Octopus Energy’s electric blanket scheme saves customers £300 on their energy bills

• Octopus Energy launched its first electric blankets scheme last winter to help customers save energy and money
• Company gave away 7,000 free electric blankets to customers who needed them most
• Detailed analysis shows scheme saved customers 19% on costs compared to customers without electric blankets

London, 27th May 2022 - Octopus Energy’s new energy efficiency scheme, Octopus Electric Blankets, has seen customers reduce their bills by 19% – a £300 per year saving.

The new scheme, which was launched in January 2022, is one of several measures the company set up since the start of the crisis to support customers who were worried about heating costs and at risk of becoming cold. Octopus has so far sent out 7,000 free electric blankets to customers, helping them to reduce their energy consumption and lower their bills.

Electric blankets are an incredibly efficient way to heat a person and save customers from paying to heat an entire home. It currently costs less than 3p an hour to keep a person warm with an electric blanket, whilst heating a whole home could cost around £4.70 a day*.

An analysis by Octopus Energy’s data team, which looked at the smart meter data of 4,190 customers who opted into the scheme, showed that customers who received electric blankets reduced their energy bills by 19% compared to a control group**. This would see customers save £300 on their energy bill this year.

The scheme has been open to all Octopus Energy customers and can be accessed via a quick and simple online tool which asks a series of questions about their financial situation. The distribution of the blankets was based on need, prioritising those who are struggling the most.

This winter’s scheme has now closed, but given the success of the programme, the company is today announcing it will extend the scheme again next winter. As well as blankets available for free for those most in need, Octopus is partnering with a major electric blankets supplier to provide half price blankets to any customer.

This comes as the energy regulator Ofgem announces that the UK energy price cap is expected to rise by £830 to around £2,800 in October 2022.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Octopus Energy Group, comments:

“Octopus is determined to do all we can to help customers through the crisis. We’ve subsidised prices by over £100m, created the OctoAssist fund that’s directly helped over 50,000 customers with real cash assistance and helped 250,000 customers through our Winter Workout.

“We started sending electric blankets out to customers who qualified under our financial assessment scheme after one of our scientists highlighted the energy efficiency of “heating the human not the home” – especially for those with limited mobility.

“This analysis proves just how much difference it makes – with savings of £300 this is perhaps the single biggest thing many people can do to stay warm affordably in these tough times.

“This crisis is real – but alongside the government’s welcome support package, there is a lot that energy companies can do and Octopus will be relentless in finding ways to help.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

*A 100W electric blanket running for an hour uses 0.1kWh. At the current price cap rate of 26.99p/kWh for electricity, it would cost 2.7p an hour to run the blanket. Heating an average home (as defined by Ofgem) with gas for a day requires around 67kWh. At the current price cap rate of 7p/kWh for gas, it costs £4.70 to heat an UK average home for a day using a gas boiler.

**Analysis of smart meter data from 4,190 customers who signed up to the electric blankets scheme carried out by Octopus Energy. Research carried out 20 April 2022 to 11 May 2022. Full analysis available.

Media contacts

Octopus Energy Group

Christina Hess

christina.hess@octoenergy.com

+44 (0)2045308369

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 13 countries, Octopus Energy Group is a British company driving global change.

Octopus’s domestic energy arm already serves 3.2 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 £3.4 billion 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 25 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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