Before you switch: 5 things to confirm
These five checks take less than 10 minutes and prevent the problems that catch people out after they switch.
1. Smart meter: confirmed and compatible. Agile bills you in 30-minute intervals. This is only possible with a smart meter that communicates half-hourly consumption data to Octopus. A SMETS2 meter works perfectly. A SMETS1 meter may work after DCC enrolment. Check with Octopus before starting your switch by giving them your MPAN and meter serial number. If you do not have a smart meter at all, request a free SMETS2 installation before initiating your Agile switch. See our guide to smart meter requirements for Octopus Agile for a full explanation.
2. Check your exit fee. If you are on a standard variable tariff (including the Ofgem price cap rate of 26.11p/kWh), there is no exit fee. You can leave immediately. If you are on a fixed-term contract, look at your current tariff terms and find the early exit fee. It is usually listed as a per-fuel charge of £50-100. Weigh this against the estimated £440 annual Agile saving and decide whether to pay it now or wait for your contract to end.
3. Know your MPAN. Your Meter Point Administration Number is the 13-digit reference that identifies your electricity supply. It appears on your electricity bill in a small grid box, usually in the lower-left section labelled with an "S." You will need this during the Octopus sign-up process. Find it and note it down before you start. Do not confuse it with your meter serial number (printed on the physical meter) or your account number (Octopus-specific). The MPAN is the one that matters for switching.
4. Decide on your opening direct debit amount. Agile bills monthly via direct debit. When you sign up, Octopus asks you to set a monthly payment amount. Start with your current average monthly electricity spend. You can find this on your last 3 months of bills. Octopus reconciles actual usage against your payments monthly, so any overpayment becomes credit and any shortfall is collected the following month. Do not set it arbitrarily low hoping to save money. Set it at your actual average and let the Agile savings reduce it naturally over time.
5. Set up AgileAlert and bookmark it. The AgileAlert live dashboard shows half-hourly Agile prices for your region. Bookmark it before you switch. Find your DNO region by entering your postcode. Select it on the dashboard. You will use this tool every day from your first night on Agile, so having it ready means you start saving from day one rather than spending your first week figuring out where to find prices.
During the switch: the information you will need
The Octopus sign-up process takes 10-15 minutes. Have these six pieces of information ready before you start and the process will be completely uninterrupted.
Your postcode. Octopus uses this to identify your DNO region, show you region-specific tariff pricing, and confirm Agile availability in your area. Agile is available in all parts of Great Britain, so this is a confirmation step rather than an eligibility check.
Your MPAN number. As noted above: the 13-digit number on your bill in the "S" grid. This is the unique identifier for your electricity supply point. Without it, Octopus cannot register the switch or identify your meter in the national switching system.
A recent meter reading. Take a meter reading on the day you submit your switch. This becomes the starting point for your Agile billing and ensures your old supplier's final bill is accurate. If you have a smart meter, you can read the current total from the meter display. Write it down with the date and time.
Your bank sort code and account number. Agile runs on monthly direct debit. Have these to hand for the direct debit setup screen. Octopus uses a secure direct debit management system and stores your details in compliance with FCA regulations.
Your email address. Your Octopus account is email-based. Use an address you check regularly. Your switch confirmation, billing notifications, and price cap alerts all come to this address. If you switch to a tariff that responds to market prices, staying informed matters.
Your current supplier name and account number (optional but helpful). You do not need to supply this. Octopus can identify your supplier from your MPAN. But having your account number ready makes any queries faster to resolve if anything needs clarifying during the switching period.
After the switch: 3 actions in the first 48 hours
Your switch date arrives. Octopus sends a confirmation email. Here are the three things to do in the next 48 hours to ensure you start saving immediately.
Action 1: Open the AgileAlert dashboard and select your DNO region. Go to the live prices page. Select your region if you have not already done so. The dashboard shows tonight's and tomorrow's half-hourly price slots. Find the cheapest overnight window. That window is where your appliances should be running from tonight.
If you are unsure which region to select, enter your postcode into the AgileAlert search function or see our guide to DNO regions explained. Selecting the wrong region means you are looking at prices that do not reflect your actual charges. Get this right on day one.
Action 2: Set overnight timers on your washing machine and dishwasher. These are your two highest-impact quick wins. Both have delayed-start functions in their settings menus that most owners have never used. Set each one to start during the cheapest overnight window and stop before 6am. At 3p per kWh overnight versus 26p during the day, a washing machine cycle costs roughly 5p instead of 40p. A dishwasher cycle costs roughly 6p instead of 55p. Do this 4-5 times a week and the annual saving from these two appliances alone approaches £100.
Action 3: Verify half-hourly data is appearing in your Octopus app. Open the Octopus app and navigate to the usage section. Within 24-48 hours of your switch date, you should see individual 30-minute consumption bars rather than just daily totals. If you are still seeing only daily data after 48 hours, contact Octopus. Their team can check your DCC connection status and trigger a re-enrolment if the data link did not establish automatically. Do not leave this unresolved for more than 3 days. Without half-hourly data, Agile billing cannot function correctly.
Day one routine: building your AgileAlert habit
The difference between an Agile customer saving £200 a year and one saving £440 is the daily price check habit. It takes 90 seconds. It shapes everything that follows.
Every morning, open the AgileAlert dashboard and glance at today's price chart. Notice where the peaks sit and where the troughs are. If there is a midday dip, schedule your heavier loads for that window. If prices are flat and low all day, relax your scheduling and run appliances whenever convenient.
Every evening before bed, check the overnight window. The cheapest prices of the 24-hour period are almost always between 11pm and 6am. If overnight prices look particularly low (below 5p), it is worth running larger loads you might otherwise delay. If there is a plunge pricing event (negative prices, which occur 5-10 times per month on average), this is a genuinely free electricity window. Run everything you can.
Before bed, confirm your timers are set. Washing machine for the cheap overnight window. Dishwasher for after midnight. EV charger scheduled to run from 11pm if applicable. This takes 30 seconds. It saves money every single night.
The habit is not about obsessing over electricity. It is about a brief daily awareness that gradually shifts your usage patterns in ways that compound over months and years. Most Agile customers report that after 2-3 weeks, the check is as automatic as checking the weather.
First month checklist: how to know it is working
After 30 days on Agile, run through these checks to confirm the tariff is working as it should and that your habits are having the intended effect.
Check your Octopus app weekly for half-hourly usage spikes. The app shows your consumption in 30-minute intervals. Look for any consistent spikes in the 4pm-8pm window. These are the expensive peak hours on Agile, and any usage here is costing you significantly more than usage during other times. If you see spikes on weekday evenings, identify what is causing them and whether any of it is shiftable.
Compare your bill to the same month last year. Your first Agile bill will not reflect a full month of optimised behaviour if you switched partway through. But comparing your second or third Agile bill to the equivalent month in the previous year gives a meaningful comparison. Allow for temperature differences (cold months use more heating) and any changes to your household.
Check your plunge pricing events. Octopus notifies Agile customers when plunge pricing events are scheduled. These are periods when Agile prices go negative, meaning Octopus effectively pays you to use electricity. Five to ten of these events occur monthly on average, particularly overnight when renewable generation is high and demand is low. If you have not received any plunge pricing notifications, check your notification settings in the Octopus app.
Calculate your actual saving. Take your monthly Agile bill. Compare it to what you would have paid at 26.11p per kWh for the same number of units. The difference is your Agile saving for that month. If the saving is significant (typically £30-50 per month for a typical household), the tariff is working. If it is lower, review your peak-hour usage in the app and look for opportunities to shift more consumption to overnight windows.