What is Octopus Agile?

Octopus Agile is a half-hourly electricity tariff where the price you pay changes every 30 minutes, tracking the wholesale electricity market. When lots of wind power is available and demand is low, prices fall — sometimes to zero, or even negative (where Octopus pays you to use electricity). When demand spikes or generation is low, prices rise.

How are Agile prices set?

Agile prices are derived from the day-ahead wholesale market, with regional network and policy costs layered on top and an evening peak uplift applied during the busiest part of the day. UK Grid Live shows the Agile retail price in pence per kWh including VAT. The main dashboard also shows the wholesale price.

The next day’s prices are usually published between around 4pm and 8pm each afternoon, often closer to 4pm. UK Grid Live’s tracker updates automatically and shows both today’s context and the next 24 hours of half-hour slots by region.

When do prices go negative?

Negative Agile prices happen when there is more electricity being generated than can be consumed or stored — usually on very windy nights or weekend afternoons when industrial demand is low but wind farms are generating at full capacity. At these moments, the wholesale price goes negative, and Octopus passes this through to Agile customers.

The relationship between renewables and Agile prices

This is the core insight UK Grid Live makes visible: cheap Agile prices and low carbon intensity almost always occur at the same time. When wind is blowing hard, there is abundant cheap, clean electricity. This means Agile users who shift demand to low-price windows are also automatically reducing their household’s carbon footprint — a genuine win-win.

How to use UK Grid Live with Agile

• Check before running high-consumption appliances: The homepage Electricity Price card shows the current Agile rate alongside wholesale benchmarks, while this page gives you the cheapest slot, daily average and best 2-hour block.
• Use the Grid Score: A score of 8–10 means good conditions — low carbon, cheap prices. The “best time to use electricity” text tells you exactly what’s driving the score.
• Plan EV charging: The wind forecast in the bottom row shows 72 hours ahead. If a wind peak is forecast overnight, that’s likely to be a cheap, clean Agile window.
• Watch for negative prices: The viral moment banner will appear automatically when Agile goes negative. These typically last 1–3 hours and are predictable from the wind forecast.

Agile vs standard variable tariff

Whether Agile is cheaper than a standard tariff depends mainly on your flexibility. Households that can move a meaningful share of their use away from the 4pm–7pm peak and into cheap overnight or windy daytime windows can do very well. Homes that use most of their electricity during the evening peak may be better off on a flatter tariff.

The Agile “plunge” price cap

Agile has a built-in protection for consumers: the price is capped at 100p/kWh excluding VAT (125p/kWh including VAT). This cap triggers during extreme demand events. It is rare but has occurred during the energy crisis winters of 2021–23. In the other direction, there is no floor — negative prices can in theory go as low as the wholesale market drives them.

Embed a live Agile widget

Use this iframe to embed Agile Now + Forecast on your own site.

<iframe
  src="https://www.ukgridlive.co.uk/agile-widget.html?region=J&hours=24&theme=dark"
  width="100%"
  height="250"
  style="border:0;border-radius:12px"
  loading="lazy"
  title="Octopus Agile live widget"></iframe>

Parameters: region (A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/J/K/L/M/N/P), hours (6–48), theme (dark, light, auto), bars (1 or 0).