Thousands of households are paying nothing for their energy as energy bills continue to rise.
A growing number of homes are being fitted with the latest technology, such as solar panels, heat pumps and batteries to store energy. This means electricity generated by the homes – which are also super energy efficient – can be sold back to the grid when prices are high, at peak times.
Householder Simon Poile, 34, is among those paying nothing for his family’s energy on their four-bed house as a result, compared with more than £3,000 a year for their previous home, a Victorian end-of-terrace. The father-of-two moved into their new build property on Verto Homes’ Nexa Fields site at Pinhoe, Exeter, in June this year.
Mum’s urgent New Year’s Eve fireworks warning as video shows rockets shoot at family
Simon Poile says his new home is warm all the time – unlike the family’s Victorian-era house before
(
Image:
Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
They paid £550,00, with the property packed with energy-saving triple glazing, a heat pump, solar panels, a battery, and a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system. Having this sort of technology can typically reduce annual bills to about £300 to £500 a year. But Mr Poile also signed-up to a Zero Bills tariff from supplier Octopus Energy, which includes tech to manage when is the best time to sell the customers’ excess energy, and when it is cheap to buy.
“Having zero energy bills was definitely a factor in buying this home,” said Mr Poile, a software developer, who lives with partner Jasmine and children Bella, two, and Otto, four months. Our last home was quite difficult to keep warm all the time, the radiators were on constantly. It was so expensive.
A heat pump is fitted in the garden of Simon Poile’s home
(
Image:
Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
“This one has a really stable temperature and you really notice not having any outlay on energy, and it’s one less thing to think about. Plus there is the fact that energy prices always seem to change and go up. We factored in the savings on our energy when we took out the mortgage, which left more for that.”
It comes as 26 million households face another rise in their energy bills from January 1. Regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap will increase by an average 1.2% to £1,738 per year for a typical household, on top of a near 10% jump in October. While Mr Poile benefitted from having the technology already fitted to home, taking the plunge and investing in the kit yourself comes with a hefty price tag.
Simon and partner Jasmine were shelling out more than £3,000 a year for energy on their previous home
(
Image:
Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)
According to the Energy Saving Trust, a heat pump system tends to cost between £14,000 and £19,000 to install. Ground source heat pumps can be anything from £28,000 and £34,000, it adds. The Government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £7,500 towards the cost of a new heat pump, whether an air source or a ground source, for households in England and Wales.
Solar panels tend to be cheaper. The Energy Saving Trust says domestic solar panel systems cost around £7,000, depending on the size of system, any difficulty accessing your roof, whether you choose panels or tiles and if you need to renew the roof covering.
Octopus Energy has teamed up with a number of leading housebuilders, including Vistry, Persimmon and Bellway, to roll zero energy bills these homes out across the country. Bellway has plans for an entire 130-home such development in Bedfordshire.