diff --git a/manifests/repo/redhat/redhat.pp b/manifests/repo/redhat/redhat.pp
index ac3aed2..69658dc 100644
--- a/manifests/repo/redhat/redhat.pp
+++ b/manifests/repo/redhat/redhat.pp
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 # [*manage_epel*]
 #   (optional) Whether to create a predefined yumrepo resource
 #   for the EPEL repository provided by RedHat
-#   Defaults to true
+#   Note: EPEL is not required when deploying OpenStack with RDO.
+#   Defaults to false
 #
 # [*repo_hash*]
 #   (optional) A hash of yumrepo resources that will be passed to
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@
 class openstack_extras::repo::redhat::redhat(
   $release           = $::openstack_extras::repo::redhat::params::release,
   $manage_rdo        = true,
-  $manage_epel       = true,
+  $manage_epel       = false,
   $repo_hash         = {},
   $repo_defaults     = {},
   $gpgkey_hash       = {},
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/disable_epel-a07b06048465e7a1.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/disable_epel-a07b06048465e7a1.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68e12ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/disable_epel-a07b06048465e7a1.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+other:
+  - Disable EPEL repository setup by default. Keep the boolean if users
+    want it, but add a note that EPEL is not required when deploying
+    OpenStack with RDO repositories.