Octopus Energy pays UK households nearly £100m for spare solar power as heatwaves drive 34% surge in solar installation demand

Thousands of UK households are turning sunshine into extra income, with Octopus Energy revealing that its customers have collectively earned almost £100 million by selling surplus solar power back to the grid over the past year.

The figures come as demand for residential solar continues to climb during the summer months, while climate campaigners are simultaneously urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham to take stronger action over the UK's increasingly severe heatwaves, wildfires and drought.

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Octopus Energy households earn nearly £100m from solar power

More than 400,000 households are now signed up to Octopus Energy's export tariffs, allowing homeowners with solar panels to sell electricity they generate but do not use back to the national grid.

According to Octopus Energy, those households have exported around 825 GWh of electricity over the past 12 months.

The energy company, which serves households in cities including Birmingham, says it has paid customers an average of £244 per home for the surplus electricity they have generated.

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The development highlights how rooftop solar is increasingly being viewed not only as a way to reduce household reliance on traditional energy sources, but also as a potential source of additional income.

For homeowners already considering solar panels, the prospect of earning money from unused electricity could make the investment even more attractive.

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Heatwave drives surge in solar enquiries

The interest in solar energy appears to have accelerated during the recent heatwave period. Octopus Energy said that almost 74,000 people enquired about installing solar panels with the company during May, June and July.

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That represents a 34% increase compared with the same period last year. The surge comes as households experience hotter summers and growing awareness of energy costs, while concerns about climate change continue to influence decisions about home energy.

Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Octopus, said: “Over 400,000 UK households on Octopus tariffs are already generating their own clean energy, and that number just keeps climbing.

“The more we make use of our homegrown green energy sources, the less we rely on fossil fuels, and the more secure our energy system becomes."

The company says the growing number of homes generating their own electricity could also contribute to a more flexible energy system, particularly as households increasingly adopt technologies such as batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicles.

Climate groups call on Andy Burnham to address UK heatwaves

While households are increasingly looking towards renewable energy, climate campaigners are calling for stronger political action in response to extreme weather.

Hannah Martin, a co-director of Green New Deal Rising who coordinated the letter, has written to Labour Party Prime Minister Andy Burnham about the UK's heatwaves. Martin criticised the government's response to increasingly visible signs of climate disruption.

She said: “It’s barely believable as wildfires sweep the nation and drought sweeps across the country. If you can’t name the problem, how will the British public trust you to come up with the solution?”

The comments come as campaign groups push for the government to more directly acknowledge the relationship between climate change and extreme weather.

Climate campaigners demand clearer action

The climate organisations behind the letter praised statements they said had previously demonstrated a clear position on the climate crisis, but urged Burnham to bring the same approach to his role as prime minister.

They add: “We applaud these statements, and we urge you to command the same clarity of position demonstrated in your mayoral leadership, in your position now as prime minister. That means publicly recognising the scale of the crisis, naming its cause, and using your position to tackle this grave threat to our lives and livelihoods now and the lives of our children and grandchildren in the future.”

The campaigners' intervention puts the UK's response to extreme weather at the centre of the political debate at a time when households are also increasingly looking for practical ways to reduce their exposure to conventional energy costs.

Calls to stop new oil and gas drilling

Robert Palmer, the deputy director of campaign group Uplift, said Burnham needed to respond to the climate crisis with urgent measures.

“He must take urgent steps to deal with the problem, including stopping major new oil and gas drilling such as the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields," he said. "Scientists could not be clearer that more drilling will wreck our planet and perpetuate this extreme weather.

"The prime minister needs to look out of the window and protect the country.” The comments underline the growing divide between calls for continued investment in domestic oil and gas production and demands for a faster transition towards renewable energy.

Solar power puts households at the centre of the energy transition

For homeowners, however, the growing popularity of solar power represents a more immediate way to participate in the UK's shift towards cleaner energy.

Octopus Energy's figures suggest that hundreds of thousands of households are already doing more than simply generating electricity for their own homes. Through export tariffs, they can send unused solar power back to the grid and receive payments in return.

With nearly £100 million paid out over the past year, the trend is becoming financially significant as well as environmentally relevant.

The sharp increase in solar enquiries during May, June and July also suggests that interest could continue to grow as households look for ways to make use of abundant summer sunshine.

As heatwaves, drought and wildfires continue to fuel debate about the UK's climate future, the rise of household solar offers a striking contrast: the same hot, sunny weather raising concerns about extreme heat is also encouraging more families to generate their own clean electricity.