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How I Negotiated a Better Deal on My Heat Pump Installation with Octopus Energy

 
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Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs)
Last Post by Johnmo 9 months ago
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 NJT
(@njt)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 9 months ago
Posts: 53
Topic starter 06/08/2024 11:29 am  

Morning all,

I've been around for the last few weeks trying to get my head around all the different terminology involved with heat pumps. 

I got a quote from Octopus after survey of £4100 to pay on our 4 bed 120sq/m house.(This compares to Heat Geeks £6400)

3 radiator replacement, a Daikin 8kw heat pump 210ltr cylinder, removal of gas boiler and meter in garage.

Cylinder going where boiler was in garage and heat pump directly behind garage wall as all pipework from gas boiler already there. 

Surveyor said it would need an easy job to install. 

I contacted Octopus to say it seems a bit expensive compared to other comparable Octopus 4 bed quotes I've seen posted elsewhere. 

After a few emails they reduced the price by £700, a few days later said there was an offer on so I could get another £500 off, also said to get an install code of the internet for another£ 100 off.

I've also managed to get another 2 radiators upgraded in the price.

So there is opportunity for discount if you push it. 

One thing reading on here though I tried to get removed was the buffer/volumiser, but no chance. They say it's part of the system and needs to be installed. 

I'm just waiting now for confirmation of an install date should I commit. 

I don't want the middle of winter so hopefully no later than October.

This topic was modified 9 months ago by NJT
This topic was modified 9 months ago 2 times by Mars

   
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Toodles
 Toodles
(@toodles)
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Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 1919
06/08/2024 12:03 pm  

At this rate, by the time you get an install date, Octopus will be paying you for the opportunity to install it in your property!😉  Toodles.

Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.


   
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 IvanOpinion
(@ivanopinion)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 72
06/08/2024 3:29 pm  

Posted by: @toodles
↑

At this rate, by the time you get an install date, Octopus will be paying you for the opportunity to install it in your property!😉  Toodles.

Although you are making a joke, it made me think about what would happen if Octopus could get the total price of the install below £7,500. The £7,500 BUS grant belongs to the householder, so the surplus BUS would presumably go to the householder.

 


   
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Majordennisbloodnok
 Majordennisbloodnok
(@majordennisbloodnok)
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Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 785
06/08/2024 4:14 pm  

I don’t think that’s quite correct. So far as I know, the grant money doesn’t “belong” to the householder; it’s merely paid to them for them to put to a predefined and narrow set of uses. Anything not used would therefore, I think, have to be returned. Whether the BUS scheme has a mechanism for doing that is a separate question.

 

This post was modified 9 months ago by Mars

105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs

"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"


   
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Mars
 Mars
(@editor)
Illustrious Member Admin
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3182
06/08/2024 4:38 pm  

@majordennisbloodnok I think you're correct. My understanding is that if the grant is not fully utilised (i.e., the installation costs are lower than the maximum grant amount), the unused portion of the grant does not get distributed to the homeowner or installer. It simply remains unclaimed. The BUS is designed to subsidise costs up to a specified limit, but it does not disburse funds beyond the actual installation costs.

Buy Bodge Buster – Homeowner Air Source Heat Pump Installation Guide: https://amzn.to/3NVndlU
From Zero to Heat Pump Hero: https://amzn.to/4bWkPFb

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast


   
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Mars
 Mars
(@editor)
Illustrious Member Admin
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3182
06/08/2024 4:41 pm  

Posted by: @njt
↑

One thing reading on here though I tried to get removed was the buffer/volumiser, but no chance. They say it's part of the system and needs to be installed. 

Welcome to the forums @njt – in quick response, a volumiser is fine, it's the buffer that's the potential issue. That said, a well-installed and balanced buffer can be efficient, but the problem is that installers don't do this properly and this leads to issues and higher running costs. 

I'll be very interested to hear your updates and see how things progress from installation to getting the unit running.

Having re-read your message, as you're below the BUS grant amount, why don't you consider going ahead with the Heat Geek and getting the installation guarantee?

 

This post was modified 9 months ago by Mars

Buy Bodge Buster – Homeowner Air Source Heat Pump Installation Guide: https://amzn.to/3NVndlU
From Zero to Heat Pump Hero: https://amzn.to/4bWkPFb

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast


   
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 NJT
(@njt)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 9 months ago
Posts: 53
Topic starter 06/08/2024 4:57 pm  

@editor 

Hi Mars, I could have made it clearer but the prices I initially gave were after the BUS amount, so Octopus £11600, Heat Geeks £13900. Oh and heat geeks quote was just off their website.

Update from Octopus, they say the buffet/volumiser is 1 unit, there's different ways to connect it up as to which ones it operates as. 

I requested the volumiser, the advisor said he'd never had that request put to him before and he'd have to get back to me.

This post was modified 9 months ago 2 times by NJT

   
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 Derek M
(@derek-m)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4429
06/08/2024 5:22 pm  

@editor

Does anyone think that the cost of an installation would ever be proposed less than £7500, while the grant remains at £7500?


   
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Toodles
 Toodles
(@toodles)
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Posts: 1919
06/08/2024 5:38 pm  

@derek-m Do Bears **** in the woods???!!!

Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.


   
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 IvanOpinion
(@ivanopinion)
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Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 72
06/08/2024 6:30 pm  

Posted by: @majordennisbloodnok
↑

I don’t think that’s quite correct. So far as I know, the grant money doesn’t “belong” to the householder; it’s merely paid to them for them to put to a predefined and narrow set of uses. Anything not used would therefore, I think, have to be returned. Whether the BUS scheme has a mechanism for doing that is a separate question.

 

I wasn't thinking it through. Of course the government isn't going to subsidise more than the cost of the ASHP.

 


   
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 IvanOpinion
(@ivanopinion)
Estimable Member Member
Joined: 1 year ago
Posts: 72
06/08/2024 6:33 pm  

Posted by: @derek-m
↑

@editor

Does anyone think that the cost of an installation would ever be proposed less than £7500, while the grant remains at £7500?

If it just saves money for the government, I'm sure no installer would ever bid lower than zero (net of the BUS).

 


   
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Mars
 Mars
(@editor)
Illustrious Member Admin
Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 3182
06/08/2024 8:44 pm  

@njt that occurred to me after I’d posted that your figures would have been after the BUS grant, but wasn’t near a computer.

Buy Bodge Buster – Homeowner Air Source Heat Pump Installation Guide: https://amzn.to/3NVndlU
From Zero to Heat Pump Hero: https://amzn.to/4bWkPFb

Subscribe and follow our Homeowners’ Q&A heat pump podcast


   
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