Britain’s largest electricity supplier, Octopus Energy, has partnered with southern England housebuilder Thakeham to deliver ‘Zero Bills’ homes, days after setting a target of 100,000 such properties by 2030.
Revealed yesterday (23 September), the partnership will result in Thakeham submitting plans to develop an additional 1,350 ‘Zero Bills’ homes in West Sussex. Thakeham first piloted the homes at a 120 property-strong Templegate development in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, earlier this year.
To eliminate bills from homes, each building developed under the initiative is kitted out with solar, batteries and heat pumps, all optimised by Kraken, Octopus’ tech platform. Octopus Energy also provides a bespoke tariff.
The rooftop solar generates electricity for the home and its heat pump, providing all heating and hot water. At the same time, the battery energy storage will store any excess electricity the solar PV modules generate for later use. Octopus guarantees that homeowners will have no energy bills for at least five to 10 years.
Octopus has been signing various partnerships with housing developers to support the uptake of these homes, with 50 now in its ranks. These include Bellway Homes, Tilia Homes, Hopkins Homes, The Hill Group, for example.
Octopus has also 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.
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, expressed his delight in partnering with Thakeham, adding that it will bring the country closer to a “future where energy bills are history”.
“This is a huge step forward for us in making ‘Zero Bills’ the new norm. By teaming up with Thakeham, we’re creating homes that cost nothing to run while also making a significant dent in the UK’s carbon footprint. This partnership brings us closer to a future where energy bills are history,” Jackson said.
