Works with Octopus
Our “Works with Octopus” program recognises and supports all the different products and services connected to us and helps promote all the hard work people have done to make these available to consumers.
Works with Octopus highlights products that work seamlessly with our tech and tariffs to make your home smarter, cheaper and greener. As more and more products have connected, we’ve seen the number of installers, promoting mostly solar and battery systems, willing to work with us to promote products to their customers grow. We’re therefore pleased to introduce “Friends of Octopus” for installers.
Whilst we don’t go through a rigorous testing and approval process we’re confident that partners we’ve allowed to use the “Works With Octopus” and “Friends Of Octopus” badge have got all the basics right, are responsive to customer issues and are making marketing claims we feel we can support and fit our partnership culture and are not misleading. But also that if you run into issues with a connected product or service we’ve got the contacts in place to help solve things quickly.
If you come across a website, service, product or individual that you’re unsure of their claims just pop us an email to agile@octopus.energy and we’ll check it out.
An important note about products that integrate with our smart tariffs...
Integrating a product like a battery or heat pump with Agile Octopus is a great way to use energy when the mix of sources in the grid is greenest, so more of the electrons powering your products are renewable ones, (because typically Agile Octopus tracks the level of renewable energy on the grid). This often comes along with savings too, because when the grid is full of green power, it's generally also cheaper – great!
But, our smart products are 12-monthly tariffs, and they can and will be updated from time to time. That's why we don’t recommend relying on any one tariff to justify an investment in technology such as home battery storage or electric heat and hot water systems over many years.
For example, if a product provider recommends you can save 50% on your energy bill over ten years by buying their product and using the Agile Octopus or Octopus Go tariffs, that provider has no way of knowing that Agile will still exist in the same form a few years down the line – so we couldn't support that claim. These kind of products are significant investments, so we've taken legal action where such claims have been published.
Products that Work With Octopus
Check out our Works With Octopus hub to see devices, products and tech that work with our smart tariffs.
Our smart tariffs are designed to make the most of smart meters, offering customers unparalleled value and control over their energy. When combined with clean technology such as EVs, batteries, solar etc, the potential for customers to save money is huge. We’re leading the way with time of use tariffs, offering access to half-hourly energy prices with our Agile Octopus product or cheap overnight rates, perfect for charging an EV, with Intelligent Octopus. Some tech innovators and manufacturers have integrated with our Agile API allowing customers to set their smart tech up to run when energy is cheapest. Find out more on our the Works With Octopus hub.
One of the first products that completed their integration to Agile Octopus was the GivEnergy hybrid solar/battery inverter. The GivEnergy system lets you optimise the battery storage either to self-consume as much of the solar as possible, or to export excess solar in the evening, or to take advantage of Agile Octopus export rates to maximise the export benefit.
We’ve also had a wide range of individuals including many customers come up with innovative smart tariff apps that we’re big fans of and we’re pleased these are all badged up as “Works with Octopus”.
Powervault delivered their integration to Agile Octopus as part of a research project related to hot water control and more recently we worked with Powervault on a neat Demand-Response service.
I want my product to Work With Octopus
If you’re an innovator or product manufacturer whose products can integrate with our smart time of use tariffs, sign up to be part of Works With Octopus here. We’ll give you an official stamp of approval using our Works With Octopus logo to use on your website and marketing materials. We’ll also provide some high level information about how our tariffs work.
I install products that Work With Octopus
If you’re an MCS certified installer who installs smart tech that has been Works With Octopus approved, you can sign up to become one of our ‘Friends of Octopus’. If you’re ‘Friends of Octopus approved, you’ll get access to an official stamp of approval using our Works With Octopus logo to use on your website and marketing materials. We’ll also provide some high level information about how our tariffs work.
Our smart tariffs are subject to change at any point so it's really important not to make assumptions about the long term availability of a tariff when calculating the return on investment of a piece of smart technology.
What should I expect from a Works with Octopus partner?
All our partners have agreed to share their marketing and promotion plans with us and not to make misleading claims. We’ve also checked that if they’ve integrated to our API then we agree they’ve got it right and that we’ve got the contacts with them to help resolve any issues.
What should I expect from a Friends of Octopus installer?
All of our partner installers are MCS approved, which means that they have undergone a vetting process to ensure that their equipment and installations meets good standards of performance.
How can I check they’re a valid Works With partner?
Our Works With hub will be regularly updated with each partner we’ve signed up. If you’ve come across someone that isn’t on this page and is using our brand let us know via agile@octopus.energy.
How do I get support with a connected partner system?
In the first instance work with the partner as they will know best how their system works and connects to our API. If you get really stuck just contact us via agile@octopus.energy and we will help.
A partner is making claims about the energy saving each year – how true is that?
Our smart tariffs are designed to help customers engage with renewable energy. The majority of customers save money by using our smart tariffs. In some cases it’s possible to save costs by products integrating to the tariff but this isn’t the primary aim of working with partners. Any savings will vary considerably according to time of use, type of product, your home setting and type of property. We generally advise our partners not to make claims about the potential saving that can be made.
We know it’s very tempting to claim significant savings via Agile Octopus but this can be misleading if a customer were to believe that their investment of say a smart-battery amortized over 10 years due to Agile Octopus - we just can’t guarantee that any smart tariff such as Agile Octopus will stay in its current form more than a 12 month tariff contract.
Agile's half-hourly pricing exposes customers to wholesale market rates. Over the past few years, this has enabled customers to save significantly compared to a standard tariff, but right now, Agile prices are consistently high.There’s more information about this on our wholesale price watch blog.
Published on 4th November 2020 by:
Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy!
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