Octopus Energy has temporarily stopped switching and new sign-ups for its Flux and Intelligent Octopus Flux (IOF) tariffs, according to a notice carried on the supplier's tariff pages and reported on the MoneySavingExpert forum on 5 March 20251. The same notice appears on the pages for both tariffs1.
The notice reads:
"Important: Energy prices are particularly volatile right now, so this tariff is temporarily unavailable. We'll update this page as soon it's available again."
The Flux tariffs are designed for homes with solar panels and batteries, pairing time-of-use import rates with an export rate. One forum user noted that "the import rates aren't low, but yes the export (being the same as import) are quite lucrative"1. Another said they had switched onto IOF shortly before the pause1.
Forum users also reported that Octopus had withdrawn its Snug tariff. One wrote: "Looks like they have pulled Snug too. It's no longer showing in the postcode tariff search results like it was yesterday"1. A later post said the same volatility notice appears on the main Snug page, adding: "Guessing thats only for new takers"1. Octopus has not confirmed the position on Snug in the pages cited.
The pause is not unique to Octopus, according to the forum thread. One user stated: "EDF have a similar notice on their customer tariff page"1. No detail of the EDF notice was given.
| Tariff | Status reported |
|---|---|
| Flux | New sign-ups and switches paused1 |
| Intelligent Octopus Flux (IOF) | New sign-ups and switches paused1 |
| Snug | Reported withdrawn from postcode search results; notice on main page1 |
Why it matters for households
Flux and IOF sit in the group of Agile and dynamic half-hourly electricity tariffs that shift a household's exposure onto time-of-use pricing, and they depend on a smart meter to work. For a home with solar and a battery, the export side of these tariffs is often the part that pays: the same rate applies to what the home sends to the grid as to what it buys, which is what one forum user described as "quite lucrative"1. A pause on new sign-ups means a household that has not already joined cannot access that export rate for now, while existing customers are not reported as being moved off.
The stated reason, volatile energy prices, is the same condition that makes dynamic tariffs attractive in some periods and expensive in others. When a supplier withdraws a tariff from new customers, the practical effect is that the choice available to a household at the point of switching narrows, and the tariffs a home can actually sign up to may differ from those advertised. The wider question of how import and export pricing feeds into a home's overall energy independence is unchanged, but the menu of options is smaller while the pause lasts.
What happens next
Octopus has said it will "update this page as soon it's available again"1. No date has been given for when Flux, IOF or Snug will reopen to new customers, and no reopening date has been reported. One forum user speculated that Agile and Tracker "may get the same treatment", noting that a previous pause "took them many months to open the gates again"1. That is a forum user's expectation, not a statement from Octopus.
Sources1 cited
- Octopus temporarily pause new sign up to Intelligent Octopus Flux (IOF) and Flux tariffs — MoneySavingExpert Forum, forums.moneysavingexpert.com