- The Zero Bills Standard is a more customer-oriented offering.
- Octopus customers could live without any energy bills for 5 – 10 years.
- Schramberg, Germany, will be home to the world’s first ‘Zero Bills’ neighbourhood.
Octopus Energy, the UK’s biggest energy supplier, has launched a global Zero Bills Standard as part of its efforts to cut energy bills to nothing and decarbonise homes.
Launched at the inaugural Zero Bills Awards in London, the proposition that guarantees zero energy bills through energy efficient properties, for 5-10 years. These homes will be fitted with solar panels, storage and other smart technology and set a new global benchmark for sustainable living.
The awards were to celebrate companies already accredited to the new standard, paving the way for clean energy innovation and scaling up sustainable homes.
Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, said that in six years 100,000 homeowners, families, and couples could be “living without ever having to think about an energy bill.”
Existing frameworks such as the proposed Future Homes Standard tailors itself to lowering energy bills by requiring most homes to have improved energy efficiency and low-carbon heating through green technology such as heat pumps.
However, the Zero Bills Standard aims to eliminate bills altogether by fast-tracking the decarbonisation of homes and using battery storage to qualify for Octopus’ ‘Zero Bills’ tariff.
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Octopus introduced its ‘Zero Bills’ tariff in 2022, enabling customers to move into homes retrofitted with a heat pump, battery and solar panels with a no energy bill guarantee of 5-10 years.
Nigel Banks, Director of ‘Zero Bills’ at Octopus Energy, called the Zero Bills Standard, “a game-changer for sustainable living.”
He said the company was “empowering housebuilders, developers and local authorities” to create homes that are “not only better for the planet, but better for people’s wallets too.”
Octopus’ target is to deliver 100,000 ‘Zero Bills’ homes by 2030. As well as the UK, the initiative has already been rolled out in New Zealand and also in Schramberg, Germany, where it is helping provide the country’s first 100% zero bills neighbourhood of 24 homes. The first residents are expected to move in in the later months of 2025.
Banks continued: “With Schramberg leading the way in Germany, we’re proving that sustainable, cost-free energy is no longer a dream but a reality for people around the globe.”
Bastian Gierull, CEO of Octopus Energy Germany, said his team has gone from launching the first ‘Zero Bills’ home to “developing an entire ‘Zero Bills’ community in Germany”.
“We’re proving that sustainable, zero-cost energy solutions are possible – and thanks to our partners, Schramberg will become the blueprint for Germany’s sustainable living revolution,” he remarked.
