Making the world-first ‘Zero Bills’ proposition available to all UK housing developers Octopus is calling on them to make it the new standard.
The partnership between the UK’s second-largest energy supplier, and multi award-winning sustainable housebuilder Verto is the next step on Octopus’ mission to deliver 10,000 ‘Zero Bills’ homes by 2025, enabling homeowners to make energy bills a thing of the past.
In this first phase, the companies will deliver a total of 70 homes across two sites in Cornwall and Exeter. These will include multiple open market and affordable homes and the first ‘Zero Bills’ retrofit properties – proving that both new and existing properties can be outfitted to exist without energy bills.
‘Zero Bills’ is made possible through Octopus’ proprietary technology platform, Kraken, which connects to the clean energy devices, optimising energy usage to deliver a zero bill.
Following the success of a ‘Zero Bills’ pilot with ilke Homes in Essex, Octopus Energy has now accredited almost 600 homes through contracts with other prominent developers. Accredited plots span affordable, shared ownership, private, and rented housing.
A further 80 developers have kick-started the accreditation process with Octopus, including several volume housebuilders. More than 1200 homes have been submitted for assessment.
Octopus Energy’s ‘Zero Bills’ proposition represents a significant step forward in the fight against climate change – with residential heating representing around 13% of the EU and UK’s total carbon emissions.
Energy bills a thing of the past
Michael Cottrell, Zero Bills Homes Director at Octopus Energy, comments: “We’re on a mission to make ‘Zero Bills’ the new standard for homes. By partnering with developers like Verto, we’re scaling this efficient green technology to homes everywhere while driving down costs for consumers.
“The technology is already proven, but through Octopus’ proprietary offering we can now bring it all together and optimise it in new houses. Together with forward-thinking developers, we can make energy bills and home emissions a thing of the past.”
Tom Carr, Co-Founder at Verto says: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Octopus to launch the UK’s first fully Zero Bills developments. Verto has been delivering its Zero Carbon Smart Home™ product for over a decade: combined with Zero Bills, it represents a sea-change in sustainable housing.
“But this is just the beginning – we have several other exciting projects in the pipeline with Octopus, and we’re proud to be at the forefront of this movement.”
Calling on all housing developers to join its ‘Zero Bills’ revolution, Octopus will assess developers’ eligibility for accreditation via its proprietary assessment model. To be eligible, new developments will need solar panels, home batteries, and heat pumps (or other forms of electrified heating). Many newbuild homes are already fitted with these clean energy technology solutions as standard.