The UK’s largest electricity supplier, Octopus Energy, has announced a new off-peak rate for customers on its heat pump tariff, Cosy Octopus.
Beginning July 1st, customers can heat their homes for an average of 11 per kWh between 10 pm and midnight and during two other daily windows—4 am-7 am and 1 pm–4 pm. According to Octopus, the Cosy Octopus heat pump tariff could save customers as much as £315 per year compared to running a gas boiler.
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy, said: “Heat pumps are ushering in a new era in heating—helping us to end our addiction to dirty gas boilers and moving us towards a clean, cheap heating system.
“We’re always looking for new ways to reward customers who are choosing clean tech and, by that, are getting the country closer to a green, flexible energy system. And we’ll keep innovating relentlessly to bring the costs of green heating down even further.”
Last year, Octopus Energy delivered some of this promised innovation thanks to the launch of its own heat pump system. At the Energy Tech Summit in London in September 2023, Octopus launched the Cosy 6, a heat pump system designed to bring costs down for consumers and thus boost the rollout of the tech. For a typical home, the Cosy 6 will cost an average of just £3,000 after the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) grant, including installation and aftercare.
Bringing costs down
The significant upfront cost of heat pumps and other clean energy technologies has unsurprisingly proven to be a major barrier to wider public uptake.
Earlier this year, the government released figures showing that applications for the BUS have skyrocketed in the past year, growing more than 75% year-on-year in February. Meanwhile, the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) revealed that Welsh homes and businesses installed a record number of heat pumps across 2023, with a 147% rise in heat pump installations between 2022 and 2023.
For its part, Octopus has done a significant amount to bring down the cost of heat pump and solar installations. In addition to launching the lower-cost Cosy 6, Octopus has introduced a referral scheme where those who have low-carbon technology fitted by Octopus can secure £100 by referring someone else, who will then receive a £100 discount on the installation.
