SME Electricity: How to radically cut your bills with a smart battery
UK SMEs are facing record-high electricity bills, but a breakthrough has arrived. Octopus Shape Shifters Agile now gives small businesses access to wholesale rates, unlocking major savings. When paired with a smart battery, you can cut bills by up to 60% – and Capture makes it effortless.
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The topic in a nutshell
Until recently, wholesale-linked tariffs weren’t available to businesses consuming under 1GWh/year. That changed in April 2025 with the launch of Octopus Shape Shifters Agile.
Charging during the cheapest periods (as low as 15p/kWh) and using that electricity later is where the value lies.
Capture AI automates everything – from charging at the lowest rates to selling surplus power and earning flexibility rewards.
Why now is the time to act
UK’s SMEs, in particular pubs, restaurants and hotels, are under pressure from rising energy costs:
- 58% of British businesses report energy prices are threatening operations.
- SMEs’ electricity bills increased by 70% on average compared to pre-crisis 2020-21 levels.
- 75% of business leaders say they're unprepared for power cuts.
For homeowners, the formula been simple for a long time: combine a time-of-use tariff with a smart battery, and power your home for under 10p per kWh.
Until recently, SMEs couldn't do the same—because there were no real time-of-use (ToU) tariffs available to small businesses. These were only available to consumers using more than 1 GWh per year.
With the introduction of Octopus Shape Shifters Agile, SMEs now have access to wholesale-linked ToU pricing. We will explain why pairing Shape Shifters Agile with a smart battery can unlock substantial savings for your business.
What is Shape Shifters Agile?
Shape Shifters Agile is Octopus Energy's business version of its popular Agile tariff which tracks changes in wholesale prices every half an hour. Here’s the formula:
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- D covers the costs of getting your energy from the grid to you – and contributing to government energy schemes
- Q shows the extra costs we have to pay for using the grid when it’s at its busiest. Outside of the 4-7pm peak, this is 0W
- W is the wholesale cost of electricity during the half-hour period
- P is the uplift in energy costs during the 4–7pm peak. Outside of this period, P=1, so it doesn’t affect the price
In 2024, prices ranged from 4.7p to 54p/kWh. While this may seem volatile, volatility creates opportunity with smartly managed battery.
If you were able to capture the four cheapest periods each day – which is how long it takes to charge a typical battery – you would be purchasing electricity for an average of just 15 p / kWh. Figure 1 shows this concept of ‘load shifting’ – charging your battery during the cheapest hours of the day, and using that stored electricity when electricity prices rise, allowing you to cut your average cost per unit.
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How a battery changes the game
A battery provides you with 3 benefits:
A) Charge during the cheapest half-hour periods: A typical 100kW battery can fully charge in 2 hours, taking advantage of the four cheapest half-hour windows each day.
B) Get paid for flexibility: The UK has "flexibility markets" that pay you to adjust demand or supply in real time. Capture aggregates your battery into these markets to unlock additional revenue.
C) Sell excess energy back to the grid: Even without a dedicated export tariff from Octopus, Capture can monetise your exported energy. Capture AI handles all of this for you automatically, enabling a business case with just 3.5–5.5 years payback.
Let’s go through the case step-by-step. Assume the following:
- Annual consumption: 100,000 kWh
- Load profile: Mon-Fri, 9am–6pm
- Current tariff: 21p/kWh off-peak, 25p/kWh peak
This leads to an annual bill of: ~£25,200
Now, we add a battery:
- 215 kWh battery + 100kW inverter
- Installed cost: ~£50,000
Just by charging during the four cheapest half-hour periods (Benefit A), your average energy cost drops to 15p/kWh. That reduces your annual bill by about 40% to ~£14,900–a saving of £9,400.
Tapping into flexibility markets (Benefit B) and selling excess back to the grid (Benefit C) can unlock up to another £5,000 in annual benefits (equalling another 20% reduction in bills), depending on location.
This ultimately yields an annual benefit of £9,400-14,400, or a reduction in your bill of 40-60%. Factoring in an investment of about £50,000, this gives you a payback of just 3.5 to 5 years as shown in Figure 2:
Get started with Capture
Octopus Shape Shifters Agile + a battery + Capture AI = a smarter way to power your business.
Here’s how we make it effortless:
- Free consultation: We’ll assess your energy use and space to recommend the right battery setup.
- All-in-one service: We handle everything – design, installation, grid approvals – so you don’t have to.
- Smart optimisation: Capture AI manages your battery automatically to maximise savings and revenue.
- Zero upfront cost: We offer options with no capital outlay, so you start saving from day one.
Ready to cut your energy bills and boost resilience? Book your free consultation using the form below:
