Tesla Electric UK vs Octopus: Powerwall Guide
Tesla Electric UK vs Octopus Energy: what Powerwall owners should do in 2026
The short version
Tesla Electric has an Ofgem licence but no UK tariff, sign-up or launch date, so you can’t switch to it yet. The Tesla Energy Plan with Octopus has closed as well. If you own a Powerwall today, your live options are Octopus’s: standard Flux if it’s open to you, Agile if you like tinkering, Intelligent Octopus Go if you charge an EV. I wouldn’t wait for Tesla.
Every week someone emails me asking whether they should move their Powerwall onto Tesla Electric. The honest answer is that nobody can yet. Tesla has permission to sell electricity in Great Britain, but it hasn’t published a tariff, opened sign-ups or given a date. What you can do is work out which Octopus tariff suits your battery today, and know what to look for in Tesla’s rate card when it finally appears. That’s what this guide covers, with the sums shown so you can swap in your own rates.
Where Tesla Electric UK stands right now
Here’s what’s confirmed, as far as I can find. Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd was granted an Ofgem electricity supply licence in March 2026, covering England, Scotland and Wales. Since then there’s been no published rate card, no sign-up page and no launch date, and I haven’t found any sign of a launch as I write in early November 2026. Our guide to getting paid by Tesla, Octopus or Axle has the earlier timeline.
| What | Where it stands (November 2026) |
|---|---|
| Ofgem supply licence | Granted March 2026, effective 11 March. Electricity only |
| Tesla Energy Plan (with Octopus) | Closed to new applications and renewals. Existing customers carry on to the end of their 12-month contract, with no exit fee |
| Tesla Electric UK unit rates | Not published |
| Sign-ups | Not open |
| Launch date | Not announced |
| Who can join | Not confirmed. The Texas version is open to anyone, but Tesla hasn’t said the UK will match |
The Energy Plan details come from Tesla’s own UK support page. A licence is permission to trade, not a product, so everything below the first row of that table is still a blank.
Treat any Tesla Electric UK numbers with suspicion. If you see an article quoting UK rates, contract terms or a list of eligible Powerwall models, it’s guesswork based on the US version. None of it has been published.
Which Powerwalls matter here? Only the Powerwall 3 is sold new in the UK. The Powerwall 2 is discontinued here (see our Powerwall 3 vs Powerwall 2 comparison and the recall check if you own one), and the three-phase model has launched elsewhere but not in Britain. Installed prices are in our Tesla Powerwall UK cost guide.
What you can use today: the Octopus Flux, Agile and Go line-up
Octopus supports most mainstream batteries, so the question isn’t whether it works with your Powerwall. It’s which tariff suits the attention you’ll give it and what else is on your meter. Availability has flipped twice this year, so check Octopus’s own pages before you budget: Flux and Intelligent Flux. Our best solar battery roundup covers the hardware side.
Octopus Flux
Cheap import 02:00–05:00, a 16:00–19:00 peak where export pays up to 29.32p/kWh, standard rate in between. You set the battery schedule yourself. Octopus’s sign-up page is live again after the March pause.
Intelligent Octopus Flux
Same bands, but Octopus schedules a compatible battery and peak export rises to 32.17p/kWh. Currently temporarily unavailable, and limited to homes that bought solar and a battery from Octopus. The Powerwall is named in its FAQ, so confirm your model in your account.
Agile Octopus
Half-hourly prices in and out, capped at 100p/kWh, with an uplift from 16:00 to 19:00. Maximum upside, maximum attention. Any battery whose app lets you set schedules can do it, or you can use a control app.
Intelligent Octopus Go
Built for EVs, with a 23:30–05:30 off-peak window. Your battery can charge at those rates too, but the car’s smart-charging slots can drain a battery left in discharge mode.
Cosy Octopus
Three cheap windows (04:00–07:00, 13:00–16:00 and 22:00–00:00) and a 16:00–19:00 peak. Import only and built for heat pumps, so solar homes need a separate export tariff.
Export is a separate decision unless you’re on Flux. Outgoing Octopus pays a flat 12p/kWh (cut from 15p on 1 March 2026), and Octopus’s Outgoing tariffs need Octopus as your import supplier. If you’d rather keep another supplier for import, Octopus’s own SEG rate is 4.1p/kWh, and other suppliers pay more. Our SEG rate comparison and Octopus export tariff guide keep the current table.
Still choosing between tariffs? Our Flux vs Cosy comparison splits that properly, and this piece lists which battery brands work with Agile and Flux.
Head-to-head: Tesla Electric UK vs Octopus today
This is a live product against a promise, so the Tesla column has more “not confirmed” than I’d like. I’d rather show you the gaps than fill them with guesses.
| Tesla Electric UK | Octopus today | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Licensed March 2026, not live | Live (Flux, Agile, Go, Cosy). Intelligent Flux restricted |
| Unit rates | None published | Published, region by region |
| Eligibility | Not confirmed | Smart meter for all. Flux needs solar and a battery |
| Battery brands | Not confirmed | Flux works with most. Intelligent Flux needs a listed brand |
| Who dispatches | Not confirmed | You (Flux, Agile) or Octopus (Intelligent Flux) |
| Export payments | Not confirmed | Bundled in Flux, or a separate export tariff or SEG |
| Contract | Not confirmed | Flux and Cosy carry no exit fees |
| Grid support (VPP) | Energy Plan closed, no replacement announced | Charge Pack add-on, £12 a month minimum. Powerwall support listed as coming soon |
| Best fit | Wait for the rate card | Powerwall owners who want a tariff now |
What a Powerwall can earn on a live tariff
Every route is chasing the same pot: the gap between cheap and dear half-hours. I can’t model Tesla’s rates because they don’t exist, so here’s what a 13.5 kWh Powerwall 3 could make on the Octopus options, using the same method as our Agile and Flux battery guide.
Here’s the arithmetic, with assumed prices so you can swap in this week’s live rates from your own app:
| Scenario | Buy price | Sell or avoided price | Margin per cycle* | Modelled yearly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agile, patchy run | 14p/kWh | 24p/kWh | £1.03 | ~£310 |
| Flux, fixed windows | 15p/kWh | 28p/kWh | £1.38 | ~£410 |
| Cheap-night charging vs cap | 10p/kWh | 26.32p/kWh | £1.85 | ~£555 |
| Agile, good run | 10p/kWh | 30p/kWh | £2.30 | ~£690 |
*12.15 kWh out (13.5 kWh × 90%) × sell price, minus 13.5 kWh in × buy price. Yearly figure assumes 300 cycles. If your export is capped at the common 3.68 kW single-phase limit, fixed-window Flux tops out at roughly 11 kWh in the three-hour peak, which trims that row by around £40.
Then do the bit most people skip: compare the result with your current bill, not with zero. Ofgem’s cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026 is 26.32p/kWh for electricity, with no VAT on domestic electricity until 31 March 2027, and the next cap is due on 25 November. Our energy price cap guide shows how that moves solar payback.
One more reality check. Tesla’s “up to £300 a month” headline for its earlier UK virtual power plant was a ceiling from an exceptional grid event, not a normal month. Don’t plan around it.
No battery on the wall yet? Installs are currently set to keep 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, with the 5% reduced rate applying after that unless the government extends it (VAT Notice 708/6 has the detail). On a £9,000 battery-and-solar job, that’s £450 more. That deadline changes your payback more than any tariff choice on this page.
Control, backup and the small print
Three clauses decide whether a trading tariff stays friendly after month three.
One: reserve versus revenue. Every dispatch that drains you to the floor is money today against an empty battery when the street goes dark. Octopus holds a 20% minimum on batteries it controls under Intelligent Flux, and the figure can vary through the year. On anything you schedule yourself, set your own floor and leave it alone.
Two: warranty throughput. The Powerwall 3 carries a 10-year warranty guaranteeing at least 70% of capacity. Check your own paperwork for any throughput or cycle cap before an algorithm starts spending it on your behalf.
Three: export rights and double-dipping. Flux bundles import and export, so leaving it drops your export to the SEG rate of whoever you join next. Octopus’s Charge Pack also can’t be combined with third-party battery services such as Axle. If you hold a legacy export rate you like, price it into any move.
Octopus owners, read this. If your battery seems to empty itself at odd hours, that’s usually tariff or EV smart-charging logic rather than a fault. We’ve unpacked it in Is Octopus Energy draining your solar battery?
How I’ll judge Tesla Electric when it launches
When a rate card finally appears, I’ll run it through these five checks before recommending anyone move:
- Unit rates against the cap. Compare Tesla’s import rate with the 26.32p/kWh cap and with Flux’s cheap window.
- Export rate and bundling. Set it beside Outgoing Octopus at 12p, Flux’s peak of up to 29.32p and the best SEG tariffs. Check whether leaving costs you your export deal.
- Who controls dispatch. Can you set your own reserve floor, and can you override a schedule during a storm week?
- Contract and exit fees. The old Tesla Energy Plan ran for 12 months and could be cancelled without an exit fee. I’d want that again.
- Grid-support terms. How much notice do you get, does it stack with SEG, and what does it do to your battery warranty?
If it can’t beat what you’re on now on paper, don’t move for the app.
Who should pick which
Octopus is the move now if…
- you own a Powerwall and want a live tariff today;
- you’d rather budget from published unit rates;
- your battery isn’t a Tesla, so there’s nothing to decide;
- a heat pump lives on Cosy’s cheap windows;
- an EV wants Intelligent Go’s off-peak.
Keep an eye on Tesla Electric if…
- a Powerwall is already on your wall;
- you want one app and one bill;
- you’re coming off the Tesla Energy Plan at renewal;
- you’re happy to wait for a rate card before deciding.
Two edge cases trip people up. Powerwall plus EV: the car’s charging is often the bigger saving, so price Intelligent Octopus Go’s off-peak before you chase battery trading. And rural households who treat the Powerwall as backup first and a trading asset second should keep a generous reserve floor with any supplier. A half-traded battery during a storm week is a false economy.
Thinking of buying a Powerwall? Don’t hold off for Tesla Electric. The savings start the day it’s installed on a tariff that exists, while the VAT cut-off is a fixed date.
Switching without breaking your battery setup
Moving between Octopus tariffs, or in from another supplier, is routine. These are the five things I see people trip over:
- Check eligibility first. You need a smart meter sending half-hourly reads, an export MPAN and your MCS or Flexi-Orb certificate. Intelligent Flux also needs an existing Octopus import and export tariff.
- Leave any other grid-support scheme first. Charge Pack can’t run alongside Axle, and a battery already enrolled elsewhere can leave the new enrolment stalled. Leave the old scheme in its app before you join the next.
- Keep your export arrangements straight. Leaving Flux means your export reverts to a SEG rate, and Octopus’s Outgoing tariffs need Octopus as your import supplier. Tell the new supplier what stays put.
- Re-set your floors afterwards. Reserve levels, charge windows and app permissions can reset on a switch. Put them back before the first trading night.
- Score the first month. Note opening balance, closing balance and credits against the modelled table above. If the real number lands under half the model, query the schedule before winter sets in.
None of this touches your roof. Tariffs sit at the meter, not on the panels, so switching supplier doesn’t normally affect your installation warranty or MCS certificate. Keep the battery online, though: Octopus warns that long disconnections can cost you smart-tariff eligibility. If your export is part of an old bundled deal, check our guide to Octopus export tariffs before you unpick it.
My honest verdict
Today it’s simple. Tesla Electric isn’t something you can switch to, so the real decision is which Octopus tariff your Powerwall sits on. For most owners with solar and a battery I’d start with standard Flux if it’s open to you, move to Agile if you enjoy the tinkering, and put the car first if you charge an EV. When Tesla publishes a rate card, run it through the five checks above and compare it with what you’re actually paid, not the headline. Either way, a battery left on a flat tariff is leaving money on the table.
FAQs
No. Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd holds an Ofgem electricity supply licence granted in March 2026, but it hasn’t published UK tariffs, opened sign-ups or announced a launch date. The Tesla Energy Plan with Octopus has closed to new applications and renewals, so Powerwall owners today use Octopus tariffs such as Flux, Agile or Intelligent Octopus Go instead. Check Tesla’s UK support pages for the latest.
Tesla hasn’t confirmed UK eligibility. Its Texas service is open to anyone, but UK owners shouldn’t assume the same, and several installers expect Powerwall owners to be first in line. Until Tesla publishes terms, treat any claim about who qualifies, or which Powerwall models count, as a guess. Only the Powerwall 3 is sold new in the UK, and the three-phase Powerwall 3P hasn’t launched here.
It depends on how much attention you’ll give it. Standard Octopus Flux is the simplest if it’s open to you: you set the schedule once and peak export pays up to 29.32p/kWh. Agile suits you if you like trading half-hourly prices or run a control app. Intelligent Octopus Go makes sense if an EV is your bigger load. Intelligent Flux would automate a Powerwall, but it’s currently limited to homes that bought solar and a battery from Octopus. Check Octopus’s own tariff pages before you switch, because availability has changed twice this year.
