Is Octopus Agile worth it with a home battery?
Yes, if the battery follows the prices every day. Over 32 days this autumn, a home using Orza paid 12.99p for each kWh it bought on Agile. The price cap was 26p. Agile’s own average price over the same days was higher than the cap, so the tariff alone did not do it. The battery did.
The same electricity cost half as much on Agile as at the price cap.
These are a real home’s figures, from 5 September to 6 October 2026. It has solar panels and a 27 kWh battery, and it is on Agile Octopus. In those 32 days it used 1,060 kWh, its roof made 553 kWh, and it bought 548 kWh from the grid.
A battery does not change how much a home buys, only when. So the fair comparison is the same 548 kWh at a single rate: £143.27 at the price cap, against the £71.18 this home paid on Agile.
- Agile’s average price
- 28.40p a kWh
- Price cap, single rate
- 26.11p a kWh26.32p from 1 October
- What this home paid
- 12.99p a kWh
- Bought from the grid
- 548 kWh
- Paid for it on Agile
- £71.18
- The same kWh at the price cap
- £143.27
Standing charges are left out of both. Prices are the ones Octopus published for this home’s region. The price cap is Ofgem’s average for paying by Direct Debit.
Over these 32 days, Agile’s average price was above the price cap.
Agile has a new price every half hour, and it follows the wholesale market. That makes some half hours very cheap and others very dear. Which ones you buy in decides whether it is worth it.
- The average was 28.40p a kWhAcross all 1,536 half hours. The price was above the cap’s 26.32p in 1,040 of them, about two in every three.
- From 4pm to 7pm it averaged 47.44pThe dearest three hours of the day, when most homes cook, heat and wash. The highest single half hour was 90.60p.
- In 123 half hours it was zero or lessThe lowest was minus 5.12p: Octopus paid for power to be used. Those half hours come when there is more wind and sun than the country needs.
- The middle of the day beat the nightFrom 10am to 4pm the price averaged 17.82p. From midnight to 6am it averaged 25.00p. A battery set to fill every night, as most are, would have paid more than one that filled around midday.
- A home that buys as it uses pays near the averageAnd more than the average if most of its use is in the evening. Over these days that was more than the price cap.
Agile Octopus prices as Octopus published them for one region, 5 September to 6 October 2026. Price cap from Ofgem, read 7 October 2026.
It bought in the cheap half hours and ran the house through the dear ones.
That is the whole of it. The home paid 12.99p a kWh on a tariff that averaged 28.40p, because almost none of its buying was done at the average.
Where its 548 kWh came from
- 175 kWh at zero or lessNearly a third of everything it bought was in half hours when the price was nothing, or when Octopus paid.
- 1.4 kWh between 4pm and 7pmIn 32 days. The house ran from the battery through almost every evening peak.
- The rest in the cheaper half hours of each dayWhich were different half hours from one day to the next.
The cheap half hours move, so the schedule has to move with them.
Octopus publishes the next day’s Agile prices between 4pm and 8pm. A schedule set once and left is right on some days and wrong on others. To get figures like these, the battery’s charging has to be set again each day, around that day’s prices, the sun your roof will get and how much the house will use.
That is the job Orza does. It works out a schedule for the battery every half hour, for the next 36 hours, and shows each decision with its reason.
Orza on Octopus tariffsOrza’s plan on the same days
- £25.06 ahead over 31 daysOver these days the battery ran as its owner had set it, and it did well. Orza’s plan for the same days, scored half hour by half hour against what the battery really did, cost £25.06 less.
- Ahead on 22 of the 31 daysAnd behind on 9. One of the 32 days is left out, because Orza did not have everything it needed to score it.
- Scored on what was known at the timeEach half hour is priced with the plan and the forecast Orza had then, never with hindsight.
Before you move to Agile.
One home’s month is evidence, not a promise. These are the things that would change the answer for yours.
Read the technical FAQWill my home get the same figures?
No. These are one home’s, in one region, over 32 days of early autumn. Agile’s prices differ by region and by season, and a smaller battery or a home that uses more can move less of its buying. The pattern holds more widely than the numbers: on Agile the saving comes from when you buy.
Is Agile worth it without a battery?
Over these 32 days Agile’s average price was above the price cap, and its dearest hours were the evening ones. A home with no battery would have had to move its own use out of the evening to come out ahead.
Does the size of the battery matter?
Yes. This home’s battery holds 27 kWh and the house used about 33 kWh a day, so the battery could carry most of a day. A smaller one fills in the cheap half hours just the same, and runs out sooner in the dear ones.
Are standing charges and export in these figures?
No. The standing charge is paid on any tariff, so it is left out of both sides. This home was not paid for export in these weeks, so there is no export income in any figure here.
How do I find out for my own home?
Connect your battery and your Octopus account to Orza and leave it in Monitor only. Orza reads your own prices and your battery’s readings, and shows what its plan would have cost against what your battery really did, day by day.
What does Orza cost?
Nothing during the beta, and no card is needed to join.
See what Agile would cost your home, planned every half hour.
Free during the beta. Connect in a few minutes, and start in Monitor only.