Octopus Energy reduces monthly bills to £0 for 10 years 'guaranteed'

Octopus Energy is offering a radical tariff which promises customers will pay nothing for their electricity - £0 - guaranteed for at least a decade.

The energy supplier is introducing a new tariff called Octopus Zero Bills, which does what it sounds like and promises that customers will not pay anything for their energy for 10 years, guaranteed.

The scheme is being run in tandem with housing developers. A house built with renewable energy items including solar panels, a heat pump, battery storage and electric heating, will qualify for the Octopus Zero Bills scheme, using the renewable energy sources on the property to power the home instead.

The firm says it wants to build 100,000 new Zero Bills homes by 2030 in partnership with house builders.

Octopus Energy says: "Octopus Zero Bills is the next generation energy tariff with zero energy bills for the home, for ten years, guaranteed. We're working with housing developers, BTR providers, housing associations, and local authorities across the UK to make Zero Bills the new standard for everyone."

Heat pumps are powered by electricity and take air from outside before heating it and pushing it into the property. They are more expensive to buy than a boiler but there are various grant schemes to slash the cost of installing one. It is hoped that heat pumps will fully replace traditional fossil fuel boilers in the long term.

Solar panels combined with a battery will also pay for themselves in their lifetime, even without taking into account the Octopus offer.

Octopus said: "Homes that are fully powered by green tech - solar panels, heat pumps, and batteries - with zero home energy bills. It isn't some far-fetched dream, it's happening today.

"And we're leading the charge. (Got an EV? Charging is a separate cost but we can help you get a home charger and one of the cheapest smart tariffs on the market to charge with!)

"We've been led to believe that energy is something we'll always have to pay more and more for, with bills climbing higher every year.

"But that doesn't have to be the case. Right at our fingertips, we have the solutions: abundant green energy from the sun and wind, combined with incredible green tech like solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps.

"These innovations make it possible to abandon dirty fossil fuels and create a future where clean energy is not only abundant but completely free.

"Just recently, we teamed up with modular house builder Starship and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to build one of these innovative smart homes in two days at Labour Party Conference. That's how quickly we can create a home that generates and stores its own energy, letting the people inside live comfortably without worrying about energy costs for at least 10 years, guaranteed. It's an exciting glimpse of what the future holds."

The firm says it has already confirmed Zero Bills homes in several cities in the UK, adding: "We're teaming up with some of the UK's biggest housebuilders, including Vistry, Persimmon and Bellway, to roll these homes out across the country. Bellway's got an entire 130-home development in Bedfordshire planned for Zero Bills-our largest site yet-and regional builders like Thakeham, Verto and GS8 are going all-in with these cleantech homes."

It's not just for new homes, though, as Octopus Energy wants to upgrade 500,000 existing houses to Zero Bills too.

It added: "But it's not just about new builds. True change will require transforming the homes we already have. We think about 500,000 homes built since 2013 in the UK could be upgraded to the Zero Bills standard. That's a huge number of homes that could see bills disappear."