Little_Miss_Tidy

My goodness you're a cynic, aren't you! Our total electricity import since August 2023 has been 2.5 MWh (which includes the fact that I run 3 kW kiln for my fused glass art). Of that, 1.2 MWh has been free. (I hadn't looked up that stat before - I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that nearly half our imported electricity has been free!) Some of it is not electricity we would otherwise have used - for example, we'll switch on the immersion heater during the free periods (which saves us some gas) - but that's rather hard to quantify so I haven't tried to factor in those savings. During that time, we've been on normal Octopus tariffs - there's no requirement to be on a special (more expensive) tariff to get access to the free periods (Power Ups, as they call them), they're just open to everyone. So while I agree they will at some point stop this scheme, for now it's a good thing. And since I also agree they're likely to replace it with another "incentive" (which may or may not deserve the inverted commas), I'm happy to "risk" not going for Zero Bills and assume I can do at least as well for myself without spending a fortune on an excessive number of solar panels. Anyway, I'll sign off now and leave you to your cynicism. I only came on here to give an update on my findings on the Zero Bills scheme, since that's why I'd started this thread in the first place.

Octopus do free electricity sometimes too - and it's genuinely free. Since they launched it in August 2023, we've had 109 sessions, usually 2-3 hours long. They only give less than 24 hours' notice but we've managed to use 1.2 MWh during those sessions (by charging the battery, shifting the washing machine and dishwasher to run in those windows, etc.). I think this sort of initiative is much more attractive to me than the prospect of installing an insanely large PV array!

I've been having a (very slow) conversation with Charlotte from Octopus over the last few months, so thought I'd post an update in case anyone is interested. She says the scheme is open to self-builders (not just big developers), though none had signed up when I asked. We're not going to be signing up either: having seen our SAP (for a 250 sqm house whose fabric will exceed building regs requirements) she says we'll need over 17 MWh/year PV capacity - which our budget will not stretch to, never mind that I don't think our roof is big enough! I also found out (by pure coincidence, due to an error by our energy assessor) that houses with electric showers are not eligible for Zero Bills. I don't know what other hidden rules they have - she'd never mentioned this to me before. But in general, what I had gleaned was this: The house has to have solar PV panels, a battery, a heat pump and no gas connection. The battery has to be an approved brand (there were five options when I spoke to her), because they will need to control it remotely. The heat pump and EV charger would ideally also be approved brands, but that’s not compulsory (you just have to install more solar panels and/or pay a higher EV tariff if you don’t use approved brands). The fair usage policy is calculated as double the expected annual electricity usage of an average similarly-sized house – and if you exceed it (their example was due to a hot tub), you’re charged at a fairly cheap rate and no standing charge. I was unable to ascertain whether this "average similarly-sized house" had electric or gas heating though... They specify the size of the solar PV array you need to install, based on the house plans and SAPs you submit to them for review. (And if you can’t fit enough on the roof, then you’re simply not eligible.)

Well, we were going to install PV, battery and heat pump anyway, so it's just a question of whether their requirements are any more expensive than we would otherwise have chosen. She showed me some powerpoint slides this morning (and was going to send me a copy, but hasn't yet) - they restrict you to 5 brands of battery, 2 brands of heat pump (but you can ignore that and "just" put more PV on the roof instead), and I think it was 3 brands of EV charger (which only applies if you want to take advantage of their EV charging tariff). It'll be a while before our plans are advanced enough to go through the full registration process, but when she sends me the slides I'll ask if I can share them here. Haha yes - I don't think the second time counts as serial but it's definitely catching!

I feel like I must be losing the plot here. Last time we built a house (~12 years ago), I had no trouble finding the info I needed to fill in the Water Efficiency Calculator for Part G. This time around, nobody seems to be advertising the flow rates for their taps any more. What am I missing??

Yes, the website does look like that - but I emailed to ask if self-builders were eligible and got a very enthusiastic reply and she set up a call with me to discuss it further (which we did this morning). So, I can confirm they're definitely happy to talk to self-builders! She said it's changing from 5 to 10 years, but was a bit hazy on the details. (I can't help wondering what the catch is, but then I'm naturally very cynical!)

Has anyone looked into this from a self-build perspective? I've just had a chat with them, and she says no self-builders have actually signed up yet (but they would accept them). I suspect there's a reason for that! Is it just that there are better tariffs out there, such that you can make an overall profit on your electricity if you get it right? I'm quite liking the 5 or 10 year guarantee aspect of it - other tariffs come and go, whereas this apparently offers a good degree of certainty.

I've bought a plot of land with planning permission for a single house. It used to have a bungalow on the site, but that was demolished a few years ago. As part of the planning application, they did soil surveys and found signs of lead contamination, requiring large amounts of the soil to be replaced and barriers installed. In the report from the specialist company, there's a mention of "land reclamation relief", stating that up to 150% of the cost of remediation works might be reclaimable through this scheme (in an effort to encourage the use of brownfield sites). But I've looked into it, and it seems to be relief from UK corporation tax, so only claimable if you pay that (which I, as a mere self-builder, don't). And it has to be claimed by the owner of the land - so it's not something the decontamination contractors would be able to claim and pass on the savings to me. (I guess there would be loads of companies offering this service for free if that were the case!) Is my understanding correct, or is there a way that self-builders can benefit from this relief?