Octopus Energy for Business: what's included and the £75 referral

Editorial note: I'm not an Octopus Business customer. I'm a six-and-a-half-year domestic Octopus customer (see the full review), but this post is a published-data summary of what Octopus Energy for Business offers, not a user review. Treat it as a starting point for your own quote comparison rather than a verdict.

Octopus Energy for Business is the SME arm of the same supplier, on the same digital-first model, with a wider smart and time-of-use tariff range than the legacy suppliers offer businesses and a referral that pays more than the domestic one.

What does Octopus Energy for Business cover?

Octopus Energy for Business is the SME and commercial arm of Octopus Energy. It serves:

• Sole traders and freelancers running a business from a domestic or commercial address
• Micro-businesses and SMEs with standard commercial electricity (and gas) meters
• Multi-site operations, with every site set up under one account
• Sites with on-site generation (solar, battery storage) on dedicated export tariffs

All electricity supplied is 100% zero-carbon as standard. Octopus publishes that mix as 86.4% renewables and 13.6% nuclear, bought through power purchase agreements with more than 700 UK generators alongside Octopus Energy Generation's own wind and solar. There's no separate "green tariff" upcharge; it is the default.

The signup flow is digital: get a quote with your usage and meter details, pick a tariff, complete signup online, and Octopus handles the switch with your current supplier. Neither Octopus nor Ofgem publishes a switching timetable for business supply, so treat your switch date as the one Octopus confirms on your quote rather than the domestic 5-working-day rule.

The tariff range, in plain terms

Octopus's main differentiation versus the legacy suppliers (British Gas, E.ON, EDF, OVO) is the breadth of smart and time-of-use tariffs available to businesses. The published lineup includes:

Fixed and variable

Fixed-term contracts come as 12 or 24-month locks, for budget predictability when the wholesale market looks stable or rising. Variable and standard rates sit close to the Ofgem-equivalent reference for non-domestic supply.

Shape Shifters (smart, time-of-use)

The flagship business tariff, in two variants. Shape Shifters Trio splits the day into three set unit rates, a night rate, a day rate and a peak rate, with peak running 4–7pm. The 21 hours of cheaper energy Octopus guarantees is everything outside that peak window, so it spans two of the three rates rather than being one cheap band. It suits SMEs that can move discretionary load (dishwashers, EV charging, fridges, light manufacturing) out of peak hours. Shape Shifters Agile prices half-hourly against the wholesale market: more volatile, and worth more to a business that can flex aggressively.

Both require a smart meter. Octopus reports that nearly 3 in 4 customers start saving money right away without changing their energy habits, though the size of the saving depends heavily on how much load you can actually shift.

Solar and storage tariffs

For businesses with on-site generation:

• Panel Power: a dedicated export tariff for solar generation.
• Shape Shifters: Export: pairs storage with the smart tariff structure for sites with batteries.
• Electric Match: traceable half-hourly matching, where power you use within 30 minutes of a chosen generator producing it counts as matched. Octopus sets the bar at 10 GWh a year and half-hourly meters, so it is a large-business product rather than an SME one.

No Standing Charge tariff

For businesses with low or variable usage (e.g. seasonal premises, occasional-use units), Octopus offers a no-standing-charge tariff. You pay a higher unit rate but don't pay for "just being connected." Worth modelling against your usage profile before switching.

Saving Sessions

With a smart meter, business customers can opt into Saving Sessions: short windows where Octopus pays you to use less electricity. Same scheme that runs on the domestic side. The earnings are modest individually but add up across a year.

Who is Octopus Energy for Business a fit for?

Based on what Octopus publishes and the business case studies they've shared:

• Strong fit: SMEs comfortable with digital admin, sites that can install a smart meter, businesses with discretionary load to shift (cafes, vets, pilates studios, small workshops), sites with solar or planning to add it, and any business where zero-carbon supply is part of the brand story.
• Weaker fit: Businesses that need a dedicated account manager, sites where a smart meter can't be installed easily, or operations whose energy use is rigidly fixed at peak hours and can't flex.

The case studies on Octopus's business energy blog (opens in new tab) (featured customers include Bing Pilates, Kimbolton Vets, Box Bear, Hope Chapel) give you a sense of the kind of business currently using Shape Shifters and the savings claimed. Read them as marketing input, not independent reviews.

Where Octopus Business has weaker spots

Three things to check before signing up:

• Smart meter dependency. Several of the most attractive tariffs (Shape Shifters, Saving Sessions, the export tariffs) require a working smart meter. If your site can't easily install one, you're on the simpler fixed/variable tariffs and most of the differentiation falls away.
• Service is digital-first. Account management is largely through the online portal and in-app chat. There's no traditional account-manager model the way some big legacy suppliers run for larger SMEs. For smaller businesses this is usually a feature, not a bug; for businesses that prefer a phone-first relationship, it's a structural difference worth knowing.
• Multi-utility bundling is limited. If your business takes broadband, mobile and water from a single provider (the Utility Warehouse model), Octopus doesn't replicate that; they're an energy specialist.

I can't speak to first-hand customer-service experience on the business side. The domestic side is where my own data sits; see the full Octopus review for that.

How the £75 business referral works

1. The new business customer signs up via a referral link and selects the business signup flow.
2. After the first direct debit clears, Octopus applies £75 in account credit to the new customer's bill.
3. The referrer also receives £75 in their own account.

The same referral link works for domestic (£50) and business (£75) sign-ups; Octopus determines which reward applies based on which signup flow you complete. The £75 rate has been stable for some time, though Octopus reserves the right to change referral terms at any point.

There's no limit on how many referrals you can make.

How to get a quote and switch

The published process is:

1. Get a quote based on your business size, address, usage profile and meter type.
2. Choose a tariff that matches how you use energy: fixed if you want certainty, Shape Shifters if you can flex load, no-standing-charge if your usage is low, an export tariff if you generate.
3. Sign up online in a few minutes. Octopus contacts your current supplier and handles the switchover.
4. Install or upgrade to a smart meter if needed to unlock the smart tariff range.
5. Switch completes on the date Octopus confirms, with no supply interruption. The £75 referral credit lands after your first direct debit.

There is not much to compare the £75 against: the UK business-energy market competes on fixed-deal pricing, and most legacy suppliers run no refer-a-friend scheme for businesses at all.

Octopus Energy for Business FAQs

How much is the Octopus Energy business referral reward?

Business customers get £75 in account credit when they switch to Octopus Energy for Business through a referral link. The existing customer who shared the link also gets £75. Reward applies after the first direct debit clears. The full referral scheme, including the £75 business variant, is explained on the Octopus Energy referral page.

Does Octopus Energy for Business provide renewable electricity?

Zero-carbon rather than renewable, and the distinction is Octopus's own. It supplies 100% zero-carbon electricity on all business tariffs as standard, and publishes that mix as 86.4% renewables and 13.6% nuclear. The renewable half is bought through power purchase agreements with more than 700 UK generators, plus Octopus Energy Generation's own wind and solar.

What is Octopus Shape Shifters?

Shape Shifters is Octopus's smart business tariff. The Trio variant sets three unit rates, night, day and peak, and guarantees 21 hours of cheaper electricity a day: everything outside the 4–7pm peak. The Agile variant prices half-hourly against the wholesale market for businesses that can flex more aggressively. Both require a smart meter.

Can small businesses and sole traders switch to Octopus Energy?

Yes. Octopus Energy for Business covers sole traders, freelancers, micro-businesses, SMEs with commercial meters, and multi-site operations. The signup process mirrors the domestic flow: quote, choose a tariff, sign up online, Octopus handles the switch with your current supplier.

How long does it take to switch business energy to Octopus?

Octopus doesn't publish a timetable for business switches, and neither does Ofgem: the domestic rules, including the 5-working-day switch and the 14-day cancellation right, don't carry over to business supply. Your switch date is the one confirmed on your quote. Octopus contacts your current supplier on your behalf and there's no interruption to your supply during the switchover.

You might also like

• Octopus Energy review: 6 years as a customer
• Who is cheaper than Octopus Energy?
• Octopus Energy vs E.ON Next: which is cheaper, and which pays more?

Sources

• Octopus Shape Shifters (opens in new tab): the two Shape Shifters variants, how many unit rates Trio splits the day into and which hours are peak, the hours of cheaper energy it guarantees, that a working smart meter is required, and the export variant for sites with batteries
• Octopus: businesses save money on Shape Shifters (opens in new tab): the trial-results claim about how many customers save
• Panel Power (opens in new tab): the solar export tariff for businesses, its flat rate and its eligibility conditions
• Electric Match (opens in new tab): what it traces, and the consumption threshold and metering a business needs to qualify
• Octopus: businesses can now join our No Standing Charge Tariff (opens in new tab): the no-standing-charge business tariff, that the standing charge is folded into the unit rate instead, which bands can join, and that it is still a trial
• Octopus refer-a-friend (opens in new tab): the business referral for each side, that it lands as account credit after the first direct debit, and that referrals are uncapped
• Octopus: what green energy means here (opens in new tab): the fuel mix behind the zero-carbon claim and how the supply is matched
• Octopus business energy blog (opens in new tab): the customer case studies, which are Octopus's own marketing rather than independent reviews
• I'm not an Octopus Business customer, so nothing here is firsthand: the tariffs, the fit and the weaker spots are a published-data summary of the sources above