SOME homes in the UK won’t have to worry about ANY energy bills in the future.
That’s if they are part of Octopus Energy’s new construction effort.
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The first UK homes that come with zero energy bills are being launched as part of a new trial that sees the supplier join forces with housebuilder Ilke Homes.
The homes will come equipped with an air source heat pump, solar panels and battery storage technology, all in an effort to drastically reduce the rocketing costs of energy.
Households have been clobbered with the financial burden over the past year.
Bills shot up by almost £700 last month when the price cap was lifted to £1,971 per year.
Though regulator Ofgem has warned that bills could hit £2,800 in October, adding yet ANOTHER £800 to families’ outgoings later in the year.
Yet Octopus says that each of the new zero bills households will save over £2,000 on energy costs per year.
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy said: “This breakthrough partnership debunks a long-standing myth – that cleaner energy will mean higher bills for consumers.
“Instead, people living in these homes won’t be paying for energy at all.”
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As part of the trial, just two homes with the zero bills model will pop up first.
But is there one near you?
For most of the country the answer to that is no, as it’s still a small scheme so far.
They are being installed in Stanford-le-Hope, in Essex.
But the company plans to to set up 10,000 of these groundbreaking new homes by 2030, meaning thousands of people won’t have to pay a penny for their energy in years to come.
The only drawback is that buyers will have to fork out an extra £8,000 to £9,000 to afford one of the new houses.
The low-carbon technologies will save households money in the long-run, but it’s a lot to cough up right now, when wallets are already stretched.
The two-bedroom semi-detached family homes will be made available for shared ownership, lowering some of these costs in part.
Homeowners will be signed up to a special Octopus tariff and will pay no bills unless they use more than 10MWh of energy.
Instead the high-tech will do most of the work for them.
The solar panels on the roof will generate electricity for the home and its heat pump, which provides all heating and hot water.
Meanwhile a battery technology will store any excess green electricity the solar panels generate.
That way the home will be able to store this energy for later use.
Giles Carter, CEO at Ilke Homes, said: “Our strategic partnership with Octopus Energy Group is the next milestone on our ilke ZERO journey.
“The premise of this partnership is to both empower consumers, who are faced with one of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, and demonstrate that net-zero and construction can work hand in hand.”
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