Quick answer
Is Octopus Agile or Intelligent Octopus Go better for a home battery?
Octopus Agile changes price every half hour, so a battery with good software can charge in the cheapest slots and avoid the evening peak. Intelligent Octopus Go offers a fixed cheap overnight window, which is simpler and more predictable. Agile suits hands-on households in Scotland; Intelligent suits those who want a set-and-forget routine.
Last updated:
Published August 2026
Octopus Agile is usually the stronger battery-arbitrage tariff in Scotland because half-hourly pricing creates wider gaps than a fixed overnight window. The trade-off is that Agile needs automation and active monitoring.
Intelligent Octopus Go gives a simpler six-hour overnight charging window at a fixed low rate. Agile can produce more arbitrage income when prices move sharply, but actual results depend on your region, battery capacity, export limits and usage.
How Agile works
Agile sets a different import price for every half hour, linked to wholesale electricity prices. Prices for the next day are published each afternoon, so a battery's software can plan exactly when to charge and when to run the house. On windy nights, when Scottish wind farms are producing strongly and demand is low, overnight prices can fall very low and occasionally below zero. In the late-afternoon and early-evening peak, prices rise sharply. That daily swing is what a battery captures.
Scotland sits in two Agile regions: South Scotland, which broadly matches the SP Energy Networks area, and North Scotland, which matches the SSEN area. Prices differ slightly between regions because network charges differ, so always check the rates for your own postcode.
How Intelligent Octopus Go works
Intelligent Octopus Go offers a fixed cheap rate during an overnight window and a standard rate the rest of the day. It is designed around a compatible electric vehicle or charger, so check eligibility with Octopus before switching. Its strength is predictability: you know the overnight price in advance and the battery simply fills up in that window every night.
Which suits a Scottish home?
Agile tends to suit households who are happy to let software run the battery, who use a fair amount of electricity in the evening, and who want to benefit when prices drop very low. Intelligent Octopus Go tends to suit households with an electric vehicle who prefer a steady, predictable bill. In a sandstone tenement flat with no solar, the battery is doing pure grid arbitrage, so the size of the daily price gap matters most. In an off-gas rural home with electric heating, evening demand is higher and either tariff can work, depending on how the heating is controlled.
The principle is the same on both: the battery earns the gap between the price it charges at and the price you avoid, minus round-trip losses. A no-obligation survey gives figures for your home on each tariff, using your own usage.
Switching tariffs with a battery
If you change tariff after installation, the battery's charging schedule needs updating too. On Agile, the software should read each day's prices automatically; on a fixed-window tariff it simply needs the right start and end times. Most problems we see after a switch are schedules still set for the old tariff, so check the app the day your new tariff starts. Remember that tariff eligibility, smart meter requirements and exit terms are set by the supplier and can change.
Source: Octopus Energy tariff information, checked October 2026. Tariff terms change; confirm current terms with the supplier.