Octopus Energy offers tariffs for different homes and different ways of using energy, from simple everyday tariffs to options designed around wholesale prices, electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.
Some tariffs give you predictable prices. Others change their rates by the day or even every half hour, rewarding you for using electricity when it is cheaper.
The right place to start depends on what technology you have at home, how flexible your electricity use is and how much control you want over when you use energy.
Compare Octopus Energy tariffs
If you already know what you’re looking for, this is the simplest place to start.
| If you… | Start with… | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Want energy prices linked to the wholesale market without changing when you use electricity | Octopus Tracker | Electricity and gas unit rates can change once per day |
| Can move electricity use into cheaper periods | Agile Octopus | Electricity prices change every 30 minutes |
| Have a heat pump or eligible electric heating | Cosy Octopus | Three cheaper electricity periods spread across the day |
| Charge an electric car at home | Octopus EV tariffs | Compare Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Go |
| Have solar panels | Octopus solar & export tariffs | Get paid for surplus electricity sent back to the grid |
| Have solar panels and battery storage | Octopus solar & export tariffs | Compare export tariffs and combined import/export options |
There isn’t one Octopus tariff that will suit every household.
A tariff that works well for someone charging an EV overnight may work very differently for a home with a heat pump, while a solar-and-battery household may need to consider both the price it pays to import electricity and what it earns for exporting it.
What types of Octopus Energy tariff are there?
Octopus offers several different approaches to buying electricity and gas.
Conventional tariffs
Tariffs such as Flexible Octopus work much like traditional household energy tariffs.
Your unit rate doesn’t change depending on the time of day, so you don’t need to schedule appliances or constantly monitor electricity prices.
This simplicity can suit households that don’t want to actively manage when they use energy.
Wholesale-linked tariffs
Octopus Tracker and Agile Octopus give customers much closer exposure to wholesale energy prices.
Tracker changes once per day.
Agile goes further, with a different electricity price every 30 minutes.
These tariffs can provide access to lower prices when wholesale energy is cheaper, but prices can also rise.
Technology-specific tariffs
Octopus also offers tariffs designed around particular technologies.
These include:
- Octopus EV tariffs for charging electric cars
- Cosy Octopus for eligible electric heating systems
- solar and export tariffs for solar panels and battery storage
These tariffs generally work best when the technology in your home gives you some flexibility over when electricity is used, stored or exported.
Octopus Tracker
Octopus Tracker follows wholesale energy prices with a new electricity and gas unit rate each day.
Unlike a time-of-use tariff, your electricity rate doesn’t change depending on what time you use energy.
If today’s Tracker electricity rate is 20p/kWh, for example, that same rate applies throughout that day.
That makes Tracker one of the simpler ways to gain more direct exposure to wholesale energy prices.
Tracker could be worth exploring if you:
- want your energy prices to follow wholesale markets more closely
- are comfortable with prices changing from day to day
- don’t want to schedule electricity consumption around particular hours
- want the option of putting both electricity and gas on a wholesale-linked tariff
Tracker prices can rise as well as fall, so it shouldn’t be viewed as a permanently cheaper version of a conventional tariff.
Agile Octopus
Agile Octopus takes dynamic pricing much further.
Electricity prices change every 30 minutes, giving you 48 different prices each day.
The following day’s prices are published in advance, allowing you to plan when to use electricity.
The cheapest periods can change from one day to the next, and prices can occasionally fall below zero.
That creates opportunities for customers who can move high-consumption activities into cheaper half hours.
Agile could be worth exploring if you:
- can shift electricity use throughout the day
- have a home battery
- charge an EV flexibly
- use smart-home automation
- are comfortable with changing electricity prices
- want to take advantage of periods when wholesale electricity is particularly cheap
The trade-off is greater price volatility.
Using a lot of electricity during expensive periods — particularly around the evening peak — can reduce or reverse the benefit of cheaper periods elsewhere in the day.
Cosy Octopus
Have a heat pump or another eligible electric heating system?
Cosy Octopus is designed around electrically heated homes.
Instead of constantly changing prices, Cosy uses predictable daily time periods.
There are three cheaper Cosy periods:
- 4am–7am
- 1pm–4pm
- 10pm–midnight
Together, these provide eight cheaper hours every day.
There is then a higher-priced peak period between 4pm and 7pm, with the standard Cosy day rate applying at other times.
Cosy could be worth exploring if you:
- have a heat pump
- have another eligible electric heating system
- can schedule some heating or hot-water demand
- want predictable cheaper periods rather than dynamic half-hourly prices
- can reduce electricity use during the 4pm–7pm peak
You don’t need an Octopus-installed heat pump to use Cosy, but you do need eligible electric heating and suitable smart metering.
Octopus EV tariffs
If you regularly charge an electric car at home, a dedicated EV tariff can provide much cheaper electricity during overnight charging periods.
Octopus’s two main EV tariffs are Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Go.
Octopus Go
Octopus Go provides a predictable cheaper electricity period between 12:30am and 5:30am every night.
The cheaper rate isn’t limited to your car.
Any electricity your home uses during that five-hour period is charged at the off-peak rate.
Go doesn’t require Octopus to intelligently control your charging, which makes it the simpler of the two main EV tariffs.
Intelligent Octopus Go
Intelligent Octopus Go adds automatic smart charging.
You connect a compatible car or charger to Octopus and tell the app when you need the vehicle ready.
Octopus then schedules charging for times when it expects electricity to be cheaper and often greener.
You also receive a six-hour off-peak period between 11:30pm and 5:30am for your whole home.
Intelligent Octopus Go therefore requires compatible charging technology, while Octopus Go has fewer compatibility requirements.
Explore Intelligent Octopus Go →
Not sure which EV tariff to choose?
The differences go beyond simply comparing the cheap rate.
Car and charger compatibility, charging schedules, solar panels, battery storage and how much electricity the rest of your home uses can all affect the comparison.
Octopus solar and export tariffs
If you generate electricity from solar panels, an export tariff determines how much you’re paid for surplus electricity sent back to the grid.
Octopus offers several different approaches.
Some provide a straightforward export payment, while others reward you for exporting at particular times or combine electricity import and export into one tariff.
The main options include:
Outgoing Octopus
Outgoing Octopus provides a simple flat export rate.
You receive the same payment per kWh regardless of when your surplus electricity is exported.
This makes it one of the simplest options for solar households that don’t want to actively manage export timings.
Agile Outgoing
Agile Outgoing uses dynamic half-hourly export prices linked to the wholesale electricity market.
The amount you’re paid can therefore change every 30 minutes.
A home battery can make this particularly interesting because electricity can potentially be stored when export prices are lower and discharged when they’re more attractive.
Prime Outgoing
Prime Outgoing Octopus uses predictable time-of-use export pricing.
It offers a higher export payment during the 4pm–7pm evening peak and a lower rate at other times.
That can make battery storage particularly useful because daytime solar generation can potentially be stored and exported later.
Octopus Flux
Octopus Flux is designed around homes with solar panels and battery storage.
Unlike a standalone export tariff, Flux combines electricity import and export into one time-of-use structure.
It provides a cheaper overnight period that can be used to charge your battery, alongside a higher-value evening period when stored electricity can be used or exported.
You manage the battery schedule yourself.
Intelligent Octopus Flux
Intelligent Octopus Flux takes the same solar-and-battery idea but adds automatic battery control.
With a compatible system, Octopus manages when the battery charges and discharges.
This removes much of the need to manually schedule the battery around import and export rates.
Intelligent Octopus Flux is currently temporarily unavailable to new customers, but existing customers can continue using it.
Explore Intelligent Octopus Flux →
Not sure which solar tariff to choose?
Whether you have solar alone, solar and a battery, an EV alongside solar or a more complex home-energy setup can significantly change which tariffs are worth comparing.
Compare Octopus solar & export tariffs →
Which type of Octopus tariff could suit your home?
I don’t have an EV, solar panels or heat pump
Start by considering how involved you want to be with your energy prices.
Octopus Tracker gives you one wholesale-linked rate for each day.
Agile Octopus gives you 48 electricity prices each day and rewards greater flexibility.
If you would rather not think about changing energy prices or when you use electricity, a conventional tariff such as Flexible Octopus may be easier to manage.
I have an electric car
Start with the Octopus EV tariff comparison.
The main choice is between:
- Octopus Go for a straightforward five-hour cheaper overnight period
- Intelligent Octopus Go for smart charging and a six-hour off-peak home period
I have a heat pump
Start with Cosy Octopus.
Its three cheaper daily periods are specifically designed around electric heating.
Agile may also be worth understanding if you have significant flexibility or automation, but the two tariffs take very different approaches.
I have solar panels
Start with the Octopus solar & export tariff comparison.
If you don’t have a battery, Outgoing Octopus provides a particularly simple starting point.
I have solar panels and a battery
You have more options because a battery gives you control over when electricity is stored, used and exported.
Compare:
- Outgoing Octopus for simple flat-rate export
- Agile Outgoing for dynamic export prices
- Prime Outgoing for predictable higher evening export rates
- Octopus Flux for combined import and export pricing
- Intelligent Octopus Flux for automatic battery optimisation when available
Compare all Octopus solar & export tariffs →
I have an EV and solar panels
Look at your import and export tariffs together.
Your EV may make a dedicated Octopus EV tariff particularly valuable because a large amount of electricity can be shifted into cheaper overnight periods.
Your solar panels can then use a compatible export tariff for electricity sent back to the grid.
The tariff with the highest export rate isn’t necessarily the best overall combination if it means giving up a much more valuable import tariff for your car.
I have an EV, solar panels and a battery
This is where tariff choice becomes more about managing your whole home energy system.
Your car creates a large flexible electricity load.
Your solar panels generate electricity.
Your battery allows energy to be moved between different parts of the day.
It therefore makes sense to compare both Octopus EV tariffs and Octopus solar & export tariffs rather than choosing either side independently.
I have an EV and a heat pump
Both technologies can use significant amounts of electricity.
An EV tariff may provide very cheap overnight charging, while Cosy Octopus is designed around moving heating demand into three cheaper periods.
Which structure fits better will depend on how much electricity each technology uses and how much flexibility you have. Neither approach is automatically cheaper for every household.
Do I need a smart meter for an Octopus smart tariff?
Usually, yes.
Most of the specialist tariffs covered on this site need a compatible smart meter because Octopus needs more detailed information about when electricity is being used.
For example:
- Agile needs half-hourly readings so each period can be billed at the correct price
- EV tariffs need smart-meter data to separate cheaper and standard-rate consumption
- Cosy needs to know which electricity was used during its Cosy, day and peak periods
- export tariffs need suitable metering to measure electricity sent back to the grid
Some intelligent tariffs have additional requirements.
Intelligent Octopus Go, for example, also needs a compatible electric car or charger that Octopus can connect to.
Intelligent Octopus Flux requires compatible battery technology.
Check the dedicated tariff guide before switching to see exactly what you’ll need.
How do I switch Octopus Energy tariff?
I’m already an Octopus Energy customer
Existing Octopus customers can usually move between eligible tariffs without changing energy supplier.
The process depends on the tariff.
For a conventional tariff, switching can be relatively straightforward.
A smart tariff may first require Octopus to confirm that your smart meter is compatible and sending the necessary readings.
Technology-specific tariffs may also require additional checks, such as connecting a compatible EV, charger or battery.
Check the individual tariff guide before applying so you know what is required.
I’m not currently with Octopus
If another company currently supplies your energy, you’ll normally need to become an Octopus Energy customer first.
You may initially move onto a standard Octopus tariff while your account, smart meter and any technology connections are set up.
Once the relevant requirements are met, you can then move onto your chosen specialist tariff.
Octopus Energy tariff FAQs
What Octopus Energy tariffs are available?
Octopus offers conventional tariffs alongside a growing range of smart tariffs.
Options include wholesale-linked tariffs such as Tracker and Agile, EV tariffs including Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Go, Cosy Octopus for eligible electric heating systems, and several solar and export tariffs.
Which Octopus tariff is for electric cars?
Octopus offers two main dedicated EV tariffs: Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Go.
Go provides a predictable cheaper overnight period.
Intelligent Octopus Go connects to compatible charging technology and automatically schedules your EV charging.
Which Octopus tariff is for heat pumps?
Cosy Octopus is specifically designed around eligible heat pumps and other qualifying electric heating systems.
It provides three cheaper electricity periods totalling eight hours per day.
Which Octopus tariff is for solar panels?
There isn’t just one.
Octopus offers Outgoing Octopus, Agile Outgoing and Prime Outgoing alongside the Flux tariffs for homes with solar and battery storage.
Can I combine an Octopus EV tariff with solar panels?
Yes, depending on the import and export tariff combination.
Some Octopus EV tariffs can be paired with compatible export tariffs, allowing you to benefit from cheaper EV charging while also being paid for surplus solar electricity.
Always check the current compatibility requirements before switching either tariff.
Do all Octopus tariffs need a smart meter?
No.
Conventional Octopus tariffs don’t necessarily require smart metering in the same way.
However, most specialist smart tariffs rely on smart-meter readings to apply different rates at different times or calculate dynamic pricing.
Are Octopus smart tariffs always cheaper?
No.
Smart tariffs create opportunities to pay less by changing how or when you use energy, but they aren’t guaranteed to be cheaper.
Wholesale-linked tariffs can rise when wholesale prices increase, while time-of-use tariffs can become expensive if a large proportion of your consumption falls into peak periods.
Your consumption pattern matters.
Can I switch between Octopus tariffs?
Usually, but eligibility requirements and rejoining restrictions can apply.
For example, Tracker currently has a specific restriction on returning after leaving during a tariff term.
Check the current terms of the tariff you’re leaving and the tariff you want to join before switching.
Tariff rates, eligibility and terms can change. Always check the prices and tariff terms shown by Octopus Energy before switching.
Last checked: September 2026