On a time-of-use tariff, off-peak electricity is the cheaper unit-rate window and peak (or day) electricity is the more expensive window. Citizens Advice describes those bands as the usual way suppliers encourage use when demand is lower. Exact hours depend on the product and sometimes on your meter and region.
What it means for a home battery
The battery's job is to buy off-peak units and cover peak-period use. On Octopus Go, Octopus publishes cheap electricity between 00:30 and 05:30 every night on its Go page. Go is for customers who charge an EV at the home Octopus supplies (Smart Tariffs terms 2.1.3). Habo's best-case homepage maths for a 5 kWh EcoFlow STREAM charge in that window and discharge against the higher day rate (9.4p night versus 35.293p to 39.3081p day on GO-FIX-12M-26-10-14, checked 28 October 2026). That peak/off-peak gap, after round-trip losses, is about £453 to £527 a year best case on those rates. Real savings will be lower if you do not use a full cycle every day.
Older Economy 10 and Economy 7 products also use peak and off-peak rates, but their off-peak hours are not the same as Go's five-hour block. Always read the tariff's own times before you set a charge schedule. For product comparisons see best tariffs for battery storage and Economy 7 and a home battery. Size the pack to the peak-period energy you actually use with what size battery, then test rates on the calculator. Habo's offer is an electrician-wired EcoFlow STREAM from £2,499. Join the waitlist.
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Frequently asked questions
No. Hours and prices are set by the tariff. Octopus Go's cheap window is 00:30 to 05:30. Economy 7 and Economy 10 use different off-peak patterns.
Often, but not always. Some economy tariffs split cheaper hours across afternoon, evening and night. Check your supplier's times for your meter.
It charges in the off-peak window and discharges when you would otherwise buy peak-rate units, up to its usable kWh and inverter power.
Simple battery, simple install
Electrician-wired EcoFlow STREAM from £2,499. Habo will try to serve anyone who registers in an area where we have an electrician. Nothing to pay today.
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