Solar guide

Short answer

If you have solar panels but no battery, start with Outgoing Octopus for a simple export payment or Agile Outgoing if you can shift export into better half-hourly prices. If you have solar and a battery, compare Octopus Flux as the current manual solar-battery route, then check Intelligent Octopus Flux separately because Octopus can pause that automated option during volatile periods.

If you also have an EV, the choice is less tidy. Intelligent Octopus Go can be brilliant for overnight car and home-battery charging, but you still need to check which export tariff can sit alongside it and whether export income matters more than cheap charging. Octopus now keeps a separate import/export pairing table, so do that compatibility check before treating any tariff combination as available.

Why solar tariff choice is awkward

A solar home is not just buying electricity. It may also be storing cheap electricity, using self-generated power, exporting spare generation and charging a car. One tariff can be excellent for import and poor for export, or simple for export and less clever for a battery.

That is why old solar advice goes stale quickly. Octopus export rates, smart-tariff pairings and Flux availability have all moved. A page that still says one tariff is obviously best without checking your equipment is probably oversimplifying it.

Outgoing Octopus and SEG

Outgoing Octopus is the plain export route for many Octopus customers with solar. At the time of writing, Octopus says Outgoing Octopus pays 12p/kWh for exported electricity. It is a variable tariff, so the rate can change with notice.

Octopus also has a separate Smart Export Guarantee tariff. At the time of writing, Octopus says its SEG tariff pays 4.1p/kWh. The SEG route is useful if you want export payments without moving your import supply to Octopus, but it is not usually the best export rate available to an Octopus import customer.

Export setup can take time. Octopus says it may need to apply to the DNO for an export MPAN, then enrol that export MPAN and connect to your smart meter. If you are switching because of solar, do not assume export payments start the same day your import account opens.

Agile Outgoing

Agile Outgoing pays a different export rate every half hour, linked to day-ahead wholesale prices. Octopus describes it as best for homes with storage that can sell electricity when prices are highest and store energy when prices are lower.

It is not a set-and-forget choice. It suits households that can automate a battery or are comfortable checking rates. It can work well when evening prices rise, but the value depends on your export timing and the wholesale market, not just the size of your solar array.

Flux and Intelligent Octopus Flux

Standard Flux is the older solar-and-battery tariff. It combines import and export pricing with an overnight cheap period and a 16:00 to 19:00 peak period. The idea is simple: charge the battery when import is cheaper, then use or export stored energy when peak pricing makes it more valuable.

For automated battery control, Intelligent Octopus Flux is the separate page to check. It pairs with eligible batteries when the product is open and lets Octopus optimise charging and discharging. That can remove some of the manual scheduling work, but it depends on live product availability, your battery brand, installer support, warranty position, solar setup, smart-meter connection, half-hourly readings and comfort with Octopus controlling the battery for the tariff.

Intelligent Octopus Go with solar

Intelligent Octopus Go is primarily an EV tariff, not a solar tariff. It can still suit a solar household if the EV uses enough energy and the home can shift battery charging into the cheaper overnight window.

The trade-off is export. A household with lots of summer surplus may care more about export income than overnight car charging. A household with a high-mileage EV may care more about predictable cheap charging than squeezing every extra penny from export.

Before choosing it for a solar home, check the current Intelligent Octopus Go guide, the live Octopus tariff page and Octopus's import/export pairing rules. Do not assume every export tariff can be combined with every smart import tariff, and do not rely on charger, car-app or battery-app screenshots as billing evidence if the smart-meter data later disagrees.

Charge Cap adds one more check for EV, solar and battery homes. If the car, charger, battery inverter and Octopus app are all trying to optimise the same cheap window, one schedule can fight another. Pick one main control route, keep export value separate from the EV charging decision and use the app history as supporting evidence rather than the final billing record.

Check the import and export pairing before you switch

Octopus publishes a separate guide to which export tariffs can combine with each import tariff. That matters for homes trying to run EV charging, solar export and a battery tariff together, because a good import tariff is not useful if it blocks the export setup you were counting on.

The safe order is to choose the job first: simple export payment, dynamic export, automated battery optimisation or EV charging. Then check the current pairing table, smart-meter terms and battery or EV compatibility before you start the switch. If a combination is not shown as available, treat it as unavailable until Octopus confirms it for your account.

What you need before export works

For export tariffs, Octopus generally needs a meter that can provide export readings, an export MPAN and evidence for the generating system. For SEG, Octopus says you may need MCS or equivalent certification, DNO paperwork and a working electricity smart meter.

Most modern setups are fine, but the paperwork can be the slow part. If you have just had panels fitted, ask your installer for the certificate, DNO confirmation and export details before you start comparing tariff rates too closely.

A sensible decision order

1. Check whether you are solar-only, battery-only, solar plus battery, EV plus solar, or all three.
2. Check whether your battery is compatible with Intelligent Octopus Flux if automation matters.
3. Check the live export-tariff hub and import/export pairing table before assuming two Octopus tariffs work together.
4. Check the live Outgoing and SEG pages for current export rates.
5. Check that Octopus can use your smart-meter import and export readings for billing.
6. Use your own import, export and EV charging pattern rather than a generic best-tariff claim.

Further reading

• Solar with Octopus for export setup, MPANs and current solar checks
• Export rates explained for SEG, Outgoing and export paperwork
• Battery storage strategies for charging, export and self-consumption trade-offs
• Which Octopus tariff to compare if you have an EV, solar and a battery for the combined-household decision
• All tariff guides to compare the wider Octopus range