What Is The Octopus Mini For? Agile Phil Tells ALL!

[@NicolasRaimo]

Looking to join octopus split £100 with me go to evnick.com/energy

[@RWBHere]

Savings sessions are great, but those who have already invested thousands of pounds in battery storage are at a disadvantage with them.

[@NicolasRaimo]

@@RWBHere the. They are already better off saving sessions doesn’t make you anywhere near the benefits of having solar or battery storage

[@JohnR31415]

Having the mini publish locally over mqtt would be so nice.

[@bernardmills4575]

Well done to Philip and all those in Octopus for your caring support team and innovative approach to solving the energy problem. Many people will appreciate a bit of caring support especially those who are older. I work in IT myself and have tried to imagine all the services and back end software systems you need to achieve Intelligent Octopus. Its an amazing idea and achievement and must be great fun to develop. Well done to you all. I applaud your work.

[@bob23301]

These guys are how our energy security should be going in the UK, as i halved my lekky bill moving to them from the greedy proteering British gas.......a fantastic company in this insane cost of living crisis.

[@grahamwoodier5066]

Phil Steele's enthusiasm is great and the Mini seems to be a potentially useful product so I look forward to getting one, eventually. It might provide a solution for my IHD which has proved to be a big disappointment as it only connects to the Smart Meter for about 50% of the time.

[@JonathanPorterfield]

Very interesting Nick 👌 great interview 👍

[@NicolasRaimo]

Cheers JP any domains with octopus in ;)

[@alanlee4561]

I got my mini today and it's very informative 🙂I'm finding the vampires I never knew about!

[@NicolasRaimo]

Glad its helping! its a great tool wait till you get into home assistant

[@st200ol]

I got and email during the week, apparently mine is in the post, will be delivered today. I applied around a year ago so I’d forgotten all about it.

[@rrlabastida]

I have the mini and an Ivie from chamaleon technology, (essentially an IHD with a mini inside) , I'm liking the IVIE more at the moment and find the IHD useful in the kitchen (we have reduced the usebof the boost setting in our induction cooker and oven to keep within our solar system power size).

[@mikesmith666]

Unfortunately since I had my meters swapped to SMETS2 my Octopus Mini is just a useless piece of plastic that just won't connect to my HAN. Not good.

[@mitchcharles1729]

“Watch this space for an alternative HA device”. This if going to be fun.

[@NicolasRaimo]

It will be indeed ;)

[@paddylogan13]

These videos are very exciting and I admire what I Octopus are trying to do. However, my experience with Octopus is truly dreadful. I ordered my smart meter 18 months ago and I'm still don't have one that connects to the swan despite living on a street assessed as high probability of connection. The home mini doesn't work and I have requested assistance many times. The Customer service is beyond terrible. It may be no worse than others, but the idea of an energy revolution seems like unicorns and fairies to me at the moment. 10:36

[@mrmidland_traveller936]

I've been wanting 3 months for my mini. However, listening to Phil has been helpful. It may well be that a SMETS1 meter won't work with it. Great video though. I thought that the Fully Charged Live Show was great at Farnborough.

[@MartynDews]

It definitely works with the Secure branded SMETS1 meter because I have one and the mini works perfectly.

[@mrmidland_traveller936]

@@MartynDews That’s very useful to know. I’ll just have to be patient. Thanks

[@NicolasRaimo]

I was one of the first SMET1 SECURE brand beta testers it works, but it also can depend on your firmware version but secure tends to be a meter octopus can do a lot with... what brand is yours?

[@mrmidland_traveller936]

@@NicolasRaimo It’s the Secure SMETS1. Hopefully it should work. There is a communication issue with it at the moment in that although I’m on Go, the meter displays the old capped variable rate having been showing the Go tariff correctly previously. It means that on the IHD the real time costs aren’t correct. Octopus have said they can’t do anything about it other than confirming that I am on Go.

[@paddylogan13]

Octopus haven't given me the choice. They supplied a mini which doesn't work. Does Phil get any feedback from the customer service team?

[@mhastings3917]

Having had my smart meters fitted I am still awaiting some form of display. Not good.

[@justin.trading]

Agile was great, mine is coming to an end in June so losing the 21p daily standing charge and 34p cap. Going up to 47.5p day standing charge and £1 cap (frightening). How often has it gone above 34p and are there 1/2hour slots at winter time at cheap rates or will all 48 half hours be put at a £1?

[@MrWobling]

I considered Agile but after periodically eye-balling the rates in the OctoWatchdog app, I went for Intelligent Octopus instead. Don't really understand why anyone would swallow the average Agile rates atm. 🤷‍♂️

[@justin.trading]

@@MrWobling 9 out of 10 times I’m fully Solar and not using these rates, other times I can import at < 15p a kWh and export at 15p kWh with go limited to 4p kWh export rate. My daily standing charge is currently only 21p a day too.

[@TeaBreak.]

Agile was great until May 2021. Should have been on a Go product since then. Intelligent is great if you have a compatible car.

[@kaiser1966]

I’m with Octopus and have solar and batteries and have an EV. Unfortunately I also have Smets1 meter so can’t move to suitable tariff until I get upgraded smart meter. Been waiting 3 months now. So if anyone wants a smart meter or Octopus Mini be prepared to wait a long long time.

[@justin.trading]

I'm getting real time usage data (electric) and daily 1/2 usage electric but not the real time export electric or 1/2 hourly export electic (current day) on the mini - is this normal and is there a way to get real time and current day electic data into the app of my exports

[@pshellien]

I have just added a mini to my home and don’t see any export data

[@davem3564]

after 4 years of smart meter issues, I'd love one of these mini'!! - can we sign up for a beta??

[@NicolasRaimo]

just google get me an octopus mini :)

[@stevenbarrett7648]

For real time saving sessions this will be a boon, send me one now !

[@robertsprigge5535]

This could be the tool I need in order to accurately compare the Smart meter with the data presented by the Battery inverter. Currently, I’m reading the IHD and getting conflicting figures. I’m getting leakage to the grid much of the time. The installer and importer say there’s nothing wrong, it’s normal for LuxPower. Unfortunately, my installer doesn’t believe in Smart meters and another installer says LuxPower uses a CT clamp to monitor the grid situation, being a cheap way of measuring albeit “with a margin of error”. This margin of error seems excessive. I want to use Octopus Flux, but this requires exporting at times I choose, not a leaky system!

[@NicolasRaimo]

All inverters will blow a little back to grid with house loads

[@bazcurtis178]

Was it Voltacare that Phil mentioned?

[@NicolasRaimo]

Voltaware

[@doriancreber7139]

Unfortunately.. my SMETS 1 meter is working on Octopus.. but NOT enrolled in the DCC system.. so won't work for me!! Annoyed....

[@NicolasRaimo]

Which meter

[@lharris828]

I got a home mini but it refuses to connect. Just wasted 2 days checking everything. Octopus takes 15 mins to answer but cannot help. They have arranged a call back..... I am an IT specialist.

[@NicolasRaimo]

That mini like one in my profile or the new version which is white

[@lharris828]

@@NicolasRaimo mine is pinkish. It refers to proximity to smart meter. I tried near the main smart meter and the indoor display meter. It stays flashing blue light. No info about the button on the Ohm itself! Useless so far🤔.

[@NicolasRaimo]

@@lharris828 try resetting it… unplug it, hold down the button then plug it in while still holding it give it 15 seconds and try again nearer to meter the better the outside meter the one in your house is the same as the pink one basically

[@lharris828]

@@NicolasRaimo I have completely given up. It just will not connect and Octopus is taking days to respond - with ludicrous suggestions 🙄

[@lharris828]

@@NicolasRaimo It seems that Octopus has identified at least one fault at their end. The light is now green......

[@TimMorley]

Just switched to Agile as a trial. Got a mini the other week, still cannot get working. Tried factory resets etc connects to WiFi (can see on router) yet sticks on flashing blue LED 😕

[@NicolasRaimo]

Could be… too far from meter to get zigbee signal so wall etc try see if your IHD works in same location, I moved mine and it stopped working and I had to reset it all and relocate it. It could also be issues Phil mentioned in video

[@TimMorley]

@@NicolasRaimo can I ask what procedure you used to reset it?

[@NicolasRaimo]

@@TimMorley holding down reset button unplugging it and replugging it while holding down button still then I released I got the method from octopus 🐙 if this doesn’t work let me know and I’ll dig out the guide I got

[@TimMorley]

@@NicolasRaimo cheers. Is that the button on the front or the recessed one near the usb port?

[@NicolasRaimo]

@@TimMorley big one at front from memory

[@richupson1319]

How do I get in contact with agile Phil? I’m an expert on wide area network technologies. The business i work for currently measures the data that crosses out global network in a fraction of a second in petabytes. In the video it refers to limitations with the dcc, there is no reason that the network should have any limitations at all, processing the data maybe but, even processing the data shouldn’t be subject to long delays. I’d love to speak to agile phill about getting data from hard to reach places at low cost.

[@Adeleisha]

Weird thing about the data delay - Loop and Uswitch apps usually have only a 2-3 hour delay on usage, not 24 hours 🤔

[@craigwalton0]

Any plans for gas consumption with the mini

[@NicolasRaimo]

Gas is on for DAY just not LIVE

[@MrJordanwain]

I am wondering if I can save with agile without a battery system or solar 🤔 has anyone else tried with a conventional grid connected only?

[@NicolasRaimo]

Got a friend doing just that

[@Cheadlebiker]

I’m sick of asking octopus energy to send out a google home mini they send me emails back saying we are sending you out a IHD they have no clue what I’m asking for so I’ve given up asking for one.

[@NicolasRaimo]

This isn’t anything to do with Google, there’s a special request page for mini and as explained by Phil not all meters support it

[@Adeleisha]

Yeah, wrong device name. You want to ask for the Octopus Home Mini.

[@Joe-lb8qn]

7 months on from this video, 15 months from launch ,and as far as I can see, still no sign of this fabled device (I applied for one ages ago) in terms of general availability. So, what's the big deal? Why aren't they available to everyone right now even if for a cost ? Are they a failure and just don't work ?

[@NicolasRaimo]

There now on the 2nd version of them which has a mini screen on them so certainly not

[@Joe-lb8qn]

@@NicolasRaimo is the second version also made of unobtanium like the first one with only a handful to go around? Pardon my scepticism but no real sign 15 months after launch it's like an Elon Musk product.

[@2057ben]

I've been waiting 18 months now and still smart meter readigs not working, engineers from Octopus have been out but still can not get it working, so how f#!king smart is this.....

[@NicolasRaimo]

The Issue With Smart Meters No ONE Is Talking About kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaGQeYCFgN6HY9E

[@2057ben]

I might ask them for the mini to see if that works

[@MrSensible2]

Can I throw something into the Octopus ideas melting pot? How about offering customers a tariff that offers them a LIMITED AMOUNT (as opposed to a short time window) of cheap overnight electricity, specifically aimed at water heating with a conventional in-cylinder immersion heater system? I calculate I now use 50% of my gas for heating in the 4 months of winter & the other 50% for YEAR ROUND hot water. I reckon I need 6 kWh/day of gas for one cylinder of hot water. Because the cylinder is lagged, the water 'lasts' until you need your bath/shower. 6 kWh/day of gas would likely translate to 5.5 kWh/day of electricity & the price of that power would need to mirror the gas price for things to be economically viable. I see this as a means to reduce (not eliminate) domestic gas consumption on a year-round basis & replace it with off-peak greener power leveraging the domestic infrastructure that many homes already have. You wouldn't need an expensive heat pump or even to own an EV to benefit from such a tariff, just a cheap timer socket for the plug on the immersion heater. I'd go for such a tariff & I'd feel like I was doing my bit for Net Zero without first parting with vast amounts of dosh.

[@NicolasRaimo]

The time is based on when energy is typically cheapest, if you wanted "limited" more try agile which changes half hourly

[@MrSensible2]

@@NicolasRaimo My lad's just gone over to Agile. I've been looking at his numbers & I'm not sure it works for what I'm suggesting. For April 2023, Agile off-peak averages 23.8p/kWh. I currently pay 10.22 p/kWh for with EDF. Even taking into account boiler inefficiency, there's no way Agile, in it's current form, would be remotely cost-competitive versus gas. Interestingly with EDF Economy 7, you CAN get off-peak leccy at 6.79p/kWh which is way MORE cost-effective than gas. It says to me there might be wiggle room for the energy companies to let people have say, their first 5.5kWh of leccy, (provided it was consumed between 01:00 & 04:00) at 12p/kWh, and then anything above 5.5kWh at a higher, more normal rate.

[@Adeleisha]

Timer socket for the plug - on an immersion heater?! There shouldn’t be a plug, it has to have its own fused spur. But you can get a timer for that, just isn’t as cheap as a socket timer.

[@anthonyhill8061]

Be nice if i could get a bill from them... :(

[@NicolasRaimo]

Assume your on an adaptive deal? It’s normally due to DCC missing some meter read data ask octopus to push it again, it can take sometime however bear in mind they can’t back bill you after 12 months so you could get some months for free once it goes over that period

[@Sand4Gold]

There is no legislation that allows these energy companies to impose tariffs at will, biggest con to date!?

[@NicolasRaimo]

Sorry what are you meaning?

[@OraEtLabora0]

and that's great! most of their customers volunteer 😉

[@Cheadlebiker]

I never got that option a IHD or a home mini so he is a liar

[@NicolasRaimo]

As he said it depends what they have on van 🚐

[@itsmrfish1]

It’s a load of shi$e