Does Octopus still do refer a friend in 2026?

Yes. As of August 2026 the scheme is live and unchanged: £50 credit each for home referrals, £75 each for business and charity referrals, no cap on how many people you can refer. I verified the terms against Octopus's own referral help pages this month.

How does Octopus Energy refer a friend work?

An existing customer shares their personal referral link. When someone switches to Octopus through that link and their first direct debit clears, both people receive £50 energy credit (£75 each on business accounts). The link carries the referral automatically, there is no code to type anywhere.

How do I get my own Octopus referral link?

Log in to your Octopus account online or in the app and scroll a little way down the home screen of your dashboard. Your personal link is there in the format share.octopus.energy/word-word-number. You get one as soon as your own switch completes.

Do both people really get £50?

Yes, the scheme pays both sides equally: £50 to the new customer and £50 to the referrer for home switches, or £75 each for business and charity switches. Neither payment reduces the other.

When does the Octopus referral credit land?

After the new customer's first direct debit clears, which usually means about four weeks from joining. It shows in the account dashboard's balance history as +£50 from Octopus Energy and comes off the next bill.

Are the £80 or £100 Octopus referral offers real?

Be careful with these. Octopus itself pays £50 each for home referrals, full stop. Sites advertising £80 or £100 are usually strangers promising to send you part of their own £50 by PayPal or bank transfer after the fact. Octopus does not administer that side payment, so if they never pay, you have no comeback.

Does the referral work through comparison sites?

No. If you switch via a comparison site the referral is not attached and neither side gets the £50. To get the credit you need to sign up through a referral link directly (or quote the referrer when signing up by phone on 0808 164 1088).

I already switched and forgot the referral. Can I still get the £50?

Often yes. Octopus has a reputation for applying referrals retrospectively if you contact support soon after joining and give them the referrer's name or link. It is a goodwill gesture rather than a published guarantee, so ask nicely and do it promptly.

How much is the Octopus business referral?

£75 each, for both the referrer and the business or charity that switches. That covers sole traders, limited companies and charities on Octopus business accounts. It used to be £100; Octopus moved it to £75.

Can I refer someone if I am on a prepayment meter?

Yes, prepayment customers are still Octopus customers with a referral link. New customers switching onto prepayment can also use a referral link, with the credit applied as energy credit.

Is there a limit on Octopus referrals?

No cap. Each successful home referral pays you £50 (£75 for business). Octopus asks that you share your link with people you actually know rather than spamming it at strangers, but there is no limit on the number of referrals.

Does Martin Lewis recommend Octopus Energy?

Martin Lewis does not personally endorse energy suppliers, but MoneySavingExpert's supplier polls have repeatedly ranked Octopus top for customer service, and Octopus holds a 4.8 Trustpilot score from over 220,000 reviews plus top ratings from Which? and Citizens Advice.

How do I get a free plush octopus from Octopus Energy?

It is a real thing, not a myth: Octopus has a long-running habit of posting customers a free plush octopus toy if you ask nicely through the app, email or social media. It is a goodwill perk rather than a promise, so there is no guaranteed way to trigger it.

Octopus Energy Refer a Friend: £50 Each (August 2026)

Ad/affiliate disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. If you sign up through one I may receive a referral payment, at no extra cost to you and with no reduction to any bonus. I only recommend products I have used myself.

Verified August 2026 against Octopus's own referral pages. The refer a friend scheme pays £50 credit to both sides on home switches, £75 each for business or charity. The credit lands after the new customer's first direct debit clears, usually about four weeks in. There is no code to type: it all runs on personal links.

Switching and need a link? Mine is share.octopus.energy/ideal-spark-243, tested and working.

The Octopus Energy refer a friend scheme is the most generous mainstream energy referral in the UK, and also the most misunderstood. Half the pages ranking for it are anonymous one-page sites promising "£80" or "£100" that Octopus never actually pays. So here is how the scheme genuinely works, both sides of it, verified against Octopus's own help pages this month.

I have been an Octopus customer for years and readers of this site use my referral link most weeks, so I see both halves of the scheme in action: what the new customer gets, what the referrer gets, and exactly when the money shows up.

How the scheme works in one table

Detail	Home	Business / charity
New customer gets	£50 credit	£75 credit
Referrer gets	£50 credit	£75 credit
Triggered by	First direct debit clearing	First direct debit clearing
Typical wait	About 4 weeks from joining	About 4 weeks from joining
Referral cap	None	None
Code needed?	No, link only	No, link only

Two things people consistently get wrong:

The switch itself does not trigger the payment. The £50s are released when the new customer's first direct debit clears. If your direct debit fails or you delay setting it up, the credit waits.
It is a link, not a code. Octopus retired typed codes. Every customer gets a personal link like share.octopus.energy/word-word-number, and clicking it is what attaches the referral.

If you are the friend: claiming your £50

You need a referral link from any existing Octopus customer. A mate, a colleague, or if nobody you know is with Octopus, you are welcome to use mine: share.octopus.energy/ideal-spark-243.

From there it is a normal switch. Enter your postcode, pick a tariff (standard Flexible, or smart tariffs like Agile and Intelligent Go if you have an EV or solar), set up the direct debit and let Octopus handle your old supplier. Supply never cuts out, the whole thing takes 2 to 3 weeks, and there are no exit fees if you later change your mind.

About four weeks after you join, £50 appears in your balance history as "+£50 from Octopus Energy" and comes straight off your next bill.

If you want the full step-by-step with tariff advice, that lives in my Octopus Energy referral code guide. This page is about how the scheme itself works; that one is where you grab the link and switch.

If you are the existing customer: earning your £50s

Your personal referral link is already sitting in your account. Log in to the app or the web dashboard and scroll a little way down the home screen: there it is, in the share.octopus.energy format. You get one as soon as your own switch completes, even before your own joining credit has landed.

There is no cap. Every home switch through your link pays you £50, every business switch pays £75. The credits stack on your account and eat your winter bills. Octopus's one ask is that you share the link with people you actually know rather than blasting it at strangers, which is fair.

Practical ways people share it without being annoying: the family group chat when the price cap news lands, alongside a genuine recommendation when someone moans about their supplier, or on a personal website like this one with a plain declaration that it is a referral link. That last one is exactly what I do, and I declare it every time.

When the money actually lands (both sides)

The sequence is the same for referrer and friend:

Friend completes the switch (2 to 3 weeks).
Friend's first monthly direct debit clears.
Within a few weeks of that, both accounts get the credit. In practice the full journey is about four weeks from sign-up, sometimes five or six if the switch dragged or the first payment date fell awkwardly.

You do not need to chase it. If it has been more than six weeks, check the friend's direct debit actually went through (a failed first payment is the number one cause of a "missing" referral), then message Octopus support with the date they joined.

What voids the £50 (the gotchas)

Comparison sites. Switch through a comparison site and the referral never attaches. Neither side gets paid. If you want the £50, go through the link directly.
No link at sign-up. Signing up direct without a referral pays nothing automatically. The fix: Octopus support will often apply a referral retrospectively if you contact them promptly with the referrer's details. Goodwill, not guarantee, so do it fast.
Failed first direct debit. The trigger event is the payment clearing, not the switch. Sort the payment, the credit follows.
Energy debt over £500. Octopus blocks switches while you owe your old supplier more than £500, which blocks the referral with it.
The smart-tech scheme is separate. Octopus runs a different referral for heat pumps, EV chargers and other smart-home kit. Amounts and rules differ; do not expect the £50 energy terms to apply there.

About those "£80" and "£100" referral sites

Search this topic and you will find anonymous sites advertising £80 or even £100 for switching to Octopus. Read the small print: Octopus pays £50 each for home referrals, no more. What these sites do is promise to send you £30 or £50 of their own referral earnings by PayPal after your switch completes.

Sometimes they pay. Often they do not, and because Octopus has nothing to do with that side arrangement, there is zero comeback when the money never arrives. You have handed a stranger your switch details for an IOU.

My honest advice: take the standard £50 through a link from a real, named person, whether that is someone you know or a site like this one where you can see exactly who runs it. If a deal on the referral itself sounds better than what Octopus officially pays, someone is making it up.

How I actually use the scheme

I switched my home to Octopus years ago, mostly for the app and the lack of exit fees, and the referral scheme has quietly become a proper little income stream on top. In the first week of August 2026 alone, nine readers switched through my link, which is £450 in energy credit. That is not a fluke week I have cherry-picked; it is what happens when you publish honest, specific answers about a scheme people are actively searching for.

The credits genuinely change the maths on my own energy costs. Winter bills that used to sting now get eaten by stacked £50s from the summer. If you have an Octopus account and a group chat, you are leaving money on the table by not sharing your link.

And the supplier itself holds up its end: 4.8 on Trustpilot across 220,000+ reviews, top of the Citizens Advice service table, and the app is the only energy app I have used that does not feel like punishment. No exit fees means the recommendation carries no risk for the person you refer, which is why the scheme converts so well in the first place.

Frequently asked questions

Does Octopus still do refer a friend?

Yes. Live and unchanged as of August 2026: £50 each for home, £75 each for business and charity, no cap. Verified against Octopus's own referral help pages this month.

How do I find my own referral link?

Log in and scroll a little way down your account dashboard's home screen. Your personal share.octopus.energy link is there. Every customer gets one automatically once their switch completes.

When does the credit land?

About four weeks after the new customer joins, because it is triggered by their first direct debit clearing. It appears in the balance history as "+£50 from Octopus Energy".

Can the referral be added after signing up?

Octopus support will often apply it retrospectively if you ask promptly with the referrer's name or link. It is goodwill rather than a published right, so do not sit on it for months.

Is the £75 business referral per site or per business?

Per business or charity account that switches. Sole traders, limited companies and charities all qualify on Octopus business accounts. Full details on claiming it are in my referral code guide.

What is the free plush octopus about?

A real Octopus tradition: ask nicely in the app, by email or on social and they will often post you a plush octopus toy. It is a goodwill perk with no guaranteed trigger, and no, it does not replace the £50.

Ready to claim your £50?

If you are switching: use any existing customer's link, or mine, share.octopus.energy/ideal-spark-243. Enter your postcode, pick a tariff, set up the direct debit and the £50 arrives about four weeks later. Both of us get paid, and you land at a supplier with no exit fees, so there is nothing to regret if you ever want out.

If you are already with Octopus: go and dig your own link out of the dashboard and put it in the family group chat today. £50 per switch, no cap.

Start your switch and claim £50

Energy credit is one lever; the same both-sides logic runs across other services too. The Monzo refer a friend scheme pays £50 on current accounts, my TopCashback referral guide covers cashback on the rest of your bills, and every code I track lives on the referral codes hub.

Mike McDonnell, Founder of Glide Marketing