Octopus Flux

Octopus Flux is the tariff that can actually make your electricity meter run backwards. If you've got solar panels and a home battery, Flux lets you import cheap electricity overnight, use your solar generation during the day and export to the grid at premium rates during the evening peak. Some customers genuinely earn money on their electricity.

How it works

Flux uses three rate bands for both import and export:

• Off-peak (02:00-05:00): Cheap import rate. Charge your battery from the grid when electricity is cheapest.
• Day (05:00-16:00 and 19:00-02:00): Standard rate. Your solar panels do their thing.
• Peak (16:00-19:00): Premium export rate. Discharge your battery to the grid and get paid top rates.

The key insight is that the peak export rate is significantly higher than the off-peak import rate. So you're buying cheap, storing it and selling expensive. The margin between those two rates is where the savings (or earnings) come from.

Can you actually make money?

Some people do. If you've got a large solar array (4kW+) and a decent battery (10kWh+), the combination of free solar generation and the import/export arbitrage can result in net positive electricity bills in summer months. In winter, you'll still be a net consumer, but the cheap overnight imports keep costs down.

Over a full year, most Flux customers don't quite break even, but they do get their electricity bills down to almost nothing. Which, given that the average household spends over £1,000 a year on electricity, is pretty remarkable.

What do you need?

• Solar panels (any size, but bigger is better for this tariff)
• A home battery with at least 5kWh capacity
• A compatible hybrid inverter that can charge from both solar and grid
• A smart meter

The battery is the essential bit. Without it, you can't do the cheap overnight charging or the peak-time exporting. Solar panels alone aren't enough for Flux to make sense. You'd be better off with the standard Flexible tariff and the Smart Export Guarantee for selling surplus generation.

Who is it for?

• Solar + battery households. This is the specific audience. If you've got both, Flux is almost certainly your best option.
• People who enjoy monitoring their energy. Getting the most out of Flux means understanding your generation, consumption and storage patterns. It rewards engagement.

Bottom line

If you've already invested in solar panels and a battery, Flux is the tariff that maximises your return. The import/export rate structure is designed to reward exactly what your equipment does naturally: store cheap power and release it when it's valuable. You've already made the big investment in hardware. Flux makes sure you get the most out of it.