diff --git a/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/post_install.yml b/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/post_install.yml
index 2dacfcd2..4f2d4bb2 100644
--- a/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/post_install.yml
+++ b/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/post_install.yml
@@ -8,4 +8,9 @@
   sysctl:
     name: net.ipv4.tcp_tw_reuse
     value: 1
-    reload: yes
\ No newline at end of file
+    reload: yes
+
+- name: turn off EPEL for the downstream users
+  package:
+    name: 'epel-release'
+    state: absent
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/register_repositories.yml b/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/register_repositories.yml
index e82aee81..2a25d62b 100644
--- a/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/register_repositories.yml
+++ b/oct/ansible/oct/roles/dependencies/tasks/register_repositories.yml
@@ -55,3 +55,8 @@
     - version: '15'
     - version: '36'
   when: ansible_distribution in ['RedHat', 'CentOS']
+
+- name: turn on EPEL for the main dependency install
+  package:
+    name: 'epel-release'
+    state: present
\ No newline at end of file