Frequently Asked Questions

Why does it say "Tomorrow's rates not yet published"?

Tomorrow's wholesale prices are set at the Nord Pool day-ahead auction and become available from around 10am. Before that, tomorrow's rates don't exist yet — not here, and not at EDF either, since they price from the same auction.

Where do tomorrow's rates come from before EDF publish them?

EDF price FreePhase from the Nord Pool day-ahead wholesale auction. Those prices are published from around 10am, several hours before EDF put their own rates out — so we calculate tomorrow's rates from exactly the same wholesale prices EDF use, applying EDF's pricing formula.

These aren't estimates or predictions: same input, same formula, same answer. They're marked wholesale-derived until EDF publish, at which point the page switches to EDF's own figures. Barring an unannounced change to EDF's pricing, the two agree.

When do EDF's own published rates appear?

Normally around midday. When they do, the page switches from "wholesale-derived" to "EDF published" and the timestamp at the top shows when EDF last published. The figures shouldn't change — if they do, EDF have altered something in their pricing.

What are the green, amber and red bands?

FreePhase rates vary throughout the day based on wholesale electricity prices. We colour-code the slots to make them easy to read:

• 🟢 Green (23:00 – 06:00 BST) — overnight, typically cheapest
• 🟡 Amber (06:00 – 16:00 and 19:00 – 23:00 BST) — daytime, mid-range
• 🔴 Red (16:00 – 19:00 BST) — evening peak, typically most expensive

Important: these bands always represent the same fixed time windows each day — they don't shift based on price. On unusual days, amber can occasionally be cheaper than green, or red cheaper than amber, since the colour reflects the time period, not a price ranking. Always check the actual pence figure shown for the slot you're interested in.

What are free hours?

EDF occasionally offers periods where electricity is completely free — 0.0p per kWh. When this happens, we highlight the free time slots at the top of the page. These are great for running washing machines, dishwashers, charging batteries or electric vehicles. Free hours vary each day and are not guaranteed.

Are the rates VAT inclusive?

Yes — all rates shown on FPRates are inclusive of VAT at 5%, exactly as they appear on your EDF bill.

How do I sign up for email notifications?

Simply enter your email address and select your region in the sign-up box on the main page, then click Subscribe. You'll receive a confirmation email — click the link in it to activate your subscription.

When will I receive the notification email?

The email is sent automatically when EDF publishes tomorrow's rates, which is normally around midday each day. You'll receive it shortly after that, with the Green, Amber and Red rates and any free hours for the day.

My email went into spam or promotions — what do I do?

This can happen with new senders. A couple of tips:

• Gmail — check your Promotions tab. If it's there, open it and click "Move to Inbox" to train Gmail to deliver it correctly in future.
• iCloud/Apple Mail — check your Junk folder. Mark it as "Not Junk" and future emails should arrive in your inbox.
• Other providers — add rates@fprates.online to your contacts or safe senders list.

Deliverability improves over time as more people interact with the emails.

How do I unsubscribe?

Every notification email contains an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Click it and you'll be removed immediately. You can also re-subscribe at any time from the main page.

Which regions are supported?

All 14 UK electricity distribution regions are supported. Use the dropdown on the main page to select your region. If you're not sure which region you're in, check your EDF bill or account.

Is FPRates an official EDF service?

No — FPRates is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to EDF Energy in any way. EDF and FreePhase are trademarks of EDF Energy. We use publicly available data to provide this service.

Is FPRates free to use?

Yes, completely free. If you find it useful, you can buy me a coffee to help cover server costs — but there's no obligation whatsoever.

I'm a developer — is there an API?

Yes! FPRates has a free JSON API with endpoints for current rates, historical data, best charging slots, and CSV downloads. See the API documentation for full details.

How accurate are the rates?

They are calculated from the same Nord Pool day-ahead wholesale prices EDF price from, using EDF's own formula — so they should match EDF's published rates exactly. The one thing that could break that is EDF changing their pricing without announcing it. The page always shows whether a rate is "EDF published" or "wholesale-derived", so you can see which you're looking at.

What do the internet.nl badges at the bottom of each page mean?

internet.nl is a free, independent testing service run by the Dutch Internet Standards Platform (a partnership including the Dutch government and internet industry bodies). It checks whether websites and email systems correctly use modern, open internet standards — things like IPv6, DNSSEC, HTTPS security, and email anti-spoofing protections (SPF, DKIM and DMARC).

The badges show that FPRates scores 100% on both the website and email tests. In practical terms: the connection between your browser and this site is properly encrypted, the domain is protected against tampering, and our emails are cryptographically signed so other mail providers can verify they genuinely came from us — which protects you against anyone trying to impersonate FPRates.

You can verify this yourself at any time — clicking either badge takes you to the actual test results, where you can also re-run the test live. Anyone can claim to be trustworthy; we'd rather point you at an independent test you can run yourself.

What happens to my email address when I subscribe?

Your address is stored in our database and used for exactly one thing: sending you the daily rates email for your chosen region. We use double opt-in — you're not subscribed until you click the confirmation link — and every email includes an unsubscribe link.

We don't share, sell, or pass your address to anyone. Our emails are sent from our own mail server (no third-party marketing platforms), and FPRates has no advertisers and no sponsors — see the internet.nl question above for how our email security is independently verified.

Unsubscribing deletes your address from our database entirely — not just "removed from the list", actually deleted. Any questions, use the contact form.

Does FPRates use cookies?

FPRates uses two small cookies, stored only on your device: one remembers your chosen region, the other your preferred page width. Neither tracks you, is shared, or leaves your browser. There are no advertising or analytics cookies.