Prime Outgoing Octopus review (August 2026)
A fixed-term export tariff that pays a higher rate from 4pm to 7pm and a lower rate at other times.
Updated for August 2026
Tariff snapshot
The important details in one place
- Current tariff issue
- Prime Outgoing Octopus 12M Fixed
- OUTGOING-PRIME-FIX-12M-26-06-23
- Price changes
- By time band
- The same scheduled price periods repeat each day
- Export rate today
- 9.88p per kWh
- Average of the published export rates for today
- Estimated annual earnings
- £225
- Based on 2,500 kWh and the selected region
Key tariff facts
- The same scheduled price periods repeat each day
- 12-month fixed term
- No exit fee on the selected offer
- Monthly Direct Debit · Single-register meter
- Compatible smart meter required
- Electricity tariff
- Pays for electricity exported to the grid
The short answer
Who Prime Outgoing Octopus is most likely to work for
Prime Outgoing is most compelling for a battery home that can deliberately place meaningful export into the 4pm to 7pm peak.
For solar without storage, much of the export may receive the lower rate. Compare actual export timing with a flat export tariff rather than choosing on the peak figure alone.
Prime Outgoing Octopus pays more for electricity exported from 4pm to 7pm and a lower rate during the rest of the day. It is a twelve-month fixed-term export tariff with no exit fee in the current supplier data.
The live values on this page come from the selected region's tariff record. They are payments to you, not import charges, and should not be replaced with a headline rate from another region.
In its favour
- Higher 4pm to 7pm export rate
- Predictable repeating schedule
- No exit fee in the current product data
Against it
- Lower payment for the other twenty-one hours
- Best results generally need storage
- Battery spread is not the same as profit
How it works
How Prime Outgoing Octopus sets its prices
There are two repeating export bands every day: a three-hour peak from 4pm to 7pm and an off-peak rate for the other twenty-one hours.
A smart meter records export by time, so electricity sent to the grid in the peak band earns the peak rate.
Solar generation often falls by the evening. A battery can move surplus daytime generation into the more valuable period, but charging losses and the value of using that electricity at home still need to be considered.
Things to watch
The main trade-offs
The headline peak rate applies for only three hours; most unshifted solar export may earn the lower rate.
A gross difference between cheap and peak prices is not battery profit because losses, degradation and import costs are excluded.
Using solar electricity in the home can be worth more than exporting it and buying electricity back later.
Live tariff data
Prime Outgoing Octopus export rates for your area
Electricity rates and standing charges differ by distribution region. Enter your postcode or choose your electricity region before local figures are shown.
Today’s price bands
East Midlands
- Average export rate
- 9.88p
- Lowest payment today
- 9.00p
- Highest payment today
- 16.00p
- Standing charge
- 0.00p
weighted by how long each price lasts
per day
Today’s price bands
Prime Outgoing Octopus repeats a daily shape rather than pricing every half hour separately, so the bands are the schedule.
| From | To | Hours | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 16:00 | 16.0 | 9.00pcheapest |
| 16:00 | 19:00 | 3.0 | 16.00pmost expensive |
| 19:00 | 00:00 | 5.0 | 9.00pcheapest |
What the daily bands add up to
Calculated from the complete band schedule shown above. It describes the tariff, not how much of your electricity will land in each period.
- Time at the highest payment
- 3 hours
- 12.5% of the schedule
- Time-weighted band payment
- 9.88p/kWh
- Assumes constant use or export through the day
- Highest-to-lowest spread
- 7.00p/kWh
- A price difference, not a saving or battery profit
When to export
- Best-paid 3-hour run starts 16:00, averaging 16.00p per kWh.
- Best-paid half hour today is 16:00 at 16.00p.
- Worst-paid is 00:00 at 9.00p, so it is worth holding generation back if you can.
Estimated annual earnings
£225a year
2,500 kWh a year in East Midlands, at 9.00p per kWh plus 0.00p a day standing charge.
Prime Outgoing Octopusprices change over time, but we do not yet hold enough days of them to take a meaningful average, so this uses the tariff’s standard rate — what you would pay having shifted nothing. Expect the real figure to be lower, and this estimate to sharpen as the price history builds.
Octopus Energy quotes £236 for the same household. That runs above what the published export rate itself comes to, so the figure above is the one the rate gives.
Practical advice
Getting the most out of Prime Outgoing Octopus
Measure when you export
Use half-hourly export data to see how many units already land between 4pm and 7pm before assuming the peak rate will dominate earnings.
Keep the battery calculation honest
Include round-trip losses and compare the import cost or forgone self-consumption with the extra export payment.
Use your own figures
What could Prime Outgoing Octopus pay you?
Estimate what you would be paid
Enter the electricity you expect to export over 30 days.
Enter a number of kWh to see what it would earnat today’s average price.
Estimate annual export earnings
Enter your annual export and the rate you expect to apply. The best currently displayed payment is 16.00p per kWh (16:00–19:00), but it is deliberately not assumed for your whole year.
Enter all of the figures above to see the calculation.
This values only the annual kWh and rate entered. It does not forecast solar generation, household use or future export prices.
Test a battery export spread
Enter the actual import cost, intended export payment and your battery efficiency. The displayed export rate is not assumed to be the cost of charging the battery.
Enter all of the figures above to see the calculation.
Gross energy spread only, not profit: excludes standing charges, battery degradation, inverter losses beyond the stated round-trip efficiency and any change in household consumption.
Household fit
Who Prime Outgoing Octopus might be good for
The right answer depends on your equipment, routine and tolerance for changing prices—not just how much electricity you use.
Likely to suit
- Solar-and-battery homes able to export between 4pm and 7pm
- Households wanting a fixed export schedule rather than day-ahead prices
- People prepared to compare self-consumption with peak export value
Less likely to suit
- Solar homes without enough late-afternoon generation or storage
- Households that export almost everything around midday
- Anyone without a smart export meter and export MPAN
Before switching
Check the requirements and what will affect the result
What you need
What drives what you earn
- How many exported kWh land between 4pm and 7pm
- How much surplus generation remains after the household uses its own electricity
- Battery capacity, round-trip losses and the import cost of any electricity used to charge it
- The selected region's export rates
Match the tariff to your home
Solar, a battery and your import tariff change the answer
Export income is only one side of the decision. Electricity used at home avoids an import purchase, while storing and exporting later loses some energy in the battery.
Solar without a battery
Compare the rate paid when your panels naturally export, usually through the middle of the day. A high evening rate is less useful if you cannot move generation into it.
Solar with a battery
A battery can move export into a valuable band, but the headline spread is not profit. Allow for round-trip losses, degradation and the import cost or self-consumption value of the electricity stored.
Choose import and export together
Check whether the export tariff restricts the import tariff you can hold. Even where it does not, the best export rate can be outweighed by a poor import fit for the same home.
Alternatives
Other smart tariffs from Octopus and EDF to compare
These are other smart-tariff comparisons from the two suppliers, not a claim that every option suits the same household.
Outgoing Octopus
Outgoing pays one flat variable rate at every time. Prime Outgoing may pay more when export can be moved into 4pm to 7pm, while the flat tariff is simpler for unshifted daytime solar.
Review Outgoing OctopusAgile Outgoing Octopus
Agile Outgoing follows day-ahead half-hourly prices. Prime Outgoing fixes a repeating peak and off-peak schedule, trading some upside for predictability.
Review Agile Outgoing OctopusOctopus Flux
Flux coordinates import and export bands around a home battery. Prime Outgoing is an export decision, so the import tariff and battery charging cost must be compared separately.
Review Octopus FluxOther Octopus Energy tariff reviews
Browse every other Octopus Energy tariff covered on Energy Review. Availability, eligibility and price structure are explained on each review.
Price history
How Prime Outgoing Octopus prices have moved
The line is the average price for each day; the shaded range shows the cheapest and most expensive prices within it.
What this selected history can show
2 of 30 days are represented in the stored history. The figures below use complete daily or monthly periods only, so a partial period cannot create a false low or high.
Negative-slot frequency, percentiles and a 4pm–7pm peak cannot be calculated from this daily/monthly history. They need a separately bounded half-hourly history read.
- Lowest complete-period rate
- 9.00p/kWh
- Highest complete-period rate
- 16.00p/kWh
- Mean of complete-period averages
- 9.88p/kWh
Last 30 days: 3 days from 08 Aug to 10 Aug. Average prices range from 9.88p to 11.63p per kWh. The shaded band shows the cheapest and most expensive price in each period.
1 of 3 periods are only partly covered by stored prices and are shown as they are rather than filled in.
Show these 3 figures as a table
| Period | Average | Cheapest | Most expensive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08 Aug | 11.63p | 9.00p | 16.00p |
| 09 Aug | 9.88p | 9.00p | 16.00p |
| 10 Aug | 9.88p | 9.00p | 16.00p |
Regional comparison
How prices differ across Great Britain
Prime Outgoing Octopus unit rate and standing charge by region
The average price per unit on 2026-08-11, including VAT. The table also shows the daily standing charge.
Hover a region for its figure, or select one to load its prices.
Tap a region to load its prices.
Same displayed rate in every region with a figure: 9.88p
| Region | Per kWh | Standing charge per day |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| East Midlands | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| London | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| Merseyside and North Wales | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| West Midlands | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| North East England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| North West England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| Southern England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| South East England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| South Wales | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| South West England | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| Yorkshire | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| Southern Scotland | 9.88p | 0.0p |
| Northern Scotland | 9.88p | 0.0p |
Northern Ireland has a separate electricity market and is not covered by these regions.
How to switch
Moving to Prime Outgoing Octopus
- 1
Confirm the generator, smart meter and export MPAN are ready before applying.
- 2
Confirm you are an Octopus customer and that your import tariff is on the supplier's current compatibility list.
- 3
Compare the selected region's peak and off-peak rates with the times your home actually exports.
- 4
If using a battery, model charging losses and the value of self-consumption rather than treating the peak-rate spread as profit.
Frequently asked questions
Are Prime Outgoing rates payments or charges?
Payments. It is an export tariff, so the rates show what Octopus pays for each kWh sent to the grid.
When is the Prime Outgoing peak rate?
The peak export band runs from 4pm to 7pm local time each day. The other twenty-one hours use the lower export rate.
Do I need a battery?
Not as a general export requirement, but a battery is usually needed to move substantial midday solar generation into the 4pm to 7pm peak. Without one, compare your natural export timing with a flat export tariff.
Is the difference between the two rates battery profit?
No. It is a gross price spread. Battery losses, degradation, the source and cost of charging electricity, and the value of using the electricity at home are separate.