Octopus Heat Pump install - check if previously told not available in your area.

wrf12345

Checked about six months ago, I think, and not available in my area but was told they would get in contact when it was... just checked and Cosy 6 is now available, albeit at 4.5k, refundable deposit is £200, think it was £500 before. Not viable for me, alas, but others may be tempted - ch combi boiler install four or five years ago was £1250 by way of contrast and lower end gas boilers have fallen in price since then. The other quote I got a few months ago was 8k-ish, I think, for three bed bungalow in South Devon. Seem more like London prices, to me. Local F-gas engineer supply and fit a single air to air heat pump (similar to air-conditioner) was around £800 to suit large lounge (some are quoting a grand just to fit something), which is really all I need. So some prices are up, others are down. Interesting times! My winter project is moving the bathrooms to the side of the house and knocking out some internal walls to max out the gain from the south of the residence, so will wait until that is finished until deciding what to do re. heating. At least the building work will keep me warm.

km1500

I got a quote a couple of weeks ago 200 deposit and about 2,800 to install (10 rads semi)

7 days between applying and survey being done

chaoszone

Octopus pricing is very misleading. I asked for a quote for a 3 bed semi (7 rads semi) and it was £7000 After doing my maths at 400% efficiency it worked out that it would mean it would take 32 years before break even disregarding repairs taking into account my boiler is Opentherm. Like other suppliers have said I can't see them switching off the gas anytime soon unless they come up with a drastic plan of lowering installation and running cost. There's plenty of installers that do a free survey without having to commit  £200 deposit. Some Heat Geek qualified. When I did a bit more digging I found out that a lot of their products tie you to them and lacks cross compatibility. It seems that you have to be very careful with their misleading Ad.

smallblueplanet

chaoszone said:

Octopus pricing is very misleading. I asked for a quote for a 3 bed semi (7 rads semi) and it was £7000 After doing my maths at 400% efficiency it worked out that it would mean it would take 32 years before break even disregarding repairs taking into account my boiler is Opentherm. Like other suppliers have said I can't see them switching off the gas anytime soon unless they come up with a drastic plan of lowering installation and running cost. There's plenty of installers that do a free survey without having to commit  £200 deposit. Some Heat Geek qualified. When I did a bit more digging I found out that a lot of their products tie you to them and lacks cross compatibility. It seems that you have to be very careful with their misleading Ad.

Misleading? Go on then specify.

Spies

Why does an ASHP have a payback time, did your gas boiler?

wrf12345

Both solar and heat pumps quotes are high, I suspect with Octopus it is down to overcharging so they can then use the excess money to offer free installs for those on benefits, etc - a curious crossover from being a capitalist organisation to a socialist one but I guess it is slightly more efficient than paying excess tax to the government who then funnel the money through various agencies and councils to the same welfare crowd. A bit annoying if you pay huge amounts of tax to actually get some money to spend on your property and then effectively have that same money plundered a second time to help out a sector of society who you thought you had already helped out.

wrf12345

"Why does an ASHP have a payback time, did your gas boiler?" I think he meant how long the cost difference between the two takes to pay back over time.

smallblueplanet

wrf12345 said:

Both solar and heat pumps quotes are high, I suspect with Octopus it is down to overcharging so they can then use the excess money to offer free installs for those on benefits, etc - a curious crossover from being a capitalist organisation to a socialist one but I guess it is slightly more efficient than paying excess tax to the government who then funnel the money through various agencies and councils to the same welfare crowd. A bit annoying if you pay huge amounts of tax to actually get some money to spend on your property and then effectively have that same money plundered a second time to help out a sector of society who you thought you had already helped out.

Do you have proof of this 'accusation' as you are using it?

Spies

My install was a little over £1000 in the end, so it would have been silly not to

Nick_Dr1

I'm not on benefits and mine cost just over £1000!
I don't believe there is a payback period for heatpumps. Its not about saving money, its about heating your house. If you need a new heating system, then you should do your own cost analysis and this will involve install, running and time to replacement (depreciation) as well as social issues such as climate protection, noise, space etc.
The calculations will be different for everyone and will change with the wind as predicating energy prices for 20 years is a fools game.
My oil boiler had been very reliable but was 26 years old. It was going to fail eventually and spares could have been tricky to source. The rules for oil keep changing and so if the oil tank needed replacing (which it really did) it would need re-siting to comply with the new rules. Access was difficult, so it would need craning in over the house.
We are not on mains gas so it was oil or electricity. £10,000+ for a new oil system (remove old tank, fit new tank and replace boiler) or £1000 for a complete new heat pump system with new radiators and hot water tank.
So in my situation it was a very easy decision - go for heat pump now before the boiler failed, at very little extra cost. Couple this with the intelligent tariffs for electricity and the solar system we already had and the whole thing is a no-brainer.

However if you are on gas and have a relatively new boiler, the equation is a bit different and it may not be sensible to change at this time. Depends on your view of what gas prices are going to do in the next few years. They can go up dramatically as we saw a couple of years ago. Solar panels then pay for  themselves very quickly if your whole house is electric!

Gas will not be switched off any time soon, but may get more expensive. Note we are not far away from having our first days of electricity being completely supplied by renewables, and the grid on average is reducing its dependence on gas on average every day. Note that is is not unusual for Octopus customers to be PAID for using electricity! When the energy price market in the UK is reformed and the price of electricity is decoupled from the wholesale price of gas there will be a big difference between gas and electricity and the rush to electricity will be huge. Expect installation prices to rise then! I notice today that Russia has cut off gas supplies to Austria. Markets being what they are this may have an impact over here if it continues.

wrf12345

May be worth getting a new quote every month or so, Octopus may be ramping up in certain areas at certain times, who knows?