‘Energy Helpers’: Octopus Energy launches street by street energy saving campaign for 500,000 customers this winter

• Doorstep advice scheme targeted at people struggling with rising energy costs
• Hundreds of Octopus staff upskilled as ‘Energy Helpers’ this winter to offer tailored energy saving advice to over 500,000 homes

London, 7th September 2022 - Octopus Energy today launches its ‘Energy Helpers’ scheme, a brand new in-home service providing households across the country with actionable, bespoke advice on how to save energy and reduce bills this winter.

Advice will be tailored to customers’ individual needs and provided by a team of trained energy saving experts. The new service has been trialled over summer and is now being rolled out country-wide. Through the new scheme Octopus hopes to make personal visits to at least 500,000 customer homes over the course of this winter.

This comes as energy prices are set to rise to £3,549 per year for an average UK home, further increasing the financial burden on households this winter.

There are several effective ways to lower energy consumption without compromising on comfort including turning down the water flow temperature of the gas boiler that is heating the home – a measure that can save people up to 8% off their gas bills*.

Octopus’ ‘Energy Helpers’ will offer practical energy saving advice like the boiler flow tip as well as personalised measures to help lower energy usage and bring down bills. Most advice can be delivered at the doorstep, but Octopus’ DBS-checked ‘Energy Helpers’ will also be equipped with thermal imaging cameras in the colder months. If invited in, they will also be able to identify hidden draughts in customers’ homes and suggest low-cost ways to close them.

This builds on Octopus Energy’s ‘Winter Workout’ energy efficiency programme, which last winter knocked 12% off customers’ gas consumption on average, saving them almost £5m on bills**. Following findings that heating a person not the entire home can save people nearly a fifth on their gas bills***, Octopus last winter also offered 8,000 electric blankets to customers that needed them most, saving them £300 on their energy bills. Both schemes will run again this winter.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product Officer at Octopus Energy Group, says: “We speak to over 30,000 customers each day and know that many people are worried and struggling to pay their bills this winter.

“We’re doing all we possibly can to cushion the impact of the crisis on people. We’ve already absorbed £150m of the cost increase on behalf of them. We also recently doubled our ‘Octo Assist’ fund in size to £30m, which has already helped over 55,000 people.

“Our ‘Energy Helpers’ scheme adds a new layer to this support network and means we can provide even more personalised help to our customers this winter.”

The scheme is open from today. Octopus will notify customers when we will be in their area, or if customers or local authorities want our Helpers to come to their community, they can register their interest at this link.

Octopus urges any customers worried about their energy bills to get in touch at hello@octopus.energy and to also fill in this simple online tool which asks a series of questions so Octopus can make tailored recommendations.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

*A report by the Heating and Hot Water Council (HHIC) shows that households can save around 6-8% in gas just by turning down the heating flow temperature on their condensing combi boiler (source: The Heating Hub).

**Last winter, Octopus Energy ran a data driven energy efficiency scheme called ‘Winter Workout’, offering customers tips to save on gas usage without compromising on comfort. Nearly 250,000 customers took part of which about 150,000 cut their energy consumption. In total, customers reduced their gas consumption by 12% on average, saving over £4.8m in total.

***Analysis by Octopus Energy’s data team looked at the smart meter data of 4,190 customers who opted into the Octopus Electric Blankets scheme, which showed that customers who received electric blankets reduced their energy bills by 19% compared to a control group.

Press Contacts

Octopus Energy Group

Christina Hess

+44 (0)20 4530 8369

christina.hess@octoenergy.com

About Octopus Energy Group

Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. It is part of Octopus Group, which is a certified BCorp. With operations in 14 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global.

Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 3.4 million customers with cheaper greener power, through Octopus Energy, M&S Energy, Affect Energy, Ebico, London Power and Co-op Energy. Octopus Electric Vehicles is helping make clean transport cheaper and easier, and Octopus Energy Services is bringing smart products to thousands of homes. Octopus Energy Generation is one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, managing a £4bn portfolio of renewable energy assets throughout the continent.

All of these are made possible by Octopus’s tech arm, Kraken Technologies, which offers a proprietary, in-house platform based on advanced data and machine learning capabilities, Kraken automates much of the energy supply chain to allow outstanding service and efficiency as the world transitions to a decentralised, decarbonised energy system. This technology has been licensed to support over 20 million customer accounts worldwide, through deals with EDF Energy, Good Energy, E.ON energy and Origin Energy.

In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5 billion following a $600 million investment from Generation Investment Management and a $300 million investment from Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.

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