Octopus: Agile or Tracker Tariff?

[Guest]

Looking for some advice. Currently with Octopus and have smart metres. Work nights 4 on 4 off. Looking at going with either their agile or tracker tariff. Which would be best to go on? I have both gas and electric if that helps.

[Nichola]

Both of the tariffs will save you money.

Agile will save you money if you are able to shift your usage to different times, it becomes more expensive from 4-7pm but that can last as late as 10pm, where the rates can be higher than SVR.

Tracker gives you one single rate for the 24hour period. Working night shift means you could be having your sleep during the periods where Agile has the cheaper rate 9am-4pm.

[Barbara]

There’s no simple answer as to which is better - it depends on how you use electricity, and how much effort you can or want to put in to reacting to the prices.

Tracker is much simpler than Agile - one price all day, so there’s no need to think about when you use stuff. It also has a lower multiple of the wholesale price in its formula. So when wholesale prices rise, which they are likely to do in colder weather, Tracker will not rise as much as Agile.

The advantage of Agile is the possibility of very low or even negative prices - which have happened today - and the possibility of reducing your average price if you move heavy usage into the cheaper periods.

The suggestion of using Octopus Compare is a good one.

For gas, your choice is either Flexible, fixed or Tracker. There’s no equivalent of Agile for gas.

Don't miss: I got an email from Octopus last night saying I'd been put on the tracker since 14th July

[Mark]

If you have an apple device, Install the Octo-Aid App, it uses your actual usage data to will compare the 2 Tariffs for you.