Octopus smart tariff hits record ‘price plunge’ as electricity prices turn negativeOctopus smart tariff hits record ‘price plunge’ as electricity prices turn negative

Energy company Octopus says it has hit a record ‘plunge price’ on its Agile tariff which pays customers to use electricity when prices are negative. 

With increased output of offshore wind energy over the past weekend and reduced demand on the grid, electricity prices plummeted on Sunday 2 July. 

Octopus says it is paying customers up to £22 to use more energy as part of its Agile smart tariff when electricity prices turn negative. 

“Thanks to a bumper weekend where wind and solar generated over 60% of the UK's energy, yesterday we saw the highest paying and longest Price Plunge since the launch of the tariff in 2019,” Octopus said. 

Between 8am and 4pm on 2 July, customers were paid to use electricity, with some earning as much as £22 from turning up their electricity, while the top 5% earned an average of £5 during the window.

Octopus’ Agile smart tariff is the first of its kind to pass on negative wholesale energy costs to users, who can check half hourly price rates for the following day online or through the company’s app. 

The tariff is particularly useful for customers with technology that uses a lot of electricity, like an electric vehicle. Octopus recently announced that it has raised £650 million as part of a new agreement with Pollen Street Capital to incentivise the adoption of EVs. 

Last week the company also completed the migration of customers from failed energy company Bulb to its platform.