Choose your Octopus tariff: stop at the first yes
Every Octopus smart tariff needs a smart meter (Octopus tariffs). Then work down this list.
- Do you have an electric car or charger that works with Intelligent Octopus Go? Choose Intelligent Octopus Go. Octopus gives the whole home up to six hours of off-peak electricity between 23:30 and 05:30, plus up to six hours of smart charging for the car (Intelligent Octopus Go). Read how the 6-hour cap affects a home battery.
- Do you have another electric car you charge at home? Choose Octopus Go: cheap electricity between 00:30 and 05:30 every night, for any EV or charger (Octopus Go). This fixed five-hour window is the simplest to set a battery timer to.
- Do you have a heat pump? Choose Cosy Octopus, Octopus's heat pump tariff with three cheaper periods a day (Octopus tariffs). Octopus describes the fixed version as giving eight hours of cheap electricity every day (Octopus product data). See Cosy Octopus and home batteries.
- Do you have solar panels as well as the battery? Consider Octopus Flux, built for solar and battery owners (details below).
- None of the above? Look at Agile Octopus (details below).
With a compatible EV, Intelligent Octopus Go. With another EV, Octopus Go. With a heat pump, Cosy. With solar and a battery, Flux. With just a battery, Agile is the Octopus smart tariff whose joining steps list only being an Octopus customer and a smart meter (Agile Octopus).
The tariffs side by side
| Tariff | When it is cheaper | You need (per Octopus) | Battery set-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligent Octopus Go | 23:30 to 05:30 for the home | Compatible EV or charger | Timer in the six-hour window |
| Octopus Go | 00:30 to 05:30 | Electric car charged at home | Timer in the five-hour window |
| Cosy Octopus | Three cheaper periods a day | Heat pump | Charge in the cheap periods |
| Octopus Flux | 02:00 to 05:00, peak 16:00 to 19:00 | Solar panels, home battery, export MPAN | Charge 02:00 to 05:00, discharge 16:00 to 19:00 |
| Agile Octopus | Changes every half hour | Octopus account and smart meter | Schedule to the cheapest slots each day |
Checked 28 October 2026 on the linked Octopus pages. Octopus changes tariffs often, so check before you switch.
Octopus Go and the EV question
Octopus Go is the tariff our savings maths uses, because the fixed 00:30 to 05:30 window makes the numbers clear. But Octopus's joining steps for Go list "have an electric car that you charge at home" (Octopus Go). If you have no EV, check with Octopus that you qualify before you plan around it. The current fixed version, Octopus Go 12M Fixed, has a £50 exit fee (Octopus product data).
Octopus Flux
Flux is an import and export tariff with super cheap rates from 02:00 to 05:00 and a peak rate from 16:00 to 19:00, the time Octopus suggests you discharge your battery and export. You need solar panels, a home battery and an export MPAN, and Octopus needs your MCS document. It is a flexible tariff with no exit fees, and you set the battery schedule yourself (Octopus Flux). More in Octopus Flux in 2026.
Agile Octopus
Agile prices are set every half hour, tied to wholesale prices and published each afternoon for the next 24 hours. They can go below zero, and Octopus caps them at 100p/kWh. Octopus says it suits customers who can shift large amounts of use, often with batteries (Agile Octopus). Because the price changes every day, so does the saving, and we do not publish a fixed figure for it.
What a battery saves on Octopus Go
Octopus Go 12M Fixed (product GO-FIX-12M-26-10-14), direct debit, checked 28 October 2026: night rate 9.4p/kWh from 00:30 to 05:30, day rate 35.293p/kWh (East Midlands) to 39.3081p/kWh (Merseyside and North Wales) (Octopus product data). EcoFlow does not publish a round-trip efficiency for the STREAM, so we assume 90%.
| 5 kWh battery, one full cycle a day | Lowest day rate | Highest day rate |
|---|---|---|
| 5 kWh used at the day rate | 176.47p | 196.54p |
| Less 5.556 kWh bought at 9.4p | 52.22p | 52.22p |
| Saving per day | 124.24p | 144.32p |
| Saving per year (× 365) | about £453 | about £527 |
| Like a savings account paying (on £2,499) | about 18.1% | about 21.1% |
| Best-case payback on £2,499 | about 5.5 years | about 4.7 years |
That is a ceiling, not a typical figure: it assumes one full 5 kWh cycle every day, all used at the day rate. Real savings will be lower. Full workings are on our homepage, the interest-rate comparison is in home battery vs savings account, and you can check your region.
Add Saving Sessions on top of any tariff
Saving Sessions are not a tariff. They are Octoplus events where you earn Octopoints for using less at busy times (Power Down) or more when renewable power is plentiful (Power Up). You opt in to each one, and need Octoplus, Direct Debit or smart prepay, and a smart meter sending half-hourly readings (Octopus Saving Sessions). See Saving Sessions with a home battery.
Switching: what to expect
- Get a smart meter Octopus can read. Octopus can connect to SMETS2 meters and some SMETS1 meters, and says it generally takes around 14 days to connect so it can read the meter remotely (Octopus Go).
- Join Octopus first if you are not a customer. Octopus says new customers start on a standard tariff while it connects everything, then move across (Octopus Go).
- Accept the smart tariff terms by email once half-hourly readings are coming through (Octopus Go).
- Set the battery timer to your tariff's cheaper period.
Frequently asked questions
Octopus's joining steps for Go list an electric car you charge at home (Octopus Go). Check you qualify first. Without an EV, heat pump or solar, Agile is the Octopus smart tariff whose joining steps do not list one (Agile Octopus).
Only for Octopus Flux, which needs solar panels and a home battery (Octopus Flux). On the other tariffs a battery charges from the grid in the cheaper period. More in battery storage without solar.
The Nook Cube and Nook Colossus are due in 2027 with no published price. We cover them, and everything else Octopus offers battery owners, in our Octopus battery storage guide.
See our guide to the best tariffs for battery storage in the UK.
Ready to start saving?
Habo installs a 5 kWh EcoFlow STREAM from £2,499 fully installed, electrician-wired to the consumer unit, with 0% VAT on installed batteries until 31 March 2027 (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). Best case on Octopus Go, up to about £453 to £527 a year, like a savings account paying about 18.1% to 21.1% (how). Real savings will be lower. Join the install waitlist. Nothing to pay today.
Join the waitlist