Cosy Octopus review (November 2026)
Cheap electricity in set blocks through the day, built around heat pumps.
Live tariff data
Cosy Octopus prices for your area
Current prices for East Midlands. Rates and standing charges vary by electricity region.
Showing prices for East Midlands
Today’s price bands
East Midlands
- Average today
- 24.51p
- Cheapest today
- 13.46p
- Most expensive today
- 41.18p
- Standing charge
- 50.75p
weighted by how long each price lasts
per day
Daily schedule
Today’s price bands
Cosy Octopus repeats a daily shape. The times below are the complete schedule in local time.
Lowest rate
13.46p/kWh
Highest rate
41.18p/kWh
| From | To | Duration | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 04:00 | 4.0 hours | 27.45p/kWh |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 3.0 hours | 13.46p/kWhBest price |
| 07:00 | 13:00 | 6.0 hours | 27.45p/kWh |
| 13:00 | 16:00 | 3.0 hours | 13.46p/kWhBest price |
| 16:00 | 19:00 | 3.0 hours | 41.18p/kWhHighest |
| 19:00 | 22:00 | 3.0 hours | 27.45p/kWh |
| 22:00 | 00:00 | 2.0 hours | 13.46p/kWhBest price |
What the daily bands add up to
Calculated from the complete band schedule shown above. It describes the tariff, not how much of your electricity will land in each period.
- Time at the cheapest rate
- 8 hours
- 33.3% of the schedule
- Time-weighted band average
- 24.51p/kWh
- Assumes constant use or export through the day
- Highest-to-lowest spread
- 27.72p/kWh
- A price difference, not a saving or battery profit
When to use electricity
- Cheapest 3-hour run starts 04:00, averaging 13.46p per kWh.
- Cheapest half hour today is 04:00 at 13.46p.
- Most expensive is 16:00 at 41.18p, so it is worth avoiding heavy use then.
Use your own figures
What could heat-pump electricity on Cosy Octopus cost?
Enter your expected usage for a simple 30-day illustration using the displayed average unit rate and standing charge.
Enter the electricity you expect to use over 30 days.
Enter a number of kWh to see what it would cost at today’s average price.
The short answer
Who Cosy Octopus is most likely to work for
Cosy is built around a heat pump's day: cheap blocks in the early hours, late morning and early afternoon, so the house and the hot water are heated when electricity is cheapest and coast through the expensive evening.
In its favour
- Cheap bands land where heating demand actually is
- Three separate cheap windows across the day
- No hardware compatibility requirement
- No exit fees
Against it
- Expensive outside the cheap bands
- Really only suits electric heating
- Bands are fixed, so they do not follow cheap prices
- Needs a smart meter on half-hourly readings
Read the fuller verdict and trade-offs
With electric heating you can schedule, the cheap bands can reduce running costs. Without enough use in those bands, the peak rate can outweigh the saving and a flat tariff may work out cheaper.
- A gas-heated home gains very little. The bands are built around a large electric heating load, and without one you are paying for complexity you cannot use.
- The late-afternoon peak coincides with cooking and coming home, which takes discipline to avoid.
- A poorly insulated house cannot coast between blocks, so the heating runs at peak anyway and the tariff works against you.
Tariff facts at a glance
- Current version
- Cosy Octopus
View product code
COSY-22-12-08- Price changes
- By time band
- The same scheduled price periods repeat each day
- Today’s full-day rate vs cap
- 0.85p per kWh below today
- A full-day regional average is needed for today’s comparison
- Annual illustration from history
- £757
- Based on 31 days of prices and 2,500 kWh a year, spread evenly. Includes the 50.75p daily standing charge; not a forecast.
Key tariff facts
- Variable-rate tariff
- No exit fee on the selected offer
- Monthly Direct Debit · Single-register meter
- Compatible smart meter required
- Electricity tariff
Against the price cap in East Midlands
0.85p
below the price cap
- Tariff today
- 24.51p/kWh
- Ofgem cap
- 25.36p/kWh
Unit rates only. The cap also has a 51.45p/day standing charge; your cost depends on when you use electricity. Cap period: 1 Oct 2026–31 Dec 2026.
Estimated annual cost
£757
a year
- Usage
- 2,500 kWh
- Average rate
- 22.88p/kWh
Uses 31 days of Cosy Octopus prices and the 50.75p/day standing charge in East Midlands. Timing affects the actual cost.
Octopus Energy: £872/year. Different basis; not directly comparable.
Price history
How Cosy Octopus prices have moved
The line is the average price for each day; the shaded range shows the cheapest and most expensive prices within it.
Choose one history view
Use a rolling period to look back from today, or open one calendar year. Selecting either view replaces the other.
Last 30 days: 31 days from 04 Oct to 03 Nov. Average prices range from 21.53p to 24.62p per kWh. The shaded band shows the cheapest and most expensive price in each period.
Show these 31 figures as a table
| Period | Average | Cheapest | Most expensive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 05 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 06 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 07 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 08 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 09 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 10 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 11 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 12 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 13 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 14 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 15 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 16 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 17 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 18 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 19 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 20 Oct | 21.53p | 11.83p | 36.18p |
| 21 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 22 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 23 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 24 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 25 Oct | 24.62p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 26 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 27 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 28 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 29 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 30 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 31 Oct | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 01 Nov | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 02 Nov | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
| 03 Nov | 24.51p | 13.46p | 41.18p |
View history coverage and range
Combined across 1 version of this tariff, each shown for the period it was on sale. We hold prices from Dec 2022. A gap means no version of this tariff was on sale then.
What this selected history can show
30 of 30 days are represented in the stored history. The figures below use complete daily or monthly periods only, so a partial period cannot create a false low or high.
This summary remains at daily or monthly level. Any separate statistics panel uses the complete daily distribution fields supplied by the rollup rather than inferring them from this chart.
- Lowest complete-period rate
- 11.83p/kWh
- Highest complete-period rate
- 41.18p/kWh
- Mean of complete-period averages
- 22.88p/kWh
Regional comparison
How prices differ across Great Britain
Cosy Octopus unit rate and standing charge by region
The average price per unit on 4 November 2026, including VAT. The table also shows the daily standing charge.
Selected region
East Midlands
- Unit rate
- 24.51p/kWh
- Standing charge
- 50.7p/day
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
View all regional prices
| Region | Per kWh | Standing charge per day |
|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 24.51p | 50.7p |
| North East England | 24.60p | 60.7p |
| Yorkshire | 24.74p | 60.9p |
| West Midlands | 24.75p | 56.6p |
| Southern Scotland | 25.23p | 61.4p |
| Northern Scotland | 25.46p | 55.3p |
| Southern England | 25.58p | 47.5p |
| North West England | 25.60p | 44.9p |
| South Wales | 25.66p | 54.4p |
| South West England | 25.69p | 55.5p |
| London | 25.70p | 42.3p |
| Eastern England | 25.72p | 51.7p |
| South East England | 25.98p | 52.2p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 26.93p | 66.7p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
Household fit
Who Cosy Octopus might be good for
The right answer depends on your equipment, routine and tolerance for changing prices—not just how much electricity you use.
Likely to suit
- Homes with a heat pump that can run hard during the cheap blocks
- Households with thermal storage — a hot water cylinder or a well-insulated home
- People willing to set heating schedules around a fixed daily shape
Less likely to suit
- Homes heated by gas, which gain little from cheap electricity blocks
- Anyone who cannot avoid the expensive late-afternoon peak
- Poorly insulated homes that cannot coast between the cheap blocks
Before switching
Check the requirements and what will affect the result
What you need
- A smart meter sending half-hourly readings
- A qualifying low-carbon heating system, such as a heat pump, confirmed during sign-up
- Available across Great Britain, priced by distribution region
What drives what you pay
- Whether your heating can actually be shifted into the cheap blocks, which depends on the system and the controls
- How well the building holds heat between blocks — insulation does more here than on most tariffs
- How much you use during the late-afternoon peak, which is the most expensive band
- The standing charge, which applies regardless
How it works
How Cosy Octopus sets its prices
The day is divided into repeating bands: several cheap blocks, a standard rate between them, and a higher peak in the late afternoon. The same shape repeats daily, so there is nothing to check.
Read the full pricing explanation
The design assumes heating that can be run in bursts and stored — a heat pump warming the house or a cylinder during a cheap block, then coasting. A home with thermal mass or a hot water cylinder gets more out of it than one without.
Because it is banded rather than half-hourly, the saving comes from arranging your heating around a fixed schedule rather than from watching prices.
Match the tariff to your home
Your largest electrical loads can change the answer
A specialist tariff can be better aligned with one large device, but its eligibility and expensive periods still matter. These are comparisons to make, not automatic recommendations.
Alternatives
Other smart tariffs from Octopus and EDF to compare
These are other smart-tariff comparisons from the two suppliers, not a claim that every option suits the same household.
Agile Octopus
Agile can be cheaper for a heat pump that is genuinely controllable half hour by half hour, but it requires active management.
More detail
Cosy gives a fixed, predictable shape you can set controls against once. For most heat-pump households Cosy is the lower-effort choice.
Octopus Go
Go concentrates everything into one overnight window, which suits a car but not a heat pump that needs to run during the day too.
More detail
Cosy spreads the cheap periods across the day for exactly that reason.
Flexible Octopus
Flexible is one rate all day.
More detail
If your heating cannot be shifted into Cosy’s blocks, Flexible is simpler and probably cheaper, because you would be paying Cosy’s peak without collecting its troughs.
Current product options
Current versions of Cosy Octopus
View current tariff versions
The prices above use Cosy Octopus. Other versions may have different rates or terms, so check the name and code on your quote.
- Rates shown
Cosy Octopus
COSY-22-12-08
Variable rates
- Unit rate
- See full schedule below
- Standing charge
- 50.75p/day
- Payment
- Monthly Direct Debit
- Exit fee
- None
Cosy Octopus 12M Fixed
COSY-FIX-12M-26-10-30
12-month fixed term
- Unit rate
- Check current quote
- Standing charge
- Check current quote
- Payment
- Monthly Direct Debit
- Exit fee
- £50
How to switch
Moving to Cosy Octopus
- 1
Open to new and existing customers with a smart meter on half-hourly readings; new customers join Flexible Octopus first.
- 2
Octopus checks the qualifying low-carbon heating system during sign-up; the tariff is not a general time-of-use product for a home with no eligible heating system.
- 3
No exit fees, with the standard 30-day lock-out on smart import tariffs after leaving.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cosy Octopus only for heat pumps?
It is designed around them. A home with electric heating or good thermal storage can benefit too, but a gas-heated home usually gains very little, because there is no large electric load to move into the cheap blocks.
When are the cheap blocks?
The current bands, with times and prices for your region, are in the schedule above. Octopus has adjusted the shape over the life of the tariff, so the live schedule is more reliable than any fixed times quoted elsewhere.
What happens during the peak band?
Electricity costs noticeably more than the standard rate, typically in the late afternoon and early evening. Avoiding heavy use then is the main discipline the tariff asks for.
Do I need to change my heating controls?
Usually yes. The saving comes from running the heat pump during the cheap blocks and coasting between them, which normally means setting a schedule rather than leaving it on a thermostat alone.
