Guides
Agile alerts explained
Alerts help when checking prices manually is less reliable than being notified at the right time.
Short answer
Agile alerts are most useful when you care about a specific trigger such as tomorrow’s prices arriving, a price dropping below a threshold, or a cheap window becoming available. They are best when they save you from repeatedly checking the chart yourself. The goal is not more notifications, but better-timed decisions.
If you want live context while reading, check the dashboard, test a real run in the appliance timer, set a trigger in alerts, or compare the same day across regions.
Tomorrow prices
A tomorrow-ready alert helps you plan later loads as soon as the next day’s prices are published. This is useful when you prefer to make one planning decision in the evening rather than watch the dashboard throughout the day. It is often the simplest alert to start with. Once you know tomorrow’s shape, the appliance timer and dashboard become more useful immediately.
Threshold alerts
Threshold alerts are useful when you already know what rate is good enough for your household or appliance. They work best when you have a real cutoff rather than a vague hope that prices might look good. For example, you might only care when charging, heating water, or running a load becomes cheap enough to be worth acting on. That keeps the alert practical rather than noisy.
Cheapest-window alerts
Window alerts are better for longer loads that need more than one cheap slot in a row. A dishwasher, washing machine, or EV session often needs a valid block rather than a single cheap slot. That makes cheapest-window alerts a better match for real tasks. The point is to be told when a usable window exists, not when one slot briefly looks good.
Example
A negative-price alert can help you catch rare overnight opportunities without checking the chart repeatedly. If you only care when prices fall below 8p/kWh, a threshold alert is clearer than checking the dashboard several times a day. Alerts are about reducing manual effort, not guaranteeing savings.
What to watch out for
Alerts are best-efforts only. They help planning, but they are not a guarantee of delivery before every slot, and they do not replace a full tariff comparison.
Related tool
Use the practical view next
Related guides
Is Agile Octopus worth it?
Agile suits households that can shift meaningful usage away from the evening peak.
Best time to run a washing machine on Agile
The best slot is not always the most practical slot, so compare cheap windows against when you actually need the cycle to finish.
Best time to charge an EV
Agile can work for EV charging when you have enough overnight or daytime flexibility.
Reminder
These guides are practical and estimate-focused. They are not personalised tariff advice, and they do not replace a full bill comparison.