Octopus Energy customers can have £420 hacked off energy bills with new deal

An average family could save £420 a year by installing solar panels paid for through a monthly subscription similar to a mobile phone contract under a new green deal.

The scheme, which comes from Sunsave and is supported by energy giant Octopus, does away with the need to pay more than £10,000 up front to install solar panels on the roof, which is unaffordable for most people.

As well as cutting a household’s own energy bill, the scheme allows families to sell on any excess electricity they produce back into the National Grid through Octopus.

Sunsave said: “Monthly payments start at just £69, with zero upfront costs to install, and the average family could save 1.63 tonnes of CO2 and £420 in the first year or £51,935 over the next 25 years on their energy bills.”

Significanly, Sunsave, which has received trusted trader status from consumer champion Which? and has UK government backing, said these savings are the net benefit to households after they have paid the monthly subscriptions for the panels.

The subscription includes fixed monthly payments for the lifetime of the panel system, which protects homeowners from future energy price rises and allows them to know exactly what they will pay and budget accordingly.

At the same time, all the systems are guaranteed for 20 years, including monitoring, a replacement battery and insurance from Aviva to give homeowners peace of mind, bosses say.

Research by Sunsave found 70 percent of UK households would like to install a solar system and yet government data shows only 4 percent have done so, largely because of the hefty upfront installation costs.

Sunsave was founded in 2022 by two friends who met at Oxford University, Alick Dru and Ben Graves, with an aim to demystify the overcomplicated solar industry and expensive installation fees amidst soaring energy prices and the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Alick said: “Our aim has always been to make solar power accessible to everyone. For far too long households have been forced to make a choice between what’s right for the environment or what’s best for their finances.

“We’ve spent years researching the appetite in the UK for solar power and trialling finance models which will allow consumers to start saving money instantly. It’s simple - going green shouldn’t cost the earth.”

Sunsave Plus offers a long-term subscription with no upfront costs, with ongoing monitoring and maintenance, provided through a 20-year guarantee to ensure the system's performance and longevity, the firm says.

The company’s subscription-based option is proving popular with the result it already has a waiting list of some 7,000 customers.

The subscription price is based on the size of the system and the customer's home and any other green energy installations. For example, a family home with an EV and a heat pump rather than a traditional gas boiler, could see savings of £609 in the first year and £62,514 over 25 years, net of Sunsave Plus payments.

Unlike many other financed solar options, like controversial ‘Rent-a-roof’ schemes, Sunsave Plus doesn’t require a roof lease and customers have full ownership of their system from the moment it’s installed.

Sunsave is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide the technology on a subscription model. The startup was also recently awarded almost £2 million from the UK Government’s Green Home Finance Accelerator (GHFA).

The funding is to support UK-based green finance providers and other organisations to design, develop and pilot innovative finance propositions which encourage domestic energy efficiency, low carbon heating and micro-generation retrofit.