Octopus Energy for Business launched in 2018 and says it now supplies businesses nationwide. Its public-facing business proposition is built around direct sales, online quoting, zero-carbon electricity, smart tariffs, export tariffs and multi-site portfolio management, rather than a broker-led or heavily bespoke procurement model.
How Octopus prices business energy
One of the first things to know is that Octopus does not publish a simple static national rate card for standard business import tariffs on the public site. Instead, it asks prospective customers to get a quote, and existing customers to check their dashboard, where the current unit rate, standing charge and approximate annual and monthly spend are shown. Octopus also says its business tariffs are available in 12, 24 and 36-month contracts, and that it offers both dual fuel and electricity-only options.
That means the most useful way to describe Octopus business pricing is in two parts: first, the quote-only import tariffs for standard supply; and second, the publicly published smart and export tariff figures that Octopus does make available. For researchers, the business quote process is where Octopus reveals the detailed live numbers for a specific postcode, meter setup and annual consumption, while the public site gives much more granular detail on tariff mechanics than on generic headline import prices.
Standard supply and fixed tariffs
For ordinary business supply, Octopus says the quote journey will show the tariff options available for your site, including the standing charge, unit rate, and estimated annual and monthly costs. It also says that all of its business tariffs use 100% carbon-free energy and that businesses can choose supply dates as soon as possible, next month, or up to 6 months in the future.
A useful detail here is that Octopus normally takes an advance payment when you join. According to its switching guide, this is usually equal to 3 months’ estimated energy cost, although it can be up to 6 months depending on credit score.
Octopus says this advance payment is held until the end of the contract and then refunded in full rather than being used as bill credit.
No Standing Charge tariff
Octopus has gone further than most suppliers by launching a No Standing Charge Tariff for some businesses. On this tariff, the standing charge is effectively 0p per day, with the fixed-cost element moved into the unit rate instead.
Octopus says it is currently aimed at businesses in electricity bands 2, 3 or 4, runs on a fixed 12-month contract, and does not require a smart meter. It also states that the product is still in a trial phase.
That tariff will not suit every business. Octopus’s own guidance says it is more likely to work well for firms towards the lower end of their electricity band, and may be less attractive for businesses whose usage sits nearer the top of that band. For low- to mid-usage sites that want billing simplicity, though, the attraction is obvious: no fixed daily line item at all, just energy used.
Shape Shifters: Trio and Agile
The most distinctive part of the Octopus business offer is Shape Shifters, its smart time-of-use electricity range. Shape Shifters: Trio gives businesses 3 set prices across the day and promises 21 hours of cheaper electricity every day. The night rate runs from midnight to 7am, the day rate runs from 7am to 4pm and 7pm to midnight, and the peak rate runs from 4pm to 7pm.
Shape Shifters: Agile is the more dynamic option. Prices change every half-hour, are shown 24 hours in advance, and the next day’s rates are published between 4pm and 8pm each evening. Octopus says the tariff is capped at £1 per kWh, but that prices can also fall as low as £0 or even into negative pricing territory in some periods. In practice, the 4pm to 7pm window still tends to be the most expensive part of the day.
To join either Shape Shifters tariff, Octopus says a business needs a working smart meter, must be up to date on Direct Debit payments, and must have no overdue debt on the account. It also says there are no exit fees for joining or leaving Shape Shifters, even if you move from another Octopus contract mid-term, and that customers can switch between Trioand Agile without penalty.
How much can Shape Shifters save?
Octopus has published unusually specific performance data for Shape Shifters. It says that in its 2023 trial, 100% of participating businesses saved money, with an average bill reduction of 12% and a maximum peak-load shift of 81%.
More recently, Octopus has said Shape Shifters customers are cutting bills by up to 25%, that 75% of businesses would save simply by joining Agile without changing their habits, and that the average Shape Shifter moves 13% of peak-period demand into cheaper periods, while some customers have shifted as much as 95% of usage out of peak hours.
Those figures suggest that Octopus is especially strong for businesses that can move load away from 4pm to 7pm. That includes sites with EV charging, battery storage, solar, scheduled plant, overnight refrigeration, flexible HVAC settings or back-office workloads that can be automated. The less flexible a business is during that early-evening window, the less valuable Shape Shifters becomes.
Solar, batteries and export tariffs
Octopus is also one of the more detailed business suppliers when it comes to solar export. Its main flat-rate business export tariff is Panel Power, which currently pays 12p per kWh exported. Octopus says it is designed for sites with solar, requires an Octopus import meter, a working smart or export-compatible meter, no Feed-in Tariff payments, and a generation capacity of less than 150 kWp. Panel Power applications can take up to 10 weeks to process.
Octopus also offers Shape Shifters: Export, a half-hourly business export tariff aimed mainly at sites with batteries plus on-site generation. Octopus says export prices change every half-hour in line with day-ahead wholesale pricing, and it uses the formula APX × M + B + C, where the final C element only applies in the 4pm to 7pm peak. Importantly, Octopus says there are no limits to how high or low Shape Shifters: Export prices can go.
For businesses that only want a simple export arrangement without switching import supply, Octopus’s business SEG rate is currently 4.1p per kWh. That makes the headline gap between Panel Power and SEG 7.9p per kWh. On every 1,000 kWh exported, that is a difference of about £79 in favour of Panel Power, based on Octopus’s currently published rates.
Worked export revenue examples
Using Octopus’s current published business export rates, a site exporting 2,500 kWh a year would earn about £300 on Panel Power, versus roughly £102.50 on the 4.1p SEG rate. At 5,000 kWh, that becomes about £600 versus £205. At 10,000 kWh, it is about £1,200 versus £410. At 25,000 kWh, it is about £3,000 versus £1,025. For a solar-heavy site with daytime over-generation, that is a material difference.
The more sophisticated option is to combine an import smart tariff with a dynamic export tariff. Octopus explicitly markets this pairing to battery-equipped businesses: charge up when import prices are low, use or store power through the day, then export when the 4pm to 7pm peak pushes export values higher. For firms with solar plus storage, that is one of the clearest commercial strengths of the Octopus model.
Multi-site and larger businesses
Octopus’s public multi-site thresholds are also refreshingly specific. It says a portfolio can be as small as 4 accounts, usage can start from 100 MWh across the portfolio, and there is no maximum number of sites or total volume.
Octopus also says its largest portfolio currently contains 1,849 accounts. That makes the supplier relevant not only to small single-site businesses, but also to estate managers, franchise groups and multi-location operators.
Billing, charges and contract structure
Octopus’s terms and billing pages show that business energy costs can be much more granular than just “unit rate plus standing charge”.
Its business terms say charges may include a wholesale unit price, non-wholesale unit charge, daily standing charge, capacity charge, exceeded capacity charge, advance payment and security deposit, plus VAT, Climate Change Levy and other applicable taxes or levies.
It also notes that businesses can face additional pass-through costs such as reactive energy or excess-capacity charges in some situations.
This matters because some premises, especially half-hourly or higher-demand sites, will not be comparing suppliers on pence-per-kWh alone. Capacity and network-related items can materially affect total landed cost.
Octopus defines the capacity charge as a fixed daily fee connected to DNO maintenance and your site’s maximum demand, and says businesses can usually find the kVA figure on the invoice.
Contract end mechanics are also worth watching. Octopus’s business terms say that if a fixed agreement ends and the customer does nothing, supply can move onto a standard variable tariff under a deemed contract.
For Shape Shifters specifically, Octopus says those contracts do not auto-renew, and that it will contact customers 60 days before the end date with renewal options; if no new tariff is chosen, the account rolls onto its variable tariff.
VAT and Climate Change Levy
Octopus provides quite a lot of detail on reduced VAT and CCL treatment. It says standard VAT on energy is usually 20%, but some qualifying organisations can get 5% VAT and CCL exemption.
Qualifying criteria include certain charities, non-profits, residential accommodation settings and some partially qualifying uses.
Octopus says that if less than 60% of energy use goes towards a qualifying activity, reduced rates apply only to that part of consumption; if more than 60%qualifies, the reduced treatment can apply to all consumption.
Octopus also says some businesses qualify automatically through low usage. Its threshold is less than 33 kWh per dayon average or less than 1,000 kWh per month. If a business qualifies this way, Octopus says it applies the reduced treatment automatically on monthly invoices.
Switching, lead times and metering
Octopus says switching is straightforward in operational terms: no engineer or installer visit, no disruption to supply, and support under the Energy Switch Guarantee. That said, businesses still need to handle one important step themselves: Octopus says customers should tell their current supplier they are leaving and will usually need to give up to 30 days’ notice.
Its switching guide gives more specific timings than most supplier pages. If a business is free to switch immediately, Octopus says the transfer usually takes around 5 to 6 days for electricity and 16 to 17 days for gas. It also says businesses can sign up with a future start date up to 6 months ahead.
For sites that need a smart meter in order to access Shape Shifters or better data visibility, Octopus says the average wait is 4 to 6 weeks for single-phase meters and 10 to 12 weeks for three-phase meters. That is useful for planning, especially if the business wants to move onto a smart tariff rather than just a standard fixed product.
Reviews and overall verdict
Octopus has a strong reputation footprint. Trustpilot showed 5 stars from 780,104 reviews at the time checked, and Octopus’s own site says it is the only supplier Which? has recommended for nine years in a row.
Those figures do not guarantee the cheapest quote for every site, but they do reinforce the impression that Octopus competes heavily on service, product design and customer experience as well as on raw supply price.
Overall, Octopus looks strongest for businesses that are happy to buy direct, want an online quote rather than a broker-mediated sales process, and can make use of flexible electricity pricing, on-site EV charging, batteries, solar export or multi-site portfolio management.
The main drawback is that import pricing is less transparent at the research stage than with suppliers that publish broader public rate tables.
But once you move into the quote flow, Octopus gives a lot of detail, and its smart tariff and export offering is one of the most numerically specific and genuinely innovative in the UK business market.
Octopus Energy business prices FAQ
Octopus does not publish a simple public rate card for its standard business import tariffs in the way some suppliers do. Instead, it shows the tariff options available for your premises during the quote journey, including your rates and estimated costs.
If your business is free to switch straight away, Octopus says the change normally takes around 5–6 days for electricityand 16–17 days for gas. It also says you should contact your current supplier first, otherwise they may object to the transfer.
Yes. Octopus says it usually takes an advance payment equal to 3 months’ estimated energy cost, although this can be up to 6 months depending on your credit score. It says this payment is held until the end of the contract and then refunded in full.
Octopus says its business tariffs are available in 12-month, 24-month and 36-month contract lengths. It also says these tariffs use 100% carbon-free energy and are available for both dual fuel and electricity-only supply.
Shape Shifters is Octopus’s smart business electricity tariff range. Trio gives businesses 21 hours of cheaper electricity every day with three set pricing periods, while the peak period runs from 4pm to 7pm.
Yes. Octopus says businesses joining Shape Shifters: Trio or Shape Shifters: Agile need a working smart meter, must be up to date on Direct Debit payments, and must have no overdue debt on the account.
Octopus says it installs SMETS2 smart meters nationwide for business customers. Its current average wait time is 4–6 weeks for single-phase meters and 10–12 weeks for three-phase meters, although timings can vary by meter type and local engineer availability.
Yes. Octopus says businesses can join a No Standing Charge Tariff on a fixed 12-month contract, with the standing charge reduced to zero and the fixed-cost element instead built into the unit rate.
Yes. Octopus’s Panel Power export tariff pays a flat 12p per kWh for exported electricity. Octopus says it is for businesses with solar panels, generation capacity below 150 kWp, a working smart meter or other export-compatible meter, and an Octopus import meter.
Usually, yes. Octopus says Shape Shifters: Export works especially well for businesses with battery storage, because export prices change every half-hour and are often highest during the 4pm to 7pm peak. It also says applications can take up to 10 weeks to process.
Yes. Octopus says its multi-site offer can cover portfolios as small as 4 accounts, from 100 MWh of usage upwards, with no maximum number of sites or total volume. It also says its largest current portfolio contains 1,849 accounts.
In some cases, yes. Octopus says a business may qualify automatically through low usage if its average electricity use is less than 33 kWh per day or less than 1,000 kWh per month. It also says qualifying customers do not need to do anything for this low-usage route, because it applies the treatment on monthly invoices.
Octopus says that if your business does not take action when a fixed agreement ends, supply can move onto its standard variable tariff under a deemed contract. That makes it important to review renewal options before the contract expiry date.