Octopus Tracker explained: is daily wholesale pricing right for your heat pump?
Octopus Tracker prices your electricity differently every day, following the wholesale market rather than a fixed quarterly rate. On most days it comes in below the Ofgem cap. On some days it doesn't. For heat pump owners already on Cosy Octopus, it raises a real question: is the simplicity of daily-rate wholesale pricing worth giving up Cosy's guaranteed cheap windows?
What Octopus Tracker actually is
Octopus Tracker is a variable electricity tariff where your unit rate changes every day, based on the previous day's wholesale electricity market price. Unlike the standard cap-linked tariff (which changes quarterly) or Agile (which changes every 30 minutes), Tracker gives you one rate for the whole day — set at midnight and visible in the Octopus app before you commit to it.
The daily rate is calculated from wholesale market data plus a fixed margin. There's a safety cap of ~100p/kWh to protect against extreme market spikes, but on most days the rate sits comfortably below the standard Ofgem cap rate.
Key facts (mid-2026):
- No exit fees — you can switch away at any time
- Rates announced daily, visible in the Octopus app
- No off-peak windows — one flat rate applies for the whole 24 hours
- In a calm wholesale market (like May 2026) the average rate has been running around 18–20p/kWh
- In a volatile market (like February 2025) daily rates briefly exceeded the cap equivalent
How it compares to Cosy and Agile
| Feature | Cosy Octopus | Octopus Tracker | Octopus Agile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate structure | 3 bands (off-peak / standard / peak) | 1 flat rate, changes daily | 48 half-hourly slots |
| Cheapest rate | ~14.5p/kWh (off-peak window) | ~18–20p/kWh (typical calm market) | Can go below 5p or negative |
| Most expensive rate | ~51.7p/kWh (16:00–19:00 peak) | Same rate all day | Can spike to 100p/kWh cap |
| Predictability | High — structure fixed, rates move quarterly | Medium — you see tomorrow's rate today | Low — half-hourly volatility |
| Exit fee | £25 (6-month fix from Mar 2026) | None | None |
| Load-shifting needed | Yes — to avoid peak | No | Yes — to hit cheapest slots |
The crucial difference for heat pump owners is load-shifting. Cosy rewards households that can schedule consumption into cheap windows. Tracker has no windows — your heat pump pays the same rate at 3am as at 6pm. The financial case for Tracker doesn't come from when you use electricity, it comes from whether the daily market rate beats the standard cap.
When Tracker works well for a heat pump household
You're on Flexible Octopus and haven't yet committed to a smart tariff. Tracker is a natural stepping stone — it introduces you to market-linked pricing with daily visibility and no lock-in, without requiring you to schedule your heat pump around specific windows.
Your heat pump has no smart scheduling capability. If you can't reliably shift consumption into cheap windows, Cosy's peak rate at 16:00–19:00 is a real liability. Tracker removes that risk entirely: no windows, no peak, just one daily rate.
Wholesale prices are running low. In a calm energy market, Tracker regularly undercuts the standard cap by 4–6p/kWh. Over 6,000–8,000 kWh of annual heat pump consumption, that's a meaningful saving without any scheduling effort.
You want maximum flexibility. No exit fees, daily rate visibility, and the ability to switch tariff at any time make Tracker one of the most commitment-free options in the Octopus range. If something changes — you get solar, you move house, a better tariff launches — you're not locked in.
When Tracker is the wrong choice for a heat pump household
You can actively schedule your heat pump. If your heat pump controller or Home Assistant setup can reliably avoid the 16:00–19:00 peak on Cosy, the Cosy off-peak rate of ~14.5p/kWh is significantly cheaper than Tracker's typical daily average of ~18–20p/kWh. The load-shifting effort is directly rewarded on Cosy in a way it isn't on Tracker.
You want winter predictability. Wholesale prices can move sharply — the February 2025 spike and more recent Middle East-related volatility both pushed daily Tracker rates above cap equivalent for short periods. A heat pump doing its heaviest work in January on a day when Tracker is running at 28p/kWh is an uncomfortable situation. Cosy's rate structure, while higher in absolute terms, is more predictable because the percentage discount from the cap is fixed.
Your electricity consumption is very high. The larger your annual consumption, the more a bad Tracker week costs you. High-consumption households (heat pump + EV + high occupancy) are generally better served by a tariff with guaranteed cheap windows.
Tracker vs Cosy: a worked example
Using approximate mid-2026 figures for a 3-bedroom home with a 6 kW heat pump, 6,500 kWh annual electricity:
| Scenario | Approx annual cost |
|---|---|
| Standard cap (24.7p flat) | ~£1,610 |
| Tracker (18p average, calm market) | ~£1,170 |
| Cosy — passive user, no load-shifting | ~£1,580 |
| Cosy — active, 70% load shifted, peak avoided | ~£1,200–£1,400 |
In a calm wholesale market, Tracker and actively-managed Cosy come out at similar annual costs. The difference is effort: Tracker requires none; Cosy requires consistent scheduling. In a volatile market, Tracker's advantage shrinks or reverses.
You can model this against your own actual usage on Heat Pump Tariffs.
The honest verdict
Octopus Tracker is a sensible choice for heat pump owners who want below-cap pricing without the complexity of window-based scheduling — particularly if their heat pump can't be easily automated, or if they're not ready to commit to Cosy's six-month fix.
It's not the highest-ceiling option. An actively managed Cosy household with good scheduling will typically beat Tracker's average rate, because the Cosy off-peak rate of ~14.5p/kWh is lower than Tracker's typical daily average. But Tracker doesn't require any management, has no exit fee, and removes the peak-rate risk entirely.
If you're deciding between Tracker and Cosy, the question is simple: can you reliably keep your heat pump out of the 16:00–19:00 window every day? If yes, Cosy probably wins. If not, Tracker is the safer bet.
See how Octopus Tracker stacks up against Cosy, Agile, and every other heat pump tariff using your actual half-hourly data on Heat Pump Tariffs.