Octopus Energy solar tariffs: what the numbers mean

Octopus offers several arrangements relevant to households with solar, and they are frequently discussed as though they were interchangeable. They are not: they suit different generation and consumption shapes, and picking the wrong one costs real money.

This explains the shapes, with the published rates as of August 2026 named and dated so you can tell when they have moved. Check current figures on the supplier’s own pages before deciding; the structure changes far less often than the numbers.

The products, by shape

A flat export rate: Outgoing. As of August 2026, Outgoing pays 12p per exported kilowatt hour, whenever you export, on condition you also import from Octopus. Simple, predictable, easy to put in a projection. The same page carries the open SEG rate of 4.1p for generators who import elsewhere, which is the floor offer the scheme obliges.

A combined import and export tariff: Flux. A three rate tariff that sets both sides of the meter, with a cheap window from 02:00 to 05:00 and a peak from 16:00 to 19:00. Eligibility is specific: a smart meter, solar, a home battery, and both your import and export accounts with Octopus, though the panels need not have been installed by them.

An EV tariff beside solar: Intelligent Octopus Go. Not an export product at all, but its 8p off peak window is the widest commonly available spread against the capped standard rate of 26.11p, which makes it the reference point for battery arbitrage sums.

There are also periodically installer tied rates above all of these, whose premium is really part of an installation package’s price and should be judged as such.

Which shape suits which household

Flat export suits a household that wants predictability, exports a fairly steady surplus, and does not want to think about it. It is also the easiest to model honestly, which matters if you are trying to decide whether to install at all: a projection built on 12p is checkable, one built on “up to” figures is not.

Flux suits a household with a battery, because the tariff is built around operating one: top the battery up at the 02:00 to 05:00 rate, run the house and hold export through the day, then discharge into the 16:00 to 19:00 peak, where both avoided import and export are at their most valuable. Without a battery, most of that mechanism is out of reach and the tariff’s shape works against a plain solar household, whose export happens in the flat middle of the day.

Intelligent Octopus Go suits an EV household, with or without solar. For one with a grid charging battery it also enables the arbitrage return worked through here: roughly 14.7p per cycled unit at the August 2026 rates, which is currently stronger per unit than storing your own solar.

The condition to check first

Whether the rate you are looking at requires you to import from the same supplier. Both of the attractive shapes above do.

If it does, evaluate the whole package. Most households import several times more than they export, so a premium export rate attached to a middling import rate can leave you worse off in total: the worked comparison in our rates guide shows a 4p import difference outweighing an 8p export difference on typical volumes. The comparison is always:

1. Your annual export at the conditional export rate, minus your annual import at their import rate.
2. Against your annual export at the best independent export rate, minus your annual import at the cheapest import tariff available to you.

Whichever net figure is better is the better deal, regardless of which export rate is larger.

Where a battery changes the answer

With storage, the tariff stops being a passive setting and becomes something you operate against.

A wide spread between cheap and expensive periods lets a battery earn by charging in one and discharging in the other. That is worth the rate difference per unit shifted, less round trip losses, and it is available whether or not the sun is out, which matters a great deal in a British winter when the roof has little surplus to store.

This is why Flux requires a battery rather than merely suiting one: the tariff’s three rate day is a set of instructions for storage, and a household that cannot follow them would experience only the peak rate side. If you are costing a battery specifically to exploit such a tariff, price that decision with the per cycled unit arithmetic rather than the brochure payback.

What to check before switching

• Is the export rate fixed, tracking, or period based?
• Is it conditional on importing from the same supplier?
• What notice applies to a rate change?
• Does it need a particular meter, or half hourly settlement?
• If you have storage, can your inverter be scheduled to match the tariff periods?

That last one is easy to overlook and decides whether the tariff’s mechanism is actually available to your hardware. A battery that cannot be scheduled to charge at 02:00 cannot collect the cheap window, whatever the tariff promises.

Model it with your own volumes

Take your expected annual export and your actual annual import, apply the two rates separately, and compare packages on the net figure. An export rate looks impressive in isolation and only means something next to the import rate sitting beside it. The ROI calculator models the standard, EV and solar specific tariff structures with import and export held separate, so you can see which shape your consumption pattern actually rewards before you commit to one.