upgraded in more recent versions. It was allegedly quite popular with people with larger solar installations as it combined with a more favourable export rate for solar.
Comparison is probably best against the day ahead market reference prices available here:
In the longer run such a pricing basis is likely to be self defeating as the proportion of CFD generation in the mix increases. What you save on cheaper wholesale spot price will be negated by what you pay towards CFD payments - you end up paying the weighted average strike price.
The Agile tariff formula is very different from the dynamic tariffs in other European countries. In most countries, transmission & distribution charges plus policy levies are unbundled and identified separately in bill - usually via a combination of distinct charges per kWh and per day.
In the UK, the government and Ofgem have tried to focus competition on a single headline cost per kWh, so they have resisted such unbundling on the grounds that it complicates the presentation and understanding of electricity bills. Conveniently, too, this hides the extent to which high electricity prices are largely not a consequence of gas prices but are caused by levies on top of market prices.
In Scandinavia the markup on the wholesale power prices is low (less than 20%) but other charges are significant. In the UK the Agile markup on the wholesale power price is 120% which covers all of these ancillary costs and levies. That markup has increased over time and, as noted, the cap on the price charged has also increased a lot. Still, these changes have increased the savings which can be made by managing the time profile of electricity use.
Pragmatism is all that is left to those of us who have no say in managing the smart meter program. Bureaucratic programs of this kind are way more resistant to changes in direction than any physical entities.
The weight of failed past decisions, current incompetence and lack of public trust is likely to lead to a classic public infrastructure failure. The equivalent of a high speed rail line from London to Birmingham that does not actually terminate at either London or Birmingham.
In the smart meter case this will be an outcome in which 30-40% of households don't have smart meters, so that any policies relying on smart meters are drastically constrained. All of the costs and inconvenience but few of the potential benefits.
We switched to Agile some years ago when we fitted a Homely smart thermostat which controls our heat pump
Homely uses weather forecasts, the day ahead tariff and learns the house heating/cooling behaviour to decide when to run the heat pump to minimise costs, while maintains desired temperatures. We quite rapidly saw a 1/3 reduction in overall cost
Once we got an EV we switched to Go so Homely runs the heat pump mainly during the cheap night period
Such tariffs are definitely the future and actually quite engaging, which cannot be a bad thing
The Agile tariff is an interesting one. For those who would like to do their own research, this site has an invaluable back history of rates by settlement period:
https://agileprices.co.uk/?tariff=AGILE-18-02-21&fromdate=20230131
Note that the tariff offered has varied significantly in the past, with the cap in particular being a much more wallet friendly 35p/kWh. That was massively loss making for Octopus during the energy crisis, which is why the numbers have been upgraded in more recent versions. It was allegedly quite popular with people with larger solar installations as it combined with a more favourable export rate for solar.
Comparison is probably best against the day ahead market reference prices available here:
https://dp.lowcarboncontracts.uk/dataset/imrp-actuals/resource/14eff03f-9647-49b6-9bf5-e22bdad2e49d
In the longer run such a pricing basis is likely to be self defeating as the proportion of CFD generation in the mix increases. What you save on cheaper wholesale spot price will be negated by what you pay towards CFD payments - you end up paying the weighted average strike price.
The Agile tariff formula is very different from the dynamic tariffs in other European countries. In most countries, transmission & distribution charges plus policy levies are unbundled and identified separately in bill - usually via a combination of distinct charges per kWh and per day.
In the UK, the government and Ofgem have tried to focus competition on a single headline cost per kWh, so they have resisted such unbundling on the grounds that it complicates the presentation and understanding of electricity bills. Conveniently, too, this hides the extent to which high electricity prices are largely not a consequence of gas prices but are caused by levies on top of market prices.
In Scandinavia the markup on the wholesale power prices is low (less than 20%) but other charges are significant. In the UK the Agile markup on the wholesale power price is 120% which covers all of these ancillary costs and levies. That markup has increased over time and, as noted, the cap on the price charged has also increased a lot. Still, these changes have increased the savings which can be made by managing the time profile of electricity use.
Pragmatic, given the precarious state of the grid. The mess that is Smart Meters has undoubtedly created inertia and much trust has been lost.
Pragmatism is all that is left to those of us who have no say in managing the smart meter program. Bureaucratic programs of this kind are way more resistant to changes in direction than any physical entities.
The weight of failed past decisions, current incompetence and lack of public trust is likely to lead to a classic public infrastructure failure. The equivalent of a high speed rail line from London to Birmingham that does not actually terminate at either London or Birmingham.
In the smart meter case this will be an outcome in which 30-40% of households don't have smart meters, so that any policies relying on smart meters are drastically constrained. All of the costs and inconvenience but few of the potential benefits.
Indeed. We share common roots therefore I get the pragmatism.
We switched to Agile some years ago when we fitted a Homely smart thermostat which controls our heat pump
Homely uses weather forecasts, the day ahead tariff and learns the house heating/cooling behaviour to decide when to run the heat pump to minimise costs, while maintains desired temperatures. We quite rapidly saw a 1/3 reduction in overall cost
Once we got an EV we switched to Go so Homely runs the heat pump mainly during the cheap night period
Such tariffs are definitely the future and actually quite engaging, which cannot be a bad thing