@lucia Octopus / Heat Geek seem to be making great strides at the moment; I imagine that this move should bolster confidence in many people going through the survey stage to have a heat pump fitted should they have been teetering on the fence. Octopus seem to have reduced the cost to affordable levels for a lot more people than say would have been the case a year ago. Are the waiting lists going to extend and extend I wonder? Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @lucia

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Octopus has just announced they've partnered up with Heat Geek  for ASHP installations...

I wonder if customers get the Heat Geek guarantee? 🤔

I would think so. It sounds like Octopus are just making an introduction, so I'm guessing customers just get quoted the same as if the customer came through the HG website. It will be interesting to see if this works. In my case, Octopus quoted £500 and HG quoted £10,500 (both net of BUS). I doubt many people who are lured in by Octopus's pricing will pay an extra £10k when Octopus turn them down.

 

Posted by: @toodles

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@lucia Octopus / Heat Geek seem to be making great strides at the moment; I imagine that this move should bolster confidence in many people going through the survey stage to have a heat pump fitted should they have been teetering on the fence. Octopus seem to have reduced the cost to affordable levels for a lot more people than say would have been the case a year ago. Are the waiting lists going to extend and extend I wonder? Regards, Toodles.

They're revving up to get their in-house machine on the go I suspect. People like us in ASHP forums are not really their target audience - relatively speaking, we're the geeks! 😁

Octopus are aiming at the mass market who want plug-and-play and don't want any hassle.

Heat Geek theoretically extend OE's geographical reach but there's a shortage of qualified installers whoever they are.. In the past this would've been a perfect tech college City & Guilds course but alas, not any more. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

 

Posted by: @ivanopinion

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Posted by: @lucia

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Octopus has just announced they've partnered up with Heat Geek  for ASHP installations...

I wonder if customers get the Heat Geek guarantee? 🤔

I would think so. It sounds like Octopus are just making an introduction, so I'm guessing customers just get quoted the same as if the customer came through the HG website. It will be interesting to see if this works. In my case, Octopus quoted £500 and HG quoted £10,500 (both net of BUS). I doubt many people who are lured in by Octopus's pricing will pay an extra £10k when Octopus turn them down.

 

Yes, HG installers pay a lot for their training & branding. They're in a seller's market so they get the $$$. I certainly couldn't afford them. 

Octopus don't charge for their survey but HG do although it's deductible off the installation cost but I'm not sure what happens in terms of this Octopus alliance. 

 

Posted by: @lucia

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not sure what happens in terms of this Octopus allianc

Are they just getting design input? Let's simplify the design to the bare minimum, ASHP controller, WC enabled, one over heat thermostat and a big coil cylinder and a diverter valve. Heat Geek have also developed or are, a tool to scan the house via a walk around with an iPad or similar, input some insulation values. Room sizes and volumes all calculate themselves from the scan, 3D image of house available, outputs min radiator sizes and heat pump sizing etc. it should also be able to spit out the WC you require.

Posted by: @Anonymous

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Are they just getting design input?

My impression is that Octopus are just going to tell the customer "Sorry, you don't fit our criteria, but here are the details of a company who might be able to help you". Then the other company quotes as normal. Perhaps Octopus get a commission from the other company for any sales made. Or perhaps the other company just agrees to promote Octopus's smart tariffs? But I'm just guessing.

 

Posted by: @ivanopinion

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Posted by: @Anonymous

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Are they just getting design input?

My impression is that Octopus are just going to tell the customer "Sorry, you don't fit our criteria, but here are the details of a company who might be able to help you". Then the other company quotes as normal. Perhaps Octopus get a commission from the other company for any sales made. Or perhaps the other company just agrees to promote Octopus's smart tariffs? But I'm just guessing.

 

sounds very negative. But would suspect Octopus will want the easy 80% instead of the difficult 20% of properties. Not every property is an easy fit for an ASHP. A very simplified design is cheaper to install, run and ultimately better all round. Less likely to be messed with by people generally, there is way less to mess with.

 

Posted by: @Anonymous

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Posted by: @lucia

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not sure what happens in terms of this Octopus allianc

Are they just getting design input? Let's simplify the design to the bare minimum, ASHP controller, WC enabled, one over heat thermostat and a big coil cylinder and a diverter valve. Heat Geek have also developed or are, a tool to scan the house via a walk around with an iPad or similar, input some insulation values. Room sizes and volumes all calculate themselves from the scan, 3D image of house available, outputs min radiator sizes and heat pump sizing etc. it should also be able to spit out the WC you require.

I asked today, no one knows the details yet except to say there's a major shortage of decent heat pump installers in some areas.

We were trying to figure out how Heat Geek could integrate with Octopus - some Octopus installers are also Heat-Geek trained - but HG's processes are different. Octopus in-house training is much more 'hands-on' - the guys I spoke to really rate it. 

I think it's one of those 'all will be revealed in the fullness of time scenarios'. 😁

 

@lucia I had a good meeting with HG this week. They are genuinely trying to put systems in place to improve heat pump installations and they’ve developed some handy tools for their certified installers, and there are some interesting developments happening. Consumers also get Heat Geek’s guarantee which gives them more recourse than MCS’s empty promises. 

https://upgrades.heatgeek.com/c/rhh

I got a quote via the Heat Geek upgrades scheme, the guarantee was a factor in doing that vs just contacting an installer off the heat geek map. 

@gunboatdiplomat interesting. And did you get quotes?

Posted by: @editor

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I had a good meeting with HG this week. They are genuinely trying to put systems in place to improve heat pump installations and they’ve developed some handy tools for their certified installers, and there are some interesting developments happening. Consumers also get Heat Geek’s guarantee which gives them more recourse than MCS’s empty promises. 

That sounds positive. I'm really interested to hear what they come up with. 

However, Octopus seem to already be pretty good with the after service. On Heatpump Monitor there's at least 2 people who got pump changes because of oversizing and my lead installer said that if their system design didn't achieve what I needed they'd upgrade more radiators further down the line. Plus their annual service deal at £100 a year is ace. 

If only Octopus had partnered up with Vaillant... 

Britain needs to really invest in training because my suspicion is that lack of good installers is one big reason why install prices are so high. Bring back the local tech and City & Guilds!