elyob
So I've been staring at these charts for the past half hour and honestly they tell a cracking story once the context is clear. Here's Q1 2026 — because the numbers only make sense knowing that I was sitting on a beach in Goa for five of these weeks.
The India Trip: Accidental Control Experiment
I flew out on 11th January and didn't get back until 18th February. Nobody home, boiler completely off, place just sitting there empty. And it shows so clearly in the gas chart — that long flat run of near-zero bars from the week of 12th Jan all the way through to the week of 9th Feb is not a data gap or a meter fault. That's just... nobody using any gas. The cost those weeks was basically £0, compared to £7.90 the week of 29th Dec and £5.80 the week of 5th Jan.
Once I got home around 18th Feb and fired the heating back up, gas cost jumped straight to around £4.50 for the week of 16th Feb, then climbed to £6.70 for the week of 9th March as we hit a cold snap. It's a perfect little before/during/after experiment I didn't plan but absolutely love having in the data.
Electricity followed a similar pattern — dropping down to around £3.00–£4.50 during my absence compared to the £7.40–£9.90 weeks either side. Even with nothing running there is still some standby draw.
Solar Is Quietly Getting Better
The panels and the Fogstar battery went in back in July 2025, so by the time this data starts they'd already had a good six months of bedding in. What I love seeing is that slow, steady climb in the Solar kWh bar chart. We were generating around 1.1–1.2 kWh/week back at the end of December (short days, low sun angle, it is what it is), but by the week of 16th March that had shot up to nearly 11 kWh. The trend is beautifully consistent — just keeps stepping up week by week as the days get longer.
Agile Plunge Event: Mid-March
That week around 16th March where the average electricity rate drops to near-zero — that is not a data quirk. That is an Octopus Agile plunge event. The wholesale electricity price went negative, meaning electricity was effectively free that week. The spike to ~£0.19/kWh beforehand, the near-zero week, then the bounce back — textbook plunge. A free week of electricity is always worth calling out.
The Bottom Line
Five weeks away with the heating off saved me a meaningful chunk on gas — the flatline speaks for itself. And watching solar generation nearly quadruple between late December and late March is genuinely exciting. Spring is going to be interesting.
