Skip to content
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, while 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 with 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.
‘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.’REBECCA DIBB-SIMKIN
Chief product and marketing officer at Octopus Energy Group
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 making free blankets available to 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.
Sorry we don't have any suggested related content at the moment. Please check back later.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Weekly ethical news, offers, comps and a free digital mag (quarterly) – what’s not to love?
