The UK heat pump price wars just cranked up a gear, after Octopus Energy unveiled a new clean heating package which it claims can be delivered at zero cost for some customers that redeem the government's £5,000 grant for low-carbon boiler upgrades.
Revealing its latest offering at a tech summit in London this afternoon, the energy company said its new Cosy Octopus package - which includes a 6kW heat pump, controls, room sensors, service package, and energy tariff - would be available for homes from December.
Installation of the clean heating system would be 'free' for households that do not need any additional work to fit the system in their homes after they have availed themselves of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, Octopus Energy said.
However, homes that need adjustments, such as new radiators, piping, or hot water tanks, would need to pay around roughly £3,000 to complete the installation, it said.
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Launching the package at the WIRED & Octopus Energy Tech Summit, he added that the Cosy 6 heat pump was "British designed, British manufactured [and] optimised for British homes".
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The heat pump was designed by Jason Cassells, CEO of Octopus Heating, and is the first built entirely in-house by Octopus Energy at a manufacturing site in Northern Ireland.
This is very interesting. Though I worry with an old heat leaking house like mine, heat pump might have a worse running cost.
The heat from a heat pump is significantly less expensive than from other sources. Even if your house leaks heat, thats still true. If you need to have your boiler running all the time because of drafts, it would still help to have that boiler be less expensive to run.
You might get better results fron your money by insulating the house, tho
I think that is probably all true. I just want numbers. Switching to an EV was easy when I did the maths.
(commute_miles / mpg) * 4.54609 * fuel_price vs (commute_miles / miles_per_kwh) * kwh_price
Then comparing both with: monthly_repayment + monthly_commute_cost
I want to do the same with a heat pump. BUT this free Octopus one isn't big enough for me right now anyway.
Literally not possible
I certainly want to believe that because sorting out my insulation is a really big job.