A family’s home becomes its own power station

Clare Naylor used to keep the heating at 18C, with blankets and hot-water bottles close by. Now her family’s Milton Keynes home has joined an experiment offering five years without household energy bills.

Their 1980s house has been fitted with 17 solar panels, a heat pump and a large battery. Octopus Energy’s control software manages stored power and electricity exports, helping pay for the energy the household needs.

There are substantial hurdles. Santander paid for this test installation; a similar retrofit would normally cost just under £20,000 after the government grant. The tariff has a fair-use limit, and charging an electric car is billed separately.

The Naylors previously paid about £130 a month despite rationing warmth. Their first winter with the equipment will provide a fuller test of how it feels in practice.

For Clare, the change means being able to warm the house before her three children come home from school, instead of delaying the heating to keep costs down.

Sources

• The Guardian — The zero-bills home
• Octopus Energy — How Zero Bills homes work