A new green homes trial in Essex is being launched where residents may not have to pay energy bills.
Octopus Energy has joined forces with housebuilder Ilke Homes for the trial which is designed to encourage households to move away from fossil fuels.
The renewable eco homes built under the scheme will include an air source heat pump, solar panels and solar batteries - technologies which can all help homeowners pay less for their energy usage.
The pilot trial will consist of a pair of two-bedroom, semi-detached family homes in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, which will available to buy under shared ownership in the coming weeks. There are plans to expand the scheme to more than 10,000 homes by 2030.
The homeowners will be signed up to a bespoke Octopus tariff whereby, provided they do not use more than 10MWh of energy, they will not have to pay energy bills. Octopus estimates this is triple the standard annual usage of a household.
However, while the low-carbon technologies installed in the homes will save them on long-term costs, they will have to pay an extra £8,000-£9,000 when they purchase the new homes.
The Premise is to ‘Empower Customers’
Energy price rises hit millions of households in April, and Ofgem confirmed in May that the Energy Price Cap will again rise in October, this time to £2,800, which could mean millions of households pay an extra £800 per year.
Octopus and Ilke say the ‘zero bills’ households will save over £2,000 on energy costs per year based on current prices.
Giles Carter, CEO at Ilke Homes, said: “The premise of this partnership is to both empower consumers, who are faced with one of the worst cost-of-living crises in decades, and demonstrate that net-zero and construction can work hand in hand.”
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, added: “This is yet another demonstration that clean energy is cheap energy, and the best answer to the fossil fuel crisis is accelerating the transition to renewables.”
