Octopus Energy vs ScottishPower (2026)

ScottishPower is a serious, long-established supplier with genuine green-generation credentials, but on the things most households feel day to day — independent customer-satisfaction scores, the breadth of smart and time-of-use tariffs, and ongoing rewards — Octopus tends to come out ahead. If you want the most flexible tariffs and the strongest service record, Octopus is the better bet for most people; if you simply want a stable Big Six name with solid fixed deals, ScottishPower remains a reasonable choice. Switching to Octopus also lets you pick up £50 credit through a referral link, which ScottishPower has no real equivalent of.

The verdict

ScottishPower is a serious, long-established supplier with genuine green-generation credentials, but on the things most households feel day to day — independent customer-satisfaction scores, the breadth of smart and time-of-use tariffs, and ongoing rewards — Octopus tends to come out ahead. If you want the most flexible tariffs and the strongest service record, Octopus is the better bet for most people; if you simply want a stable Big Six name with solid fixed deals, ScottishPower remains a reasonable choice. Switching to Octopus also lets you pick up £50 credit through a referral link, which ScottishPower has no real equivalent of.

ScottishPower is based in Glasgow and, since 2007, has been owned by the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola — a takeover that pushed it firmly towards wind power and away from coal. It was the first of the old Big Six to go all-in on renewables for its green tariffs, generating that electricity from its own wind farms.

Where Octopus tends to win

• Independent satisfaction tells the clearest story: Octopus is a long-running Which? Recommended Provider with an 'Excellent' Trustpilot rating around 4.8/5, whereas ScottishPower scores well on Trustpilot but has repeatedly landed near the bottom of the Which? customer-satisfaction survey, including a two-star overall rating.
• A far deeper smart-tariff range. ScottishPower's headline EV option is its EV Saver with a fixed midnight-to-5am off-peak window, but Octopus offers Agile (half-hourly wholesale pricing), Tracker (daily wholesale rate), Intelligent Octopus Go (which smart-charges your EV at cheap overnight rates), Cosy Octopus for heat pumps and Outgoing Octopus for solar export.
• Octoplus rewards genuinely pay you back — free monthly Wheel of Fortune spins and Saving Sessions that credit your account for shifting usage off-peak — whereas ScottishPower has no comparable ongoing rewards scheme.
• Octopus is the UK's largest electricity supplier, used by roughly one in four households, and supplies 100% renewable electricity on its standard tariff; ScottishPower's own-wind generation is impressive, but its standard fuel mix still leans on fossil fuels unless you actively pick a green tariff.
• New joiners can claim £50 in account credit via a referral link, paid automatically a few weeks after the switch completes and the first Direct Debit is taken — there's no real ScottishPower equivalent for switchers.

Where ScottishPower still has a case

• ScottishPower is one of the UK's largest wind-energy generators and was the first major supplier to power its green tariffs entirely from its own wind farms, so its renewable story is backed by real, self-owned generation rather than just certificates.
• It often has competitive fixed-price tariffs, and notably doesn't charge exit fees on every plan — worth checking, as that flexibility can suit people who like to lock in a rate without feeling trapped.
• Despite weak Which? survey results, its Trustpilot rating sits around 4.3-4.4/5 across well over 100,000 reviews, suggesting plenty of customers are satisfied with everyday billing and support.

At a glance

Octopus Energy vs ScottishPower — general comparison, 2026

Feature	Octopus Energy	ScottishPower
Trustpilot	4.8/5 “Excellent”	Lower
Which? Recommended	9 yrs running	No
Smart / EV tariffs	Agile, Tracker, Intelligent Go, Cosy	Limited
100% renewable electricity	Yes	Varies
£50 welcome credit	Yes — via referral link	No equivalent

Tariff prices change with the Ofgem price cap and your region, so always confirm live rates on Octopus’s own website before switching.

How to switch from ScottishPower to Octopus

Switching from ScottishPower to Octopus is straightforward and there's no break in your supply — it's the same gas, the same wires and the same meter, so nothing physical changes at your home. You stay protected by Ofgem and the Energy Switch Guarantee throughout, and the switch typically completes in about five working days. The important step for the bonus is to sign up using an Octopus referral link (it looks like share.octopus.energy/word-word-number) so the £50 code applies automatically — going via a price-comparison site, a shortened URL, or by typing the Octopus address in by hand usually means no bonus at all. Octopus arranges everything with ScottishPower, including your final bill, and the £50 credit lands in your account automatically around two to four weeks after your switch completes and your first monthly Direct Debit is taken — there's no form to fill in or claim to chase.

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