Octopus Energy has expanded its ‘Zero Bills’ initiative into Scotland through partnerships with Homes for Scotland and MAST Architects.
The Zero Bills tariff is an initiative by the utility that guarantees homes that incorporate green technologies, such as a heat pump, battery, and solar panels, will not be billed. Octopus does not charge customers for ten years because the homes generate more energy than they consume.
Octopus is working with MAST Architects on a flagship design for a Zero Bills home in Scotland, and it has also partnered with Homes for Scotland, a trade association for housebuilders, to enable its members to integrate the initiative.
In September, Octopus set the target of building 100,000 Zero Bills homes by 2030 and it also recently launched the tariff for customers in Germany. Vistry, purportedly the UK’s largest housebuilder, piloted the delivery of the properties across several of its developments.
Octopus has previously said it will retrofit homes to make them eligible for the Zero Bills tariff, suggesting 500,000 UK properties, built since 2013, could be upgraded.
Last week, the utility overtook British Gas to become the largest domestic energy provider in Great Britain, taking a 23.7% share of the available market. It marked the first time the top position has changed since the energy retail market opened for competition in the 1990s following the deregulation of the energy market in the 1980s.
Although Octopus has been the biggest electricity supplier since April 2024, Centrica-owned British Gas had held the overall largest market share because of its dominance in the gas supply market.
Scottish support for rooftop solar
Scotland has also invested in a number of other clean energy initiatives, such as rooftop solar. In June 2024, the Scottish government removed planning permission requirements for home rooftop solar installations, allowing for the installation of flat roof systems on homes under permitted development rights as long as they do not protrude more than one metre from the roof surface.
Solar Energy Scotland has previously criticised the Scottish government for falling behind on standards for rooftop solar, noting that the Scottish government’s suggestion that new buildings be built to the Passivhaus ‘Classic’ energy efficiency standard is outdated, as the Passivhaus Classic energy efficiency standard has been superseded by the ‘Plus’ and ‘Premium’ forms.
This all comes as part of a wider debate about how legislation could ensure that residential properties are built to support clean power targets. As the Future Homes Standard is yet to be confirmed by the government, which the industry has urged to mandate for rooftop solar, a bill that would have required all new homes to include solar PV was this week rejected.
Following a second reading of the New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill in the House of Commons on 17 January, officials passed on what had been dubbed the Sunshine Bill, despite minister for housing and planning Matthew Pennycook saying the government was “extremely sympathetic” to the initiative.