Need to sync your photo voltaic, battery or EV with the most affordable occasions in your good tariff? With Octopus Labs, it is easy — and a terrific little wet day job to sink your enamel into. Phil Steele, our “Tech Evangelist,” is right here to inform you extra.
Brief on time? Skip forward:
What’s Octopus Labs and the way can it profit you?
Octopus Labs is our very personal analysis and improvement platform. It is the place we run trials and launch new providers tremendous speedily.
Again in 2021, we kickstarted the platform with Powerloop – an app we trialled to handle the charging and discharging of Nissan Leaf V2G electrical automobiles. Since then, Octopus Labs has develop into house to every kind of revolutionary concepts, together with the very first prototypes for issues like Clever Octopus Go and Octopus Fan Membership.
And the very best half? It is open to you, our prospects – with over 30,000 on the platform to date.
As soon as signed up, you’ll be able to set schedules for a number of units, get an in depth view of your vitality use, and see your carbon emissions — tremendous cool techy stuff that might swimsuit anybody eager to develop into a extra lively participant of their vitality use.
Plus, it’s free to make use of!
Listed here are a number of the methods it may enable you to:
- Optimise your photo voltaic and battery to cost based mostly on the very best Agile Outgoing costs.
- Bought an EV? Schedule your battery to cost in your super-cheap Clever charging fee.
- Bought two EVs and a GivEnergy EV charger? Get each automobiles synced up with low value durations on Clever Octopus Go.
The flexibility to make modifications on the fly or on the final minute has been a game-changer for me. The applying has made it simpler to optimise my vitality utilization and make sure that my battery is all the time charged after I want it.
Francois, Maidenhead
Tips on how to create an account
You may be questioning why you’ll be able to’t entry these things out of your Octopus account— there is a good cause. Octopus Labs is the place we check out concepts earlier than they go mainstream. As it is a beta website and issues are continuously evolving, there may be a couple of bumps alongside the way in which. However holding it separate from our most important web site means Phil and the gang can check and experiment much more speedily. It’s kind of just like the Octopus Wild West, dive in and see for your self!
As soon as you’ve got arrange an account, here is add a tool:
To get began with Octopus Labs, you may have to hyperlink your good house tech to the platform. It’s fast and straightforward, however first, you’ll have to seize the API key or ‘token’ in your units. Consider it as a digital handshake — a string of numbers that connects your machine to our tariffs. Unsure the place to search out it? Your machine account settings are normally the very best place to begin.
Comply with these steps so as to add a tool:
- Go to the menu
- Click on on ‘Gadgets’
- Select ‘Add model’
- Fill within the particulars of your machine then click on ‘Create model’
- Go into your machine account settings to search out your API key or token
- Paste your API key or token into the ‘Model Authentication’ field
- Press ‘Verify’ so as to add your machine to the dashboard
Tips on how to set a schedule for good tech:
That is the enjoyable half. On Octopus Labs, you’ll be able to set a ton of schedules and optimisations based mostly on the most affordable value durations in your good tariff. There’s the fundamental stuff: like setting occasions and dates. After which there’s the cool stuff: like telling your photo voltaic and battery system to export once you’ll get essentially the most bang in your buck.
Comply with these steps to create a schedule:
- Go to the menu
- Click on on ‘Scheduler’ and a calendar will seem
- Click on a time on the calendar to create an occasion
- Select the title, begin and finish date, and frequency
- Choose your machine from the drop down
- Set your optimisation standards (once you need it to cost and discharge!)
- Click on ‘Create’
For those who’re optimising your tech on the Agile tariff:
- Comply with the steps above till you set the optimisation
- The place it says ‘Optimisation to make use of,’ toggle the button to ‘Octopus’
- Select your cost charges e.g. cost if fee is decrease than…
- Click on ‘Create’
- Now you’ve got set your machine schedule!
What units are suitable?
Presently, Octopus Labs works with the next manufacturers: GivEnergy, LuxPower, SolarEdge, Nibe, Airex, Voltaware, SolaxPower and Tado.
Phil and his crew are including extra units to the platform on a regular basis, so if yours does not characteristic in the intervening time, there is a good probability it would quickly.
Octopus Labs improvements and success tales
Octopus Fan Membership
We first constructed Fan Membership in Octopus Labs to show it was doable to trace dwell wind turbine knowledge and apply reductions to member payments. Following success within the UK, we unfold our wings to Germany – earlier than introducing it to the Octopus mainstream.
Since our official launch, greater than 36,000 folks from everywhere in the UK have requested us to deliver Fan Membership to their neighborhood. And with websites in Yorkshire and Wales thriving, we’re on a mission to unfold this windy revolution far and broad so extra folks can profit.
Electrical Match
With our prototype for the revolutionary Electrical Match tariff, we created a dwell dashboard that lets enterprise prospects see once they use essentially the most electrical energy – and match these durations to particular renewable sources within the UK.
This implies companies can plan to make use of extra electrical energy when their mills are supplying loads of inexperienced goodness. As a result of matched vitality is completely carbon-free, it may well assist companies transfer towards 24/7 carbon-free electrical energy.
The House Professional (older brother to the House Mini)
House Professional is the older, lesser-known brother of the Octopus House Mini – and the primary {hardware} machine we ever made. (Yep, it was even round earlier than our Cosy warmth pumps!)
Though the House Professional by no means made it past a trial of 150 prospects, it helped us ship the House Mini in document time. So it nonetheless has a particular place in our hearts.
Photo voltaic Sharing
Final summer time we launched Photo voltaic Sharing. Impressed by Stuart over Twitter, Photo voltaic Sharing permits prospects to donate the price of their extra photo voltaic vitality to our Octo Help Fund or Nationwide Vitality Motion – serving to others who may be combating their vitality payments.
Tenant Energy
Tenant Energy is a tariff designed to assist social housing tenants lower your expenses whereas encouraging landlords to go inexperienced. Launched in Might 2025, this game-changing tariff provides tenants in social, inexpensive, and shared possession housing a reduction on their vitality payments of as much as £200 per yr – whereas benefiting landlords, who’re paid for any extra vitality produced by the houses’ photo voltaic panels.
Any social house with photo voltaic panels and an Octopus-optimised battery can join Tenant Energy. If landlords add further low-carbon tech, like good warmth pumps, tenants may save much more.
Here is what prospects are saying…
As a home-owner with photo voltaic panels and batteries, I rely closely on my inverter scheduling API to handle the cost and discharge of my battery.
Nonetheless, when the server for my API Inverter went down for a couple of days, I discovered myself in want of another resolution. That is after I found OctopusEnergy Labs.
I used to be happy to search out that the OctopusEnergy R&D Labs internet software gives extra flexibility in scheduling the cost and discharge of my battery. The flexibility schedule or to make modifications on the fly or on the final minute has been a game-changer for me. The applying has made it simpler to optimize my vitality utilization and make sure that my battery is all the time charged after I want it.
Francois, Maidenhead
I’m a confirmed fan of Octopus and particularly R&D, what else can I say?
I just like the agile system and attempt to make finest use of the charges, not all the time efficiently however reckon that I’m saving sufficient to get a 5 yr payback on my SV/battery system which might’t be unhealthy. There are occasional hiccups however your response and assist has all the time been wonderful, most impressed.
Graham, Bicester
The Octopus Labs Discussion board
After we run trials (such because the House Professional), we’ll normally supply them first through our Octopus Labs discussion board. Our discussion board tends to be closely tech-focused, with plenty of detailed chat about vitality tech.
It isn’t a spot for getting assist on meters and billing, however for actually participating know-how discussions and sharing. For instance, right here’s a current dialogue in regards to the detailed spec of the Cosy-9 ASHP:
Assist us unfold the phrase
Discovered a nifty option to programme your property units on Octopus Labs? We would love to listen to about it and suppose others would too. Tag us on social media sharing your experiences (and experiments) to assist extra folks save by syncing up good house tech.
