EDF Empower Tracker review (September 2026)

Against the price cap in West Midlands

The Ofgem cap for a single-rate direct debit meter here is 25.33p per kWh plus 59.71p a day. Today this tariff averaged 0.00p below the cap unit rate.

This compares one day’s unit rates only. What you pay also depends on the standing charge and on when you use electricity, so treat this as an indication rather than a saving. Cap period 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-30.

Estimated annual cost

£633a year

2,500 kWh a year in West Midlands, at 25.33p per kWh plus 0.00p a day standing charge.

Our estimate, using the average price EDF Empower Tracker actually charged over the last 31 days. EDF Empower Tracker prices change through the day, so what you pay depends on when you use electricity. This applies the time-weighted average price to every unit, equivalent to spreading usage evenly across the recorded price periods.

What you need

• A smart meter, since the discount and uplift windows have to be billed separately
• A twelve-month agreement, with no exit fees
• Electricity only — gas is priced on a separate EDF tariff
• Availability and eligibility confirmed by EDF for your address during sign-up

What drives what you pay

• How much you can shift into the three-hour discounted window in the early hours — a narrow target, and the whole of the tariff’s upside
• How much you cannot keep out of the late-afternoon window, where every unit costs 10p more than standard
• Your total consumption, because with no standing charge a light user starts the year several tens of pounds ahead of a standard tariff before using anything
• Ofgem’s price cap, which sets the base rate every quarter

If you have an EV

An EV tariff may be simpler if most of your flexible electricity is car charging. Intelligent Octopus Go schedules compatible cars or chargers; Octopus Go and EDF Go Electric use fixed overnight windows.

If you have solar without a battery

The import tariff and the rate paid for exported electricity are separate decisions. A straightforward export tariff can be more useful than a peak-weighted battery tariff when generation is exported as it happens.

If you have solar and a home battery

EDF Empower Tracker already targets a home with storage. Compare who controls the battery, the import/export bands and device compatibility rather than looking at one headline rate.

If you have a heat pump

A heat-pump tariff may align its cheaper periods with space and hot-water heating. Whether it wins depends on insulation, controls and how much heat can move away from expensive periods.

Octopus Tracker

The names match and the mechanisms do not. Octopus Tracker follows the wholesale market and reprices every day, so it can fall a long way below the cap or rise above it. Empower Tracker follows the Ofgem price cap and reprices quarterly, with a fixed discount and uplift attached to set hours. If you are comparing the two, you are comparing a market-linked tariff with a cap-linked one, not two versions of the same thing.

EDF Simply Tracker

The flat sibling. Simply Tracker is the same cap-following base with no time bands at all, a discounted standing charge, and gas available alongside — but it does carry an exit fee. Take Simply Tracker if you cannot use the early hours and want the standing charge discount instead; take Empower if you can.

EDF Standard Variable

Empower is Standard Variable with the edges bent and the standing charge removed. For a low user who avoids the late afternoon it is clearly better; for a heavy user who cooks at six it is clearly worse. The base rate is identical, so the whole decision is about when you use electricity and how much.