Energy Prices (Strictly NO referrals!)

[HungryHippos]

@HungryHippos I would say the comment about min maxing entirely depends on the tariffs you are on.

Yes OP is not on a special tariff for time of use, My costs are the same except overnight as well for a few hours, so not much to min/max here except to throw the dishwasher on at night.

If you're on Agile then sure, some min/max is expected I think to take advantage of cheaper times and avoid peak costs.

For tracker I am not sure if changing what days you do things is on is really worth it, because evidence suggests (and I've seen this) that they could just bill you an average rate anyway, any missing data and that is what they'll do.

 

[jpaul]

that's a atypical daily energy consumption without peaks in the early evening (people cooking after work) that coincide with peak agile unit costs,
giving many a net zero gain versus std/variable tarif

 

[Gammawolf]

That's a combination of my wife being Japanese so she doesn't really do oven dishes at all and having a gas hob. She still cooks pretty much as we normally would. Also I have 2 computers and 2 servers on 24/7 so have high base load and can take advantage of the mostly lower periods outside 4 to 7.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Still say that Octopus tracker is still the best option IMO currently.

 

[McPhee]

Still say that Octopus tracker is still the best option IMO currently.

Agile is cheaper at the moment unless >55% of your electricity use is between 4pm and 7pm.

My (hypothetical, as I spent most of the month on Tracker) average unit rate on Agile for April is 14.2p per kWh. Tracker's average is 18.9p. There will be some Go/Intelligent users who can get below 14.2p. But those are households where an EV is the majority of electricity demand.

Wholesale prices are (relatively) low at the moment. Because of how the two formulas differ, Agile has the advantage at the moment. This has been the case for months now, outside of households where the majority of electricity use falls during Agile peak hours.

 

[Captain Chaos]

My usage tends to be mainly in the 4pm to 7pm area so the tracker seems the sensible option for me,

 

[chrcoluk]

Its been hard to manage it all between my moms brain tumor last year etc, applying for her pip, being in cambridge most of the year dealing with consultants, and all the grant stuff. It has been hard to manage.

I am getting a smart metre installed Tuesday and getting electrical usage monitors for the house to help me more directly manage my usage and figure out if anything's amiss.

I'm gonna post couple of my bills when I get a chance as some of the guys here suggested.

Thank you for your reply.

I apologise if I came across harsh, hopefully you get on top of it. Good move on the smart meter, and best of luck on the other stuff.

 

[Allnamestaken]

I apologise if I came across harsh, hopefully you get on top of it. Good move on the smart meter, and best of luck on the other stuff.

Hi yeah, just a lot to do in a short space of time this week and next hah. Its okay don't worry about it.
The smart meter is being installed tomorrow.
I intend to clear the arrears after speaking to them tomorrow and setting a direct debit they are suggesting for now however once the smart meter is installed there should be no misunderstandings imo in regards to usage and bills.

Eon's website and app are extremely bad at displaying your usage and other information including statements. I can't wait to use someone like Octopus, from what I have seen they make it far easier to monitor and manage your usage and bills.

I still need to go through each of my appliances and determine if there are any trouble makers!

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Hi yeah, just a lot to do in a short space of time this week and next hah. Its okay don't worry about it.
The smart meter is being installed tomorrow.
I intend to clear the arrears after speaking to them tomorrow and setting a direct debit they are suggesting for now however once the smart meter is installed there should be no misunderstandings imo in regards to usage and bills.

Eon's website and app are extremely bad at displaying your usage and other information including statements. I can't wait to use someone like Octopus, from what I have seen they make it far easier to monitor and manage your usage and bills.

I still need to go through each of my appliances and determine if there are any trouble makers!

Within a few days of switching to Octopus you will have 24 hour data available in half hour slots (app and/or website). Its updated daily for the previous day, usually mid day to mid afternoon although sometimes later.
If you want better detail, you can request an Octopus mini.

Meet the Octopus Home Mini

The Octopus Home Mini is a brand new, cutting-edge bit of tech that makes understanding your energy usage easier than ever before.

octopus.energy

As soon as you switch go to that page and request one. Most people face a wait of months for them unfortunately.

 

[MatsyLR]

Still waiting for my Octopus Mini but the APP/IHD already shows most the information you'd want.

@Allnamestaken you do need to join Octopus on the flexible tariff first of all but you are free to switch to tracker/Agile depending on your energy usage once your new connection is live (remember to use a refferal also)

 

[HungryHippos]

The standard in home display is usually OK at reading real time data, and the 30 min historical stuff helps a lot all by itself I think.

Octopus mini I don't think is a requirement for debugging this.

 

[jpaul]

octopus mini get's you the data into excel via home assistant , for some real data processing ... 'how many hours was the oven/air-fryer on last Tuesday'

 

[dlockers]

octopus mini get's you the data into excel via home assistant , for some real data processing ... 'how many hours was the oven/air-fryer on last Tuesday'

If you don't need it real time you can download it in Excel from their home page; that's how I crunch it. I bought the app @200sols posted earlier but refunded it after 30 secs of going "ahh ha"

 

[jpaul]

If you don't need it real time you can download it in Excel from their home page;

having high granularity data enables you to see the signatures of morning kettle boil, extravagant espresso machine, toaster, decent vacuum cleanerMrdyson,
5/6 years ago met a company in cambridge who were loking at AI identification of device signatures.
albeit I had analysed most home appliances usage, by rotating a plug energy meter, around them, but if that could be done automatically.....
after that analysis decided I'd risk sacrificing the lifespan and audio quality of the 50W standby audio amp, by turning it off when not being used.

 

[dlockers]

having high granularity data enables you to see the signatures of morning kettle boil, extravagant espresso machine, toaster, decent vacuum cleanerMrdyson,
5/6 years ago met a company in cambridge who were loking at AI identification of device signatures.
albeit I had analysed most home appliances usage, by rotating a plug energy meter, around them, but if that could be done automatically.....
after that analysis decided I'd risk sacrificing the lifespan and audio quality of the 50W standby audio amp, by turning it off when not being used.

Does it go much more granular in the data than half hourly?

 

[Allnamestaken]

Still waiting for my Octopus Mini but the APP/IHD already shows most the information you'd want.

@Allnamestaken you do need to join Octopus on the flexible tariff first of all but you are free to switch to tracker/Agile depending on your energy usage once your new connection is live (remember to use a refferal also)

How would I know which one is best? Is there hours where its cheaper etc?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[jpaul]

Does it go much more granular in the data than half hourly?

10s/1min/5min - you could see the oven turning on and off ... just a pity the gas consumption isn't live you could see whether the boiler is really modulating.

 

[MatsyLR]

How would I know which one is best? Is there hours where its cheaper etc?

Thanks for the advice.

Tracker is set and forget. Plenty of websites to check daily and next day rates such as (change region)

Gas Tracker

gcccc4f6c5ed303-stjqaiwj9fvoaef2.adb.uk-london-1.oraclecloudapps.com

There is also "octopus compare" on playstore which is useful to compare also works for Agile.

With Agile you need to look at the times of the day and see when you yourself use the power and time around it for example on the Octopus compare app (you are rewarded for not using power during regular peek hours)

While today (in north east) electric is 19.51p all day on the tracker tariff.

I'm on tracker myself so someone who uses Agile will be able to give something to compare properly I imagine (in money terms for the day)

 

[200sols]

Does it go much more granular in the data than half hourly?

You can see live usage broken down in seconds. But I've actually never even looked at that data since getting the mini...

Useful in certain situations though like these people with unusually high usage, will be easy to see exactly when the usage is happening.

 

[jpaul]

mini minute/5min data is useful in HA to see retrospectively on a chart what happened

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octopus app can you compare over last month, say, what the cost of agile versus tracker would have been ?
... if you know you use 2/3 of daily energy in 4-7pm period , then agile will be 22p/unit (10.6/3+2*27.7/3) and tracker 16.4p/unit comparing last 2 weeks
win for tracker simples