Octopus Energy · Import tariff · VAT included
Cosy Octopus prices
Cheap electricity in set blocks through the day, built around heat pumps.
Your postcode is sent once to Octopus Energy’s public region lookup — the same one they bill from. We do not put it in the URL, analytics or database, and do not keep it.
Cosy Octopus is shaped for heat pumps. Rather than one cheap window overnight, it puts several cheap blocks through the day, so a heat pump can run hard when electricity is cheap and coast the rest of the time.
There is also an expensive block in the late afternoon and early evening, when demand across the country is highest. The band schedule above shows the current shape and prices for your region.
Showing West Midlands. Tariff code E-1R-COSY-22-12-08-E.
- Average today
- 22.81p
- Cheapest today
- 12.54p
- Most expensive today
- 38.34p
- Standing charge
- 57.35p
weighted by how long each price lasts
per day
Today’s price bands
Cosy Octopus repeats a daily shape rather than pricing every half hour separately, so the bands are the schedule.
| From | To | Hours | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 04:00 | 4.0 | 25.56p |
| 04:00 | 07:00 | 3.0 | 12.54pcheapest |
| 07:00 | 13:00 | 6.0 | 25.56p |
| 13:00 | 16:00 | 3.0 | 12.54pcheapest |
| 16:00 | 19:00 | 3.0 | 38.34pmost expensive |
| 19:00 | 22:00 | 3.0 | 25.56p |
| 22:00 | 00:00 | 2.0 | 12.54pcheapest |
This tariff does not publish a separate set of prices for tomorrow — the same daily pattern applies.
When to use electricity
- Cheapest 3-hour run starts 04:00, averaging 12.54p per kWh.
- Cheapest half hour today is 04:00 at 12.54p.
- Most expensive is 16:00 at 38.34p, so it is worth avoiding heavy use then.
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 2.52p 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
£848a year
2,500 kWh a year in West Midlands, at 25.56p per kWh plus 57.35p a day standing charge.
Cosy Octopusprices change over time, but we do not yet hold enough days of them to take a meaningful average, so this uses the tariff’s standard rate — what you would pay having shifted nothing. Expect the real figure to be lower, and this estimate to sharpen as the price history builds.
Price history
The line is the average price for each day; the shaded band is the cheapest and most expensive price within it.
Last 30 days: 4 days from 02 Aug to 05 Aug. Average prices range from 22.81p to 23.98p per kWh, with the shaded band showing the cheapest and most expensive price in each period.
1 of 4 periods are only partly covered by stored prices and are shown as they are rather than filled in.
Show these 4 figures as a table
| Period | Average | Cheapest | Most expensive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 Aug | 23.98p | 12.54p | 38.34p |
| 03 Aug | 22.81p | 12.54p | 38.34p |
| 04 Aug | 22.81p | 12.54p | 38.34p |
| 05 Aug | 22.81p | 12.54p | 38.34p |
Prices by region
Cosy Octopus unit rate by region
The average price per unit on 2026-08-05. Where you live changes what you pay, because the cost of distributing electricity differs by network.
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
| Region | Per kWh |
|---|---|
| East Midlands | 22.60p |
| North East England | 22.73p |
| Yorkshire | 22.77p |
| West Midlands | 22.81p |
| Southern Scotland | 23.29p |
| North West England | 23.59p |
| London | 23.77p |
| South Wales | 23.78p |
| Eastern England | 23.81p |
| South West England | 23.84p |
| Southern England | 23.85p |
| Northern Scotland | 23.89p |
| South East England | 24.09p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 25.01p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
Cosy Octopus standing charge by region
The daily charge you pay before using any electricity at all. It varies more between regions than the unit rate does, and you cannot avoid it by using less.
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
| Region | Per day |
|---|---|
| London | 42.4p |
| North West England | 44.9p |
| Southern England | 47.7p |
| East Midlands | 51.1p |
| Eastern England | 52.2p |
| South East England | 52.8p |
| South Wales | 54.9p |
| Northern Scotland | 56.3p |
| South West England | 56.3p |
| West Midlands | 57.3p |
| North East England | 61.5p |
| Yorkshire | 61.7p |
| Southern Scotland | 62.8p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 68.0p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
Context
The price cap since Oct 18
A year of energy at typical consumption, paying by direct debit. This is the benchmark every tariff on this site is measured against, and it is a Great Britain figure rather than a regional one.
The cap peaked at £3,582 in Jan - Mar 2023 and stands at £1,663 for July - Sept 2026.
Show every period
| Period | Cap level |
|---|---|
| July - Sept 2026 | £1,663 |
| Apr - June 26 | £1,477 |
| Jan - Mar 2026 | £1,584 |
| Oct - Dec 2025 | £1,576 |
| July - Sept 2025 | £1,541 |
| Apr - June 25 | £1,655 |
| Jan - Mar 25 | £1,561 |
| Oct - Dec 24 | £1,543 |
| July-Sept 2024 | £1,414 |
| Apr-June 2024 | £1,521 |
| Jan - Mar 2024 | £1,723 |
| Oct - Dec 2023 | £1,641 |
| July-Sept 2023 | £1,766 |
| Apr-June 2023 | £2,762 |
| Jan - Mar 2023 | £3,582 |
| Oct - Dec 2022 | £2,972 |
| 2022 summer | £1,673 |
| 2021/22 winter | £1,093 |
| 2021 summer | £979 |
| 2020/21 winter | £899 |
| 2020 summer | £967 |
| 2019/20 winter | £979 |
| 2019 summer | £1,039 |
| 2018/19 winter | £945 |
Estimate what it would cost
Enter a number of kWh to see what it would costat today’s average price.
How Cosy Octopus works
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.
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.
What you need
- A smart meter sending half-hourly readings
- In practice a heat pump or electric heating, since that is the load the bands are built around
- 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
Who it tends 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
Who it tends not 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
Things to watch
- 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.
Cosy Octopus compared with the alternatives
- Against Agile Octopus
- Agile can be cheaper for a heat pump that is genuinely controllable half hour by half hour, but it requires active management. Cosy gives a fixed, predictable shape you can set controls against once. For most heat-pump households Cosy is the lower-effort choice.
- Against 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. Cosy spreads the cheap periods across the day for exactly that reason.
- Against Flexible Octopus
- Flexible is one rate all day. 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.
How to switch to Cosy Octopus
- Open to new and existing customers with a smart meter on half-hourly readings; new customers join Flexible Octopus first.
- Nothing needs connecting or approving beyond the meter — the cheap bands apply from the day the tariff starts, whatever heating you have.
- No exit fees, with the standard 30-day lock-out on smart import tariffs after leaving.
Our verdict on Cosy Octopus
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.
With electric heating you can schedule, it is among the cheapest ways to run a home. Without it, the peak rate does more damage than the cheap bands repair, and a flat tariff will beat it.
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
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.