News explainer · Updated 19 May 2026

Intelligent Octopus Flux Paused — Best Solar + Battery Tariff Alternatives 2026

Last reviewed 19 May 2026 · 7 minute read · For UK solar + battery households

The TL;DR

Octopus paused Intelligent Octopus Flux to new customers in March 2026. The original Flux was paused at the same time. No replacement product has been announced.
Existing Flux customers are retained — your tariff continues as before with no immediate change.
For new solar + battery households in 2026, the best available export-paying tariffs are now British Gas Export & Earn Plus (15.1p, tied to BG import) or Octopus Outgoing Fixed (12p, cut from 15p on 1 March 2026, no bundling required).
If you weren't going to qualify for Flux's algorithmic optimisation anyway, a battery on Intelligent Octopus Go doing time-shift arbitrage still earns £400–£600/year — and that tariff remains open.
Octopus says Flux will return when "market conditions allow" but hasn't given a timeline. Watch this page for updates.

When Octopus paused Intelligent Octopus Flux in March 2026 — and the original Flux at the same time — it cut off the most lucrative export tariff in the UK home energy market. Existing customers were grandfathered. New solar + battery households since March have been hunting for an alternative, and almost every "best solar tariff" guide on the internet became outdated overnight.

We're independent — no installer or supplier affiliations. Here's what's actually still worth signing up to in mid-2026.

What happened to Flux

Intelligent Octopus Flux was an algorithmic two-way tariff. Octopus's Kraken back-end forecast solar generation and wholesale prices, then dynamically controlled your battery — charging from cheap grid windows, discharging to grid during 4–7pm peaks at up to 28.6p/kWh. Real-world earnings averaged £900–£1,800/year for a 10kWh battery + 5kWh PV system.

Why it paused, as we understand it from trade press and Octopus statements:

The 4–7pm peak that paid £25–£28/kWh has flattened. Wholesale price spreads narrowed through late 2025 and early 2026 as more flexible capacity entered the market. The product economics tightened.
Octopus Outgoing Fixed cut 15p → 12p on 1 March 2026. The same wider-market dynamic that forced the Outgoing reduction made Flux's payment structure less defensible.
System overhaul incoming. Octopus has indicated a future product will replace both Flux and Outgoing with something that's "simpler and more honest about wholesale economics." That suggests rates will be lower on average but more transparent.

A new product is expected "later in 2026" but no announcement, no beta and no timeline has been published as of 19 May 2026.

Who's affected — and who isn't

Affected

Anyone who applied for Intelligent Octopus Flux after mid-March 2026 was either declined or sent to Outgoing Fixed as a fallback.
New solar + battery installations since March can't access the algorithmic optimisation. They need to manage their own time-shifting via the inverter's settings.
Households planning a battery purchase specifically for Flux economics need to rerun the maths against the lower-yielding alternatives below.

Not affected

Existing Flux customers continue exactly as before. Their algorithmic control via Kraken is maintained.
Octopus Outgoing Fixed (12p flat, no bundling) remains open to non-Octopus import customers.
Intelligent Octopus Go (the EV smart-charging tariff) is unaffected — it's a different product.
Cosy Octopus (heat pump tariff) is unaffected.

The May 2026 alternatives for new customers

Tariff	Export rate	Bundling?	Best for
British Gas Export & Earn Plus	15.1p/kWh	Requires BG import	Households happy to switch import to BG; highest non-Flux rate
Good Energy Solar Savings Exclusive	25p/kWh	Must install via Good Energy	New solar installs only via Good Energy's installer network
EDF Export Exclusive 12m V2	24p/kWh	Tied to EDF import	EDF import customers
OVO Smart Solar Export	20p/kWh	Solar + battery installed by OVO	Households who want OVO to do the full install
E.ON Next Export Premium	17.5p/kWh	Tied to E.ON import	E.ON Next customers; sometimes closed to new sign-ups
Octopus Outgoing Fixed	12p/kWh (cut from 15p on 1 March 2026)	No bundling — works with any import supplier	Households who want a no-strings export rate without changing import
ScottishPower SmartGen	6p/kWh	Open market	Best non-tied open rate after Outgoing

The bundling trap — read this before signing

Headline export rates of 24–25p look better than Outgoing's 12p, but most are tied tariffs: you have to also be an import customer of that supplier, and sometimes have your solar installed via their channel. The clawback clauses are real — switching away after a year typically costs you 6–12 months of export earnings.

Worked example: a household exporting 2,500 kWh/year on Good Energy Solar Savings Exclusive earns 2,500 × 25p = £625/year. The same household on Octopus Outgoing Fixed earns 2,500 × 12p = £300/year. Difference: £325/year. But to get the 25p, you also have to import from Good Energy at their rates, which are typically £80–£150/year more expensive than Octopus or EDF for an average household. Net gain: maybe £175–£245/year, with a clawback if you leave early.

The right comparison is always import rate + export rate combined, not just export. Use our bill estimator to model your specific case.

If you mainly want time-shift arbitrage, not export

A different model that's worth considering: instead of optimising for export earnings, use your battery to charge at off-peak and discharge during peak, displacing daytime grid use. This works on any battery without needing a specialised export tariff:

Intelligent Octopus Go — 6.99p/kWh off-peak (00:30–05:30 smart-extended). Charge battery overnight, discharge across the day. Annual savings on a 10kWh battery with daily cycling: £550–£700.
OVO Charge Anytime — 7p/kWh anytime. Same concept, more flexible scheduling.
E.ON Next Drive Smart — 6.7p/kWh midnight to 7am.

These don't pay you for export, but they do let you avoid paying 24p/kWh import — which on a £1,641 cap household is worth roughly the same per kWh as exporting at 12p.

For most UK households without solar, this is the better mathematical play. For households with solar, it complements export earnings — charge from solar, then top up from grid in the cheap window when solar isn't enough.

Should you wait for the new Octopus product?

Three things to weigh:

Wait if…

You don't currently have solar or a battery and you're not in a hurry to install. The new Octopus product (expected later 2026) might be competitive again — and you'd lose nothing by signing up for solar-without-export-tariff via Outgoing Fixed in the meantime.
You already have solar (no battery) and Outgoing Fixed at 12p is acceptable. Adding a battery just for Flux economics doesn't pay back at the lower rates available now.

Don't wait if…

You're already planning a solar + battery install for thermal/efficiency reasons (storms, blackout backup, EV charging). The export-tariff math is only one part of the case.
You're approaching the 0% VAT deadline (31 March 2027). After that, the rate reverts to 5% — small but real, and worth saving on a £6,000+ install.
You can claim a grant. The Warm Homes: Local Grant covers solar + battery for income-eligible households, completely separately from export tariffs.

Frequently asked questions

I signed up for Flux before March. Am I safe?

Yes. Octopus has been clear that existing Intelligent Octopus Flux and original Flux customers are retained on their current rates. The pause only affects new sign-ups.

Can I get on Flux through a third party?

No. The tariff is closed to new applications via every channel.

Will Octopus refund Flux customers if they bring a new product back at lower rates?

Almost certainly not. Existing Flux contracts will run their course; any new product will be a separate sign-up. Octopus has no obligation to backdate.

Is there a UK supplier still offering algorithmic battery control?

Not at Flux's level of sophistication. OVO and EDF both offer some smart control on their solar tariffs, but neither dispatches to the grid algorithmically the way Flux did. National Grid ESO's CrowdFlex and the Demand Flexibility Service open up some adjacent opportunities for ScottishPower and Octopus customers, but those are demand-response, not export-payment.

How does this affect my battery payback calculation?

If you were modelling your battery payback assuming Flux at £900–£1,800/year, redo the maths with one of the alternatives above. A realistic 2026 baseline is £400–£700/year on Outgoing Fixed + time-shift, or £600–£900/year on a tied tariff with the right import combo. Payback periods stretch from 6–8 years (Flux era) to 9–12 years on current rates. Solar without a battery still pays back in 6–9 years.

What if I have a GivEnergy battery and GivEnergy is in administration?

See our GivEnergy administration guide. The export tariff question is independent — your battery hardware works regardless of GivEnergy's status, and any export tariff signs up via your electricity supplier, not via the battery manufacturer.

Sources

Page changelog

19 May 2026 — Initial publication. Reflects post-March 2026 closure to new customers; no Octopus replacement product announced as of this date.

Plan your full solar + battery picture

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