Lowtide
London now28.7pAsk Alexa

London: run the dishwasher at 10:30, 27p. Cheapest half hour 04:00.

An Alexa+ add-on, on live Octopus Agile prices for London

Power is cheapest at low tide. In London, run the dishwasher at 10:30 a.m. today.

Ask Alexa when to run the dishwasher. Lowtide reads every half-hourly electricity price and the grid's carbon forecast, and answers with the cheapest time that still finishes when you need it.

Ask Alexa on the EchoAdd to your assistant

A 3-hour eco run, 10:30 to 13:30. 27p, against 35p at a typical time (the average start). Press a key to replan it.

Left and right arrows read each half hour; Page Up and Page Down jump 4 hours; Home and End go to the ends.

Low tide04:00, 28.7p
Dishwasher 10:30–13:30
Tomorrow's prices aren't out yet: earlier today, dotted
Now
28.7p
Cheapest half hour
04:00 28.7p
Dearest half hour
16:30 55.8p
Tonight’s 4 loads, planned
£9.01 not £11.55
Every half hour as a table
Electricity prices in London for the next 24 hours, Octopus Agile
StartsPrice per kWhNote
04:0028.7pCheapest
04:3029.2p
05:0029.2p
05:3028.8p
06:0032.5p
06:3040.3p
07:0038.8p
07:3042.4p
08:0039.5p
08:3039.8p
09:0037.1p
09:3034.1p
10:0032.3p
10:3031.5pDishwasher runs
11:0030.9pDishwasher runs
11:3030.2pDishwasher runs
12:0029.2pDishwasher runs
12:3029.4pDishwasher runs
13:0031.8pDishwasher runs
13:3031.9p
14:0035.5p
14:3033.6p
15:0035.9p
15:3038.5p
16:0051.9p
16:3055.8pDearest
17:0054.8p
17:3055.2p
18:0055.1p
18:3054.7p
19:0042.5p
19:3041.7p
20:0039.5p
20:3036.2p
21:0036.9p
21:3033.6p
22:0035.0p
22:3032.7p

Run the dishwasher at 10:30

27p instead of 30p now

Ask, and it answers twice.

Out loud, in one sentence. And on the Echo Show's screen, as the day's prices with the run marked on the rim.

  1. Alexa, when should I run the dishwasher?
  2. Run the dishwasher this morning at 10:30 a.m. It costs about 27 pence, 2 pence less than starting now. The cleanest start would be 9:30 a.m.
  3. Yes, save it.
  4. Saved. Run the dishwasher this morning at 10:30 a.m.

Produced minutes ago by the live tools, for a London home. Not a script.

Try it yourself on the Echo

Tonight, already planned.

Four everyday loads in a London home, each placed in the cheapest stretch that still finishes by morning. The nightly schedule does this for every household before anyone asks.

  • Hot water

    immersion, 2 h
    Delay start under 1 h

    £191.21 a year, every night

  • Dishwasher

    eco 3 h
    Delay start 6 h

    £27.74 a year, every night

  • Washing machine

    40°, 2.5 h
    Delay start 6 h

    £14.31 a year, 4 nights a week

  • Car

    7.4 kW, 3 h
    Delay start 6 h

    £193.66 a year, 2 nights a week

London on Octopus Agile, prices read at 04:28. Each load finishes by morning. A typical time is the average of every start in the next 24 hours, so the yearly figures (£426.91 for all four) are what moving them saves over running them whenever, not over the evening peak, if every night looked like tonight.

From the kitchen to the grid in seconds.

Lowtide is an MCP server, the open standard Alexa+ uses to work with services. Four steps, every number read live.

  1. You ask

    “Alexa, when should I run the dishwasher? It needs to be done by seven.”

  2. Alexa+ calls Lowtide

    plan_appliance with finish_by: "seven". No a.m. or p.m., so Lowtide takes the next seven the run can still make.

  3. Lowtide prices every start

    From the half-hourly tariff and carbon forecast for your postcode, keeping only starts that finish in time.

  4. The Echo answers

    It says the time, the deadline and the saving, and shows the day with the run marked: an MCP App.

In the kitchen

“Alexa, when should I run the dishwasher? It needs to be done by seven.”

Alexa+ calls Lowtide over MCP. Claude, ChatGPT and VS Code call the same server.

On AWS

In Sydney. No passwords or access keys stored anywhere: each part signs in with its own AWS role.
  • AWS LambdaLowtide itself

    The MCP server, the website and the Echo, in one Next.js function. Nine tools, OAuth 2.1 sign-in.

  • Amazon CloudFrontThe front door

    Serves the site fast everywhere, and is the only way in: nothing can reach Lowtide around it.

  • Amazon BedrockUnderstands the question

    Amazon Nova Micro picks a Lowtide tool for each thing you say on the Echo.

  • Amazon PollySays the answer

    Neural voices for each region's Echo, cached so a repeated answer costs nothing.

  • Amazon S3Remembers the household

    Postcode, planned runs and savings; every write checked against the last one.

  • EventBridge SchedulerPlans tonight first

    At 16:45 and 18:30 UK time, after tomorrow's prices, plans the night for every household.

  • Amazon CloudWatchWatches every call

    One log line per tool call, turned into metrics, a dashboard and an alarm.

Published feeds

  • Octopus Energy Agile
  • ComEd Hourly Pricing
  • EPEX day-ahead (aWATTar)
  • NESO carbon forecast

Read live, every few minutes. No mocks, no stored prices.

plan_appliance
The cheapest or greenest start for an appliance, optionally done by a deadline.
schedule_run
Saves the plan for the household once the person says yes.
check_now
Whether this half hour is a cheap or dear time, and when it drops.
get_tide
The next day of prices and grid carbon, with the cheapest and dearest half hours.
get_tonight
Tonight's plan, made ahead once tomorrow's prices are out.
list_runs
What the household has planned.
cancel_run
Cancels a planned run.
get_savings
Money and CO₂ saved by running at the cheap hours.
set_home
Sets the postcode or city, which picks the tariff.

Measured, not promised.

Every claim on this page is checked by a test, timed on the live site, or read from a published feed. Each figure links to its evidence.

Works in any assistant that speaks MCP.

Alexa+ integrations are in preview for brands, so the Echo on this site is simulated. The server is real: add it to Claude, ChatGPT or VS Code and the same dial renders in the conversation.

Just ask

Prices and plans with no account. Put the postcode or city in the question.

Guest endpoint
https://d1soo7510nfzf4.cloudfront.net/api/mcp

Keep a household

Saved runs, tonight's plan and savings over weeks. A private link, no name, no account.

Make a household link

Sign in

The MCP specification's OAuth 2.1: your assistant finds Lowtide's sign-in page and keeps a token.

Sign-in endpoint
https://d1soo7510nfzf4.cloudfront.net/api/mcp/account

Who pays for it.

The household keeps the saving. The buyer is the energy supplier, which needs load moved out of the evening peak and already pays for it.

Alexa+ integrations are in preview for brands, so the route to market is a supplier-branded Lowtide: the supplier's tariff, the supplier's name on the Echo, and the evening peak a little lower.

Questions

Where does it work?

Britain on Octopus Agile (every postcode, all 14 regions), northern Illinois on ComEd Hourly Pricing, and Germany on dynamic spot tariffs. On a flat tariff, ask for the greenest time: the carbon forecast still moves through the night.

Does it switch the dishwasher on?

Not yet. It plans the run and keeps it in the household's list; most dishwashers and washing machines already have a delay-start button. Matter smart plugs and appliance APIs are next.

What does it know about me?

The postcode or city you give it and the runs you schedule. No name and no meter data. A household is a private link, or a sign-in your assistant keeps.

Are these real prices?

Yes. Every number and every dial on this site is drawn from the published feeds within the last few minutes.

Why is part of the tide dotted?

Octopus publishes tomorrow's Agile prices at about 4 p.m. UK time. Until then the tide runs to the end of today, and a dotted line shows earlier today's price for each half hour still to come, so the night reads whole without guessing.

Is this a real Alexa skill?

Alexa+ integrations are in preview for brands, so the Echo here is a simulation: a real MCP host with Amazon Nova Micro on Bedrock and Amazon Polly. The server it calls is the real one, the same any Alexa+ integration would call.