How Octopus Tracker Saved Me £50 a Month (And Why I Quit)

You’ve probably heard people banging on about the Octopus Tracker tariff. Cheap energy, wholesale prices, big savings. Sounds great on paper. But is it actually worth switching to? And more importantly, is it right for you?

I’ve been there, tried it properly, saved real money… and then switched away again. Here’s the honest version, without the sales pitch.

I’ve been with Octopus Energy for years. Love is probably the wrong word for a company that takes £150+ off me most months, but compared to a lot of energy suppliers, Octopus is usually better value and far more transparent.

After buying an electric car, I moved onto Intelligent Octopus to charge cheaply overnight. That worked well, but once I started digging into the numbers, I realised I could save even more by switching (partly) to Octopus Tracker.

What is the Octopus Tracker tariff?

Tracker was the first UK tariff to directly follow wholesale energy prices. Instead of rates being fixed for months, your unit price changes daily based on the wholesale market. If prices drop, you benefit almost immediately. If they rise, you feel it just as fast.

That’s the trade-off.

Is it for both fuels?

Yes. You can put both fuels on Tracker, or just one. In my case, I kept electricity comparisons against Go tariffs and used Tracker mainly to hammer down my gas bill.

Can anyone join?

Not everyone. You need a working smart meter so Octopus can bill you accurately based on daily usage.

It’s also technically still a beta tariff. That means places are sometimes limited. If it’s closed, you can join the waitlist and they’ll email you when it reopens.

Can you leave easily?

Yes. There’s no exit fee, and you can switch back online. However, if you leave Tracker, you can’t rejoin for nine months. That rule matters more than people realise, especially if prices fall again after you leave.

Why Tracker can save you money

Most standard energy tariffs are priced well above wholesale rates to protect suppliers from volatility. Tracker strips a lot of that padding away.

When wholesale prices are calm, Tracker can absolutely smash standard variable tariffs and even some fixed deals.

The downside (and it’s a big one)

Wholesale prices are volatile. We’ve all seen what happens when energy markets go mad.

Although Tracker does have a unit rate cap, it’s set at 100p per kWh, which is far higher than the price cap enforced by Ofgem. That’s worst-case stuff, but you need to be comfortable knowing it’s possible.

In winter, many homes use around 15kWh of electricity per day. At extreme rates, that could mean a £15 daily electricity bill before standing charges. If that idea makes you nervous, Tracker probably isn’t for you.

My real Octopus Tracker results

I don’t do “theoretical savings”. These are my actual figures.

At the time, I was comparing electricity costs between Intelligent Go and Tracker. Gas was on Tracker and compared against Flexible.

I used the Octopus Compare app to do the heavy lifting. It links directly to your Octopus account and shows exactly what you would have paid on different tariffs, day by day.

Here’s how electricity stacked up over this period:

Total electricity used: 505.76 kWh
Intelligent Go total: £142.47
Tracker total: £107.76

That’s a saving of almost £35 in under a month. There were only two days where Go worked out cheaper.

If I’d stayed on Octopus Flexible, the same electricity would have cost £161.81, making Tracker even more of a win.

Gas savings on Tracker

The app doesn’t compare gas, but the maths is straightforward.

Gas used: 1,515.1 kWh
Tracker gas cost: £66.03
Flexible gas cost: £90.45

That’s another £24.42 saved in a single month.

Put together, Tracker was saving me over £50 per month compared to standard tariffs. No tricks. Just lower unit prices.

So why did I switch away?

Because tariffs don’t stand still.

By late 2024, Tracker prices had crept up. They were still cheaper than Flexible, but only by a couple of pence per kWh. Once you factor in standing charges and the way I charge my electric car, the savings just weren’t worth the risk anymore.

With an EV, Octopus Go made more sense for me, especially during winter when electricity usage is higher and price spikes hurt more.

Tracker wasn’t bad. It just stopped being the best option for my situation.

How to check if Octopus Tracker is cheaper for you

For electricity, the easiest route is using the Octopus Compare app. Once linked, you can see exactly how Tracker compares against Go, Intelligent, Flexible and any other tariff you’re interested in.

For gas, grab a recent bill and check your current unit rate. Then search for “Octopus Tracker gas price history”. Several independent sites publish daily Tracker rates, which you can compare against what you’re paying now.

Don’t ignore standing charges

This is where people trip up.

Tracker’s standing charges used to be much lower. They’ve risen over time, and in some regions they’re noticeably higher than other tariffs. Paying less per kWh doesn’t help if your daily standing charge wipes out the savings.

Always check both.

Final thoughts

For a long time, Octopus Tracker was a no-brainer for me. It cut my bills significantly, especially for gas. But once prices shifted and my EV usage increased, it stopped being the best fit.

That doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. If you don’t have an electric car, use a decent amount of gas, and can tolerate a bit of price movement, Tracker can still save serious money.

Just go in with your eyes open. Wholesale pricing cuts both ways.