How to live in a house with zero energy bills
Hundreds of thousands of future homeowners could soon benefit from a plan that will eliminate their energy bills as Octopus Energy partners with several home builders to deliver savings.
The energy supplier, which became the UK’s largest last year, is working with developers to build homes in the UK fitted with bill-cutting improvements such as solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage.
In the run-up to Christmas, Octopus has partnered with the country’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Redrow, to deliver 54 of these homes next year.
These will be in Wixams, Bedfordshire and Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, and new residents of these properties will pay no energy costs for at least 10 years.
Based on Ofgem’s price cap set for early 2026, this would mean an average annual saving of £1,758.
Nigel Banks, Director of Zero Bills at Octopus Energy, said: “We have been working closely with Barratt Redrow on research trials and can now demonstrate what can be achieved at scale with Zero Bills on new housing projects.
“With new homes already being built with solar panels, heat pumps and EV chargers, eliminating home energy bills with our game-changing tariff is now a simple, feasible and cost-effective upgrade.”
Octopus has said it wants to bring 100,000 homes to market under the ‘Zero Bill Tariff’ by 2030 and will soon invest £100 million to support the initiative. So far, more than 5,000 apps have been approved by various developers.
This includes a partnership with Tilia Homes for homes in Hardingstone, Northampton, as well as Thakeham, who said half of his home in Templegate, Burgess Hill, was available.
For potential buyers looking to buy a home ‘without a bill’, Octopus has a list of other participating developers and locations. These:
- Bristol (Verto)
- Devon (Verto)
- Weeley, Essex (Whole)
- Epping Forest, Essex (gs8)
- Exeter (Verto)
- Somerset Moors (Signature Houses)
- North Somerset (Edenstone)
- Newport (Hill)
- Sussex (Thakeham)
- Stanford-le-Hope (Soresi)
Housing minister Steve Reed recently praised the initiative, asking: “How can we make more homes that can generate their own energy with this development?”.
“If you move into one of the houses in this project, you will not have an energy bill for at least five years, possibly up to 10 years,” he said.
“It will be a very welcome change for people.”
The Labor minister recently doubled down on the government’s promise to deliver 1.5 million new homes by the next election, despite concerns that the target could be difficult to meet.
