Keep off the gas: Octopus Energy launches initiative to help customers reduce their gas usage and stay warm this winter

• Octopus Energy launches ‘Winter Workout’ challenge to help customers stay warm whilst cutting carbon emissions and saving money
• Entrants who follow tips on energy efficiency to reduce their gas usage could win weekly cash prizes
• Customers who choose to donate their win to the £2.5m Octopus Assistance Fund will see it matched by Octopus Energy.

London, 3rd December 2021 - Octopus Energy, the UK’s 4th largest energy supplier, is offering customers the chance to win up to £64,000 in its inaugural ‘Winter Workout’ challenge. The competition will see customers cut both carbon emissions and money using a number of useful energy saving tips.

Octopus set up the £2.5 million Octopus Assistance Fund in November 2021 as part of its campaign to help customers struggling to afford their bills during a difficult winter with record high energy prices. It is now funnelling even more money into helping people save with its 12-week ‘Winter Workout’ challenge.

By following simple energy saving tips on a regular basis, participating customers will be able to cut their energy bills and save unnecessary carbon emissions while keeping their homes warm and cosy. Among those tips will be suggestions such as keeping the thermostat at a constant temperature rather than using it as an on/off switch or reducing the flow temperature of the gas boiler, which is often set higher than it needs to be.

The aim of the challenge will be to use these tips to cut gas usage over the course of the winter. An £8,000 prize will be given to one customer who takes part every week, with a grand prize of £64,000 going to one lucky customer at the end of the challenge. In addition, all partaking customers who beat their target will benefit from an equal portion of the remaining £1 million. Customers who choose to donate their win to the Octopus Assistance Fund will be matched by Octopus Energy.

Octopus Energy is the UK’s most awarded energy company, obsessed with its customers and dedicated to bringing costs down through super-efficient processes. The Octopus Energy ‘Winter Workout’ is the latest in a long line of initiatives to help customers make their homes more energy efficient, save on their bills and bring down carbon emissions from home heating, which accounts for up to 15% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Octopus is also offering eligible customers struggling with their bills free rental of thermal imaging cameras to help them plug draughts in their homes and make their properties more energy efficient.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Product & Marketing Director at Octopus Energy, said: “As we head into a difficult winter for energy customers, we want to help customers save money and carbon, and still stay warm. By giving our customers practical advice on how to make their homes and boilers more efficient and rewarding those that do so, we are enabling them to save heating costs for years to come and reduce their carbon footprint.

“For those that don’t need the extra money but just want to help out the environment, we are matching every donation made to the Octopus Assistance Fund as part of this initiative. As an energy company, it’s our job to make sure customers can worry less about their energy prices this winter.”

To join in, simply sign up at the webpage here before 23:59 on Sunday, December 5th 2021, and submit a gas meter reading. Those with a connected smart gas meter only need to sign up without giving a reading.

To find out more about how to rent a thermal imagery camera, please visit this webpage.

-ENDS-

Press contact UK

Christina Hess

T: +44 7897 699 195

E: 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 12 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global.

Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 3.1 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 £3.4bn 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 September 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at $4.6 billion after taking $600 million investment from Generation Investment Management, a firm co-founded and chaired by Al Gore that backs businesses that drive sustainability and the fight against climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.

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