Octopus Energy has announced the launch of its solar and heat pump referral scheme, offering £100 in incentives.
This initiative, driven by the aim of decarbonising UK households, will enable anyone who receives a heat pump or solar system installation from Octopus to refer friends and family for their own low carbon technology installation.
Those who refer will receive £100, while those who have the technology installed will receive £100 off the fitting. Octopus Energy retail customers can get a £100 credit on their account, while others will receive a widely accepted e-voucher of the same value.
The scheme was launched as the government announced a significant increase in demand for heat pumps, with applications for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) grant increasing 75% YoY (YoY) in February.
According to the Government, this is the fourth month that there have been more than 2,000 applications since grants for air and ground source heat pumps rose to £7,500.
This means that the monthly average for applications received between November 2023 and February 2024 is 45% higher than the monthly average before the subsidy increase.
By switching to a specialist heat pump tariff such as ‘Cozy Octopus’, households can save £222 a year compared to running a boiler, Octopus data shows.
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product Officer at Octopus Energy, said: “Our approach has always been to put money back in people’s pockets, and we’ll be happy to give away another £100 million in referrals as smart customers benefit from our offering to heat pumps. – and help accelerate the clean heating revolution along the way.”
Partner projects
Octopus Energy has a rich history of launching tests and services that support the development of small-scale solar installations in the UK.
This includes working with National Grid to accelerate the installation of residential rooftop solar panels.
The new agreement means that Octopus Energy technicians can upgrade a customer’s home fuse themselves during a domestic installation using low carbon technology.
This change could potentially allow residents to avoid an additional ten weeks of installation processes that would otherwise be necessary.
National Grid has already assessed the impact of future roof-mounted solar installations on the local grid to ensure it can accommodate the additional power required and has pre-approved them for connections across the network.
Octopus Energy also announced a new partnership with homebuilder The Hill Group in December 2023 to build 89 solar-powered homes with no energy bills.
The homes will be equipped with a number of low-carbon technologies, including solar panels. The combined capacity of these technologies will exceed the energy needs of any home and will be integrated and optimized by Octopus’ Kraken platform.
