Octopus Energy has built a suite of smart energy tariffs that are particularly interesting for UK homeowners with solar panels and home batteries. Flux, Agile, and Go all offer lower overnight import rates and higher export rates than standard variable tariffs — but they work very differently, suit different household profiles, and require different levels of active management. Choosing the wrong tariff for your setup could cost you £300–£500 per year versus the optimal choice. This guide breaks down each tariff, compares them for solar-only and solar-plus-battery households, and gives a clear recommendation for each scenario.
| Octopus Go | Octopus Agile | Octopus Flux | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Import rate (day) | ~25–27p/kWh | Variable, avg ~25p/kWh | ~21–24p/kWh (off-peak) / ~35p+ (peak) |
| Import rate (night) | 7.5p/kWh (00:30–05:30) | Variable, often 2–10p/kWh overnight | ~15–18p/kWh (overnight) |
| Export rate | SEG via separate tariff | Variable, real-time wholesale | ~17–20p/kWh (standard) / ~35p+ (peak 16:00–19:00) |
| Battery required? | No (but recommended) | Strongly recommended | Yes — designed for solar+battery |
| Smart meter required? | Yes (half-hourly) | Yes (half-hourly) | Yes (half-hourly) |
| Best for | EV charging, simple savings | Engaged users, automation | Solar+battery households |
Note: All rates above are approximate Q3 2026 indicative figures. Octopus Agile rates change every 30 minutes based on wholesale market prices — they can be much lower (or occasionally negative) and occasionally spike above standard rates during demand events. Flux rates vary by season. Always check the current rates on the Octopus Energy website before switching.
Octopus Go offers a flat overnight cheap rate of 7.5p/kWh between 00:30 and 05:30, with a standard daytime rate (typically around 25–27p/kWh). It is designed primarily for EV owners who want to charge cheaply overnight, but it is also useful for battery-owning solar households who want to top up their battery at night during winter when solar generation is insufficient.
During summer, your solar panels cover most daytime demand and charge your battery. In the evening, the battery discharges at saved-solar rates (effectively free). In winter, solar barely dents demand, so you set your battery to charge on the cheap overnight Go rate and discharge during the day. The effective rate for battery-stored electricity used during the day becomes around 7.5–9p/kWh (accounting for round-trip efficiency losses), versus 25–27p/kWh for direct grid import. A battery shifting 2,000 kWh/year this way saves approximately £340/year.
Octopus Go does not have a built-in export tariff — you need to register for a separate Smart Export Guarantee tariff with Octopus or another supplier. Octopus offers Outgoing Octopus at a fixed 4p–5.5p/kWh rate, or you can combine Go import with Octopus Agile Outgoing for variable export rates.
Intelligent Octopus Go extends the cheap rate window and allows Octopus to control your EV charger or battery charging automatically to find the cheapest slots within the overnight window. For EV owners with compatible vehicles (Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen, and several others), this is the easiest and most hands-off optimisation available.
Octopus Agile is a half-hourly variable tariff where the price tracks the wholesale electricity market, updated at 16:00 each day for the following 24 hours. Overnight prices are frequently 2–8p/kWh. Occasionally — when renewable generation is very high and demand is low — prices go negative, meaning you are paid to consume electricity. During demand events or cold snaps, prices can spike above 40–60p/kWh.
Agile also comes in an export version (Agile Outgoing), which pays the same half-hourly wholesale price for electricity you export to the grid. This is potentially the most lucrative export tariff available — during summer afternoon peaks, export prices can reach 20–40p/kWh, versus the 4–7p/kWh flat rate of standard SEG tariffs.
Agile is best suited to households who can automate their battery and consumption around price signals. Tools like Home Assistant, GivTCP (for GivEnergy batteries), and Tesla’s Agile integration can automatically schedule battery charging and discharging to match cheap and expensive slots. Without automation, Agile requires active monitoring and management — checking the app each afternoon for the next day’s prices and adjusting schedules manually is time-consuming.
For tech-savvy homeowners who are comfortable with home automation, Agile can outperform every other tariff — particularly in households with battery storage and an EV. For everyone else, the management overhead is not worth the marginal extra saving over Octopus Go.
Octopus Flux is specifically designed for homes with both solar panels and a battery. It has three price periods per day:
The strategy on Flux: charge cheaply from 02:00–05:00; let solar replenish the battery and run the house from 05:00–16:00; discharge battery at the peak 16:00–19:00 rate (whether that is avoiding high import or exporting at a high rate); import at standard rate overnight. A battery that cycles once per day on Flux can earn meaningfully more than on Octopus Go, particularly in winter when the peak/off-peak spread is widest.
Flux works best — and as designed — with a battery that Octopus can directly control via API, or that you can schedule to import and export at specific times. GivEnergy, Tesla Powerwall, and certain Solax and SolarEdge systems have Octopus Flux scheduling integrations. Without automatic scheduling, you need to manually update charge/discharge times, which is manageable but less optimal. Octopus are gradually extending Flux’s automatic control to more battery brands via their Kraken energy management platform.
| Household type | Recommended tariff | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solar only, no battery, no EV | Standard SEG (Octopus Outgoing or best SEG rate) | No battery to optimise. Focus on maximising export rate. |
| Solar + battery, want simplicity | Octopus Go | Set-and-forget cheap overnight charge. Strong savings with minimal management. |
| Solar + battery + EV, tech-comfortable | Octopus Agile or Flux | Agile for maximum flexibility; Flux for structured peak arbitrage. |
| Solar + large battery, winter-heavy usage | Octopus Flux | Evening peak export rate and off-peak import rate together give best winter economics. |
| EV only, no solar | Intelligent Octopus Go | Automated overnight EV charging at cheapest rates. Simplest path. |
Octopus is not the only smart tariff option. E.on Next, EDF, and Bulb (now part of Octopus) offer their own time-of-use tariffs. Ofgem publishes guidance on energy tariff choices for consumers. However, in 2026, Octopus’s combination of smart tariff depth, API openness for home automation, and export tariff breadth makes them the clear market leader for solar and battery households. The Smart Export Guarantee best rates guide covers all available SEG tariffs, not just Octopus options.
The dedicated Octopus Agile solar guide covers Agile in more detail for those interested in that specific tariff. If you are also considering a battery purchase to make the most of these tariffs, the solar battery brands guide covers which batteries have the best Octopus integration.
UK solar panels still generate electricity in winter — just considerably less than in summer. Here is real month-by-month generation…
Scotland receives around 900 kWh/kWp/year compared to London's 1,100 — but that gap is smaller than it sounds, and Scottish-specific…
Northern England gets less sun than the south — but solar panels still make financial sense in Manchester and Leeds.…