Octopus Go, Agile or Flux with a home battery?
We ran a full year, October 2025 to September 2026, of 40 homes through five Octopus tariffs, with Orza planning the battery every half hour on each. Where export was paid, the battery saved £200 to £413 a year on average. On Go or Agile with nothing paid for export, £61 to £194. Here is what each tariff cost, and why.
Being paid for export made the biggest difference of anything.
Twenty homes with a 9.5 kWh battery and 4 kWp of panels, each run through the same year on each tariff. The figures are the average home’s energy cost for the year: what it paid for electricity, less what export paid it.
| Tariff | Battery left to itself | Planned by Orza | Saved by planning | Most any planner could save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agile, nothing paid for export | £456.57 | £370.76 | £85.81 | £103.22 |
| Go, nothing paid for export | £558.56 | £364.73 | £193.83 | £215.06 |
| Flux | £419.31 | £140.45 | £278.86 | £307.49 |
| Agile with Agile Outgoing | £301.86 | £101.82 | £200.05 | £221.65 |
| Agile with Outgoing Octopus, 12p | £267.82 | £7.68 | £260.14 | £279.85 |
Average of 20 homes, 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. Energy only: standing charges are left out (on Octopus in 2026 they were 43p to 50p a day across these tariffs, so no more than about £25 a year apart), and no limit was put on export. Most any planner could save is the same year planned knowing in advance exactly what the sun, the house and the prices would do.
- Agile with a fixed export rate came out lowest£7.68 for the whole year’s energy, for the average home. Agile’s cheap half hours to buy in, and a flat 12p for every kWh sent out.
- Go’s battery did the most work with no exportPlanning saved £193.83 on Go against £85.81 on Agile, because Go’s day rate is high and its night rate low. The two bills still ended the year about £6 apart.
- Flux pays for export by the time of dayMost in the early evening, so a battery that holds charge for those hours is paid for it. It saved £278.86 a year, more than either Agile export tariff.
- With no export payment there was least to winThe most any planner could save on Agile with nothing paid for export was £103.22 a year. The battery’s only job there is to move the home’s own use and its own sun.
With more panels, Flux paid the home more than it spent.
The same 20 homes’ use again, with a 13.5 kWh battery and 6 kWp of panels. More sun to sell changes the order: Flux comes out first, and three of the five tariffs end the year paying the home.
The average home’s year, planned by Orza
- Flux: paid £400.49Left to itself the battery cost £12.97 for the year. Planning saved £413.46.
- Agile with Outgoing Octopus, 12p: paid £315.03Planning saved £230.42.
- Agile with Agile Outgoing: paid £267.14Planning saved £258.70.
- Go, nothing paid for export: £236.96Planning saved £162.51.
- Agile, nothing paid for export: £264.45Planning saved £60.77.
Go and Agile save in winter. Flux saves every month.
With nothing paid for export, a battery earns its keep when the house uses more than the sun gives. That is mostly October to March. Where export pays, the summer’s spare sun is worth something too.
The most a typical home could save, by season
- Agile, no export: £87 in winter, £16 in summerOctober to March against April to September. In summer the sun covers the house and there is little left for a battery to move.
- Go, no export: £188 in winter, £27 in summerGo’s cheap night is worth most when the days are short.
- Flux: £149 in winter, £159 in summerIts early evening export price makes the summer’s sun worth holding for. Every month of the year, battery by battery.
Before you choose a tariff for your battery.
A year of 40 homes is strong evidence, not a forecast for yours. These are the things that change the answer.
All our guidesAre these real homes?
Their electricity use is: real households’ smart meter readings, from Low Carbon London (UK Power Networks, CC BY 4.0), moved to 2025 to 2026 a whole number of weeks so a Thursday stays a Thursday. The batteries and panels are modelled, on a south facing roof in London. The prices are the ones Octopus published for North West England, and the weather is what came.
Can I pair any export tariff with any import tariff?
No. Agile can be paired with Outgoing Octopus or Agile Outgoing. Flux is import and export in one tariff. Octopus pairs Go with Outgoing Fixed Lite, its own export rate for Go customers, which it doesn’t publish, so Go here is shown with nothing paid for export. If you are on Go and paid for export, your year would come out better than the Go row here.
Why is no export limit applied?
This year was run without one. Most homes may export up to 3.68 kW without the network operator agreeing to more, and a limit lowers what a battery can sell in a half hour. On one real home it moved the export figures a lot. Expect the export tariffs to come out somewhat lower for a home held to 3.68 kW.
Which tariff should I choose?
On these figures, if you are paid for export: Agile with a fixed export rate for a typical home, and Flux with more panels. With no export payment, Go and Agile end the year close together. Your own panels, battery, use and region decide it for you, which is why Orza shows what its plan saved on your own battery, day by day.
Does the battery need to be planned to save this much?
Yes. Every saving here is planning against the same battery left to itself, which charges from spare sun and empties into the house. The plan decides when to fill from the grid, when to hold charge for a dearer hour and when to sell, again every half hour. What the battery saved against no battery at all.
What does Orza cost?
Nothing during the beta, and no card is needed to join.
See what your own tariff earns, planned every half hour.
Free during the beta. Connect in a few minutes, and start in Monitor only.