Getting Started

This site is designed to let energy consumers with smart meters access the information that these devices collect in a secure way. I want it to be something that is easy to use, but also gives reliable data and useful insights. This page is designed to help you get started as quickly as possible. Initially it is limited to customers of Octopus Energy or those with an n3rgy account (these are free to set up and should work with most UK smart meters).

If you have questions or suggestions, you can email me on guy.j.lipman @ gmail.com (removing the spaces). I do have more features planned, but I will be guided by suggestions from users. I hope you find it useful.

Loading data for the first time

To get started, you want to load some data.

At this stage the website won't store anything, but will check with Octopus or n3rgy that your key is valid, and let you know what data we can load. If you want then, you can click a button to load electricity consumption data, gas consumption data (if you have it) or electricity export data (if you have it).

If you click on the Load button, it will load and store the data going back as far as 1 January 2019. You can delete it at any point, or I will delete it automatically within 24 hours of you loading it. I don't store your security key, but do create a unique session_id which allows you to access your data for the next hour.

Electricity Consumption Data

The first page to look at is the consumption charts. These show monthly consumption since 2019, daily consumption for a given month, and half hourly consumption for a given day. You can navigate between the different views.

A useful tip for many of the views: if you want to limit the data that is picked up, you can add a start and end date in the url. For example, &start=2020/01/01&end=2020/03/31 will just show the data for Q1 2020.

Electricity Cost Data

Similarly to electricity consumption, you can see monthly cost since 2019, daily cost for a given month, and half hourly cost for a given day.

In order to calculate the cost, we need to know your tariff. You can set a fixed tariff (&tariff=15) - this is interpreted as the tariff in p/kwh, including VAT, and excluding any standing charges. Alternatively, you can use a time-varying tariff like Octopus's AGILE-18-02-21, AGILE-FLEX-22-11-25 or GO-18-06-12 (at the moment these are the only time-varying tariffs I've made available, but I will be adding more later). In order to use the time-varying tariffs, you will also need to include your region code, eg C for London. So for me, I set &tariff=AGILE-18-02-21&region=C. If you aren't sure what your region code is, you can find it on the Admin page, or if you leave it off you'll be presented with a list.

Carbon Intensity

This page allows you to view your average carbon intensity and compare it with what it would have been if you consumed with a profile/shape that matched the average UK domestic customer. You can drill down to daily or half-hourly level.

Electricity Bill Calculator

The bill calculator lets you calculate what your bill should have been between two dates. As with the Cost Data, you will need to include either a fixed or time-varying tariff. If fixed, include a price (including VAT). If time-varying, you will need to include the region. If you have already set these in the url, it should pick them up automatically. You will also need to include the daily standing charge (including VAT).

It should be noted that the bill calculated won't be exactly the same as what your supplier calculates, because of rounding of consumption and costs. However, it should get you within a percent or two. If you're out by more please get in touch and I can look into it.

Save to CSV

This page allows you to generate a csv with your half-hourly consumption, prices and costs, and daily consumption and costs.

Gas Data

Most of the features for gas consumption data work similarly to electricity consumption data, so make sure you read the sections above.

For gas, the tariff it uses for calculating cost should be set with &gastariff=3.5 (including VAT, excluding standing charges). The reason This allows you to switch back and forth between electricity and gas without modifying the url parameters.

You can also use the Octopus Gas Tracker tariff, ie gastariff=SILVER-2017-1, in which case you also need to include your region, eg region=C (your region will by the same for electricity and gas).

If your meter is SMETS2, the gas consumption data we receive is in cubic metres, not kwh. Unfortunately I can't reliably tell from Octopus or n3rgy whether you are SMETS1 or 2, so I can't adjust it automatically. As a result, if you are SMETS2 you will need to add a parameter &gasmult=11.19 or something like that. This conversion should be specified on your latest bill, and is made up of a volume correction factor (around 1.02264) multiplied by a calorific value (around 40) divided by a kwh conversion factor (3.6).

Electricity Export Data

Most of the features for electricity export data work similarly to electricity consumption data, so make sure you read the sections above.

For electricity export, the tariff it uses for calculating is specified with &exporttariff=5.5 (in p/kwh, export tariffs don't have VAT). This allows you to switch back and forth between consumption and export without modifying the url parameters.

You can also use the Octopus Agile Outgoing tariff, ie exporttariff=AGILE-OUTGOING-19-05-13, in which case you also need to include your region, eg region=C (your region will by the same for consumption and export).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are there lots of parameters in the URL? You will notice that the url will often contain a number of additional parameters, for example mode, tariffs and your octopus/n3rgy key. I do this to make it easy to see and change assumptions, for you to be able to bookmark particular screens, and also for me to be able to replicate any issues you face.

What is the mode parameter in the URL? The url should include a mode parameter, which will be a 3 digit code, eg 100. This keeps track of what data we have stored, and therefore what options to show you. 100 means we just have your electricity consumption data. 110 means we have electricity and gas consumption data. 101 means we just have electricity consumption and export data. And 111 means we have electricity consumption and export data as well as gas data. If you remove this flag it will reset it automatically. You can modify it manually, but it may lead to you seeing irrelevant options, or missing valid ones.