What Electricity Costs Right Now Screensaver
The What Electricity Costs Right Now screensaver shows the Octopus Agile half-hourly tariff, read live and key-less. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
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Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the What Electricity Costs Right Now screensaver works
The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.
The Octopus Agile half-hourly tariff, read live and key-less. Agile passes the wholesale day-ahead price straight to the household, so the curve has a real shape — a teatime peak, an overnight trough, and on windy nights a genuinely negative price.
It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.
Colours and any options can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.
Half-hourly electricity prices
Agile Octopus is a variable electricity tariff from Octopus Energy in Great Britain. Instead of one flat rate, the unit price changes every half hour and tracks wholesale market rates. Octopus sets the rates for the following 24 hours between about 4pm and 8pm each day, usually nearer 4pm, so households can plan around them.
The shape of the daily curve reflects the grid: demand, wind and solar output all move the wholesale price. When prices drop below zero, Octopus calls it Plunge Pricing, and customers are paid for the electricity they use during those slots. At the other end, a Price Cap Protect guarantee means the rate will not exceed 100p per kilowatt-hour, a limit Octopus sets itself.
The figure shown is a unit rate in pence per kilowatt-hour only. Octopus's developer documentation publishes each half-hour slot both with and without VAT. The standing charge, a fixed daily amount, is separate, and what a bill comes to depends on when a home actually uses electricity. A tariff that suits someone who can shift usage, such as charging a car in the cheapest slots, may not suit others. The screen describes the price data and is not a recommendation of any tariff.
A worked example
The Octopus Agile half-hourly tariff, read live and key-less. Agile passes the wholesale day-ahead price straight to the household, so the curve has a real shape — a teatime peak, an overnight trough, and on windy nights a genuinely negative price.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display.
- Every value on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
- Press ESC to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real data?
- Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
- Is a key needed?
- No. This source is fully key-less.
- Is it free?
- Yes, and it runs entirely in your browser.
- Why can the price go negative?
- Agile follows wholesale rates, and when they fall below zero Octopus's Plunge Pricing pays customers for the electricity they use in those half-hours.
- Are these prices the whole bill?
- No. They are unit rates per kilowatt-hour. A daily standing charge and the amount of electricity used also affect the total.