Neat Heat trial
Next on the list: sharing our insights
We’re no longer accepting new registrations for this trial as we’re now moving to the next exciting phase: gathering insights.
Meet the tepeo Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®)
The ZEB® is a low carbon alternative to a gas or oil boiler. It heats your home on demand, while lowering your carbon footprint¹.
Here’s what you get with our trial
- A tepeo Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®) worth up to £7,500 – UK Power Networks and tepeo will give it to you and install it for free²
- A special add-on that means you'll be charged lower rates for your electricity when charging your ZEB®³
Meet the tepeo Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®)
The ZEB® is a low carbon alternative to a gas or oil boiler. It heats your home on demand, while lowering your carbon footprint¹.
Here’s what you get with our trial
- A tepeo Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®) worth up to £7,500 – UK Power Networks and tepeo will give it to you and install it for free²
- A special add-on that means you'll be charged lower rates for your electricity when charging your ZEB®³
It’s smart
The ZEB® automatically works out when it needs to charge
It’s flexible
It works with any plan, and with add-ons like Neat Heat which give you a cheaper rate
You don’t need outdoor space
The ZEB® works perfectly in smaller homes – ideally ones that use between 3,000 and 12,000 kWhs per year for heating and hot water
There’s little disruption
It typically takes 1-2 days to install, and will work with your radiators and underfloor heating systems
Getting closer to zero carbon heating
Why we’re doing the trial
We’re working with tepeo and UK Power Networks to find out how we can get closer to zero carbon heating. If the trial’s successful, we’ll be able to roll out more clever ideas across the country. And help make the UK greener!
Goodbye gas boiler – make way for electric
We’re looking for up to 30 households in East and South East England to take part in our trial. If you join, we’ll switch your fossil fuel heating system for a free tepeo ZEB® – powered by electricity.
Other systems like heat pumps aren’t right for all homes. We want to see if the tepeo ZEB® can help shape the future of home heating on a bigger scale.
Getting closer to zero carbon heating
Why we’re doing the trial
We ’re working with tepeo and UK Power Networks to find out how we can get closer to zero carbon heating. If the trial’s successful, we’ll be able to roll out more clever ideas across the country. And help make the UK greener!
Goodbye gas boiler – make way for electric
We’re looking for up to 30 households in East and South East England to take part in our trial. If you join, we’ll switch your fossil fuel heating system for a free tepeo ZEB® – powered by electricity.
Other systems like heat pumps aren’t right for all homes. We want to see if the tepeo ZEB® can help shape the future of home heating on a bigger scale.
A pretty neat rate for charging your ZEB®
For this trial we’re giving you Neat Heat credits. It means you’ll pay just 12p per kWh when charging your ZEB® during the trial. That’s a lower rate than the rest of the energy in your home. Have a read of our FAQs below to see what’ll happen when the trial ends. How it works:
Step 1
Each month, we’ll charge you at your standard rate for your home electricity use
Step 2
We’ll then check how much electricity your ZEB® has used each month to charge
Step 3
We’ll add Neat Heat credits to your next bill – so you’ll have paid the lower rate for charging your ZEB®
Then you’re done – you can enjoy lower carbon heating with your fab new ZEB® and Neat Heat add-on!
For more details, check out our terms and conditions and privacy statement.
Who can take part
If you’re interested, you’ll need to meet certain criteria to be picked for the trial. These include:
- Being a homeowner in East or South East England
- Having a smart meter opted in to half hourly reads – or agreeing to having one installed with half hourly reads
- Being on our variable plan – Simpler Energy
- Having an internet connection
- Having a hot water cylinder
For all the eligibility criteria, please have a read of our trial terms.
Who can take part
If you’re interested, you’ll need to meet certain criteria to be picked for the trial. These include:
- Being a homeowner in East or South East England
- Having a smart meter opted in to half hourly reads – or agreeing to having one installed with half hourly reads
- Being on our variable plan – Simpler Energy
- Having an internet connection
- Having a hot water cylinder
For all the eligibility criteria, please have a read of our trial terms.
How the trial works
tepeo will be in touch throughout to check everything’s going smoothly with the ZEB®.
Step 1
Let us know you’re interested and fill out your info for our partner tepeo
Step 2
tepeo will do a remote survey to check you qualify for the trial. If you’re successful, they’ll do another survey at your home
Step 3
If you’re eligible and happy to join the trial, tepeo will pass your details back to us. We'll get in touch about adding Neat Heat credits to your plan
Step 4
If you need to upgrade your power supply to get ready for lower carbon heating, UK Power Networks will do it for free
Step 5
Once you’ve signed up to the trial, we’ll let the team at tepeo know. They’ll book you in for your ZEB® install
Our partners
This trial is in partnership with tepeo and UK Power Networks.
FAQs about the trial
UK Power Networks are funding the trial through the Ofgem Network Innovation Allowance. They want to find out if ZEB®s are a viable alternative to heat pumps. This will make sure the network can support customers on their journey to zero carbon, and no one gets left behind.
The trial will last 12 months from your install date. We might decide to extend the trial period to see what more we can learn. If so, we’ll let you know the new end date before the initial trial period is up. To find out more, have a read of our terms and conditions.
tepeo are a UK-based clean tech company who have developed a new form of low carbon heating. Their patented Zero Emission Boiler (ZEB®) technology is designed to change the way we heat our homes.
UK Power Networks own and maintain electricity cables and lines across London, the South East and East of England, making sure power flows reliably, safely, and securely. They're supporting the transition to net zero, facilitating renewable energy, and helping more and more customers connect electric cars and low carbon heating solutions to the network.
We’re not offering gas meter removals as part of the trial, but we can arrange for your meter to be removed. This would cost £106. Once removed, you’ll no longer have access to gas or pay a standing charge for your gas meter.
If you leave your gas meter connected, you’ll continue to pay your gas standing charge.
If you’d like to arrange for your gas meter to be disconnected, please call us on 0330 102 7423 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays). Or email us on [email protected].
You’ll keep the ZEB®, but tepeo have the right to charge you for it and any install costs. Have a read of tepeo’s trial terms and conditions. If you've got any questions on this, you can get in touch with tepeo directly at [email protected]
The ZEB® will be yours to keep! If you have any problems with the ZEB®, please reach out to tepeo directly. Your warranty covers the period that the trial runs. After this you can opt in to tepeo's monthly service plan, which currently costs £18 per month. This extends your warranty to 10 years, covering all servicing and routine maintenance. It’ll also give you automatic charging optimisation. This balances your plan, heat demand, and grid carbon intensity automatically, keeping your ZEB® charged up to the right level for your home. For more info please see tepeo’s T&Cs. At the end of the trial, we’ll stop applying Neat Heat credits to your account.
The ZEB® and the install are free. You’ll need to pay for your gas (if you use it elsewhere in the house, like when cooking) and electricity use as normal. The Neat Heat credits will help lower the running costs of the ZEB® during the trial.
If you decide to leave the trial before it ends, you might be charged for the cost of the ZEB® and the install. The same applies if it gets damaged. If you decide to move to a different type of heating system after tepeo have installed this for you, it’ll be at your own cost. Have a look at tepeo’s terms and conditions for more information.
Have a look at UK Power Networks’ area checker to see if you live in an eligible area.
We’ll check the data on how much electricity your ZEB® is using to let us apply your Neat Heat credits. Your ZEB® will automatically charge at the greenest and cheapest times of day to meet your heat demand. This charging is covered by your Neat Heat credits. You can also boost your ZEB® by pressing a button on the control box. Each boost will charge the ZEB® for 30 minutes and give you about another 4.5 kWhs. With the Neat Heat add-on, you get 1 boost charge per day at the reduced rate of 12p per kWh. Any further boosts will be charged at your standard unit rate. But the ZEB® charges to meet your heat demand automatically so boosts shouldn't be needed day to day. We'll track how much electricity has been delivered from the ZEB®’s smart charging compared with manual boost-charging. We’ll only use any data we get from the trial in line with OVO’s privacy policy. To find out more, please see our terms and conditions.
If you’ve got a problem with your plan or Neat Heat credits, please get in touch with us on [email protected]
If you’ve got a problem with your ZEB®, please email tepeo at [email protected]
If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to call us on 0330 102 7423 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays). Or email us on [email protected]
FAQs about the ZEB®
This depends on your plan and heating demand. You can check tepeo’s cost and carbon calculator here to see if a ZEB® could be cheaper to run than your current boiler. With your Neat Heat credits, you can charge your ZEB® at a cheaper 12p per kWh rate. This means your heating bills shouldn’t go up while you're on the trial, when compared to a typical fossil fuel boiler using <12,000 kWh per year. This depends on your home and heating use – running cost estimates are for guidance only. They aren’t a guarantee of the cost to run your ZEB®. When the trial ends and you’re no longer getting Neat Heat credits, you might find that your ZEB® is more expensive to run than a traditional boiler. But you can change your plan to best suit the ZEB® if you need to.
No. Even though you’re switching to electric heating with the ZEB®, it won’t make any difference to your heating or hot water.
Your warranty covers the period that the trial runs. After this you can opt in to tepeo's monthly service plan, which currently costs £18 per month. This extends your warranty to 10 years, covering all servicing and routine maintenance. It’ll also give you automatic charging optimisation. This balances your plan, heat demand, and grid carbon intensity automatically, keeping your ZEB® charged up to the right level for your home.
For more info please see tepeo’s T&Cs.
tepeo will manage the install, which should take up to 2 days – this includes delivery, electrics, and plumbing. They’ll also manage the surveying process. This includes giving you an idea of timings, and what to expect for your home and on the day. If you'd like to know more about the install process before registering your interest, you can contact the tepeo team at [email protected]
Electric heating elements heat a very dense and insulated storage core. When the thermostat asks for heat, air is circulated around a closed loop system within the ZEB®. The air picks up heat from the core and then transfers it to a heat exchanger with the central heating water running through it. This delivers heat to your space heating and hot water system like your current boiler. Please note that the current version of the ZEB® available for this trial isn’t a ‘combi’ boiler. So it needs a hot water cylinder too.
Learn more about how it works on the tepeo blog.
It can supply any temperature up to 80°C. Your current boiler won’t be higher than this so you won’t notice any difference.
It converts 100% of its electricity consumption into heat, which is then used to heat your home. For more on this, visit tepeo.com/faq
It takes 4 hours from when it’s empty. From cold, it can deliver heating and hot water after half an hour.
tepeo have designed the ZEB® to last over 20 years, with limited routine maintenance. Their monitoring systems will tell them if your ZEB® needs any TLC.
You can boost your ZEB® by pressing a button on the control box. Each boost will charge the ZEB® for 30 minutes and give you about another 4.5 kWh. With the Neat Heat add-on, you get 1 boost charge per day at the reduced rate of 12p per kWh. Any further boosts will be charged at your standard unit rate.
The ZEB® is due to work with rooftop solar panels from spring 2023. From that time, the ZEB® will automatically store the excess electricity your panels produce, giving you even more control over your energy. You might need to buy a current transformer (CT) clamp or consumer access device (CAD) from tepeo. They’ll confirm the process once it’s available.
FAQs about your plan and Neat Heat credits
Your Neat Heat credit won’t affect your Direct Debit at all.
Your credit will be applied to your energy account in the first week of each month. They’ll appear under the heading Neat Heat Credit on your monthly OVO Energy bill for the most recent whole month period. For example, if you get your bill on 20 September, it will include your Neat Heat Credit from the month of August. Please check out our T&Cs for an example of how this will look on your bill.
If you think the calculations of your Neat Heat credits are wrong, please email [email protected] with any evidence to support this. Please be aware that OVO Energy isn't responsible for the data supplied by your ZEB®. If you have any issues with accuracy, you might need to contact tepeo directly. During the trial, you’re responsible for making sure your ZEB® stays connected to the internet. This is needed for the ZEB® to send over its electricity consumption data.
Check out these important T&Cs
Please read tepeo’s terms for the ZEB® supply and install, and OVO’s terms for the Neat Heat add-on.
¹ By switching from a gas boiler to a ZEB®, you’ll cut gas consumption and reduce your carbon footprint. tepeo also tries to make sure your ZEB® charges when the grid is likely to be greener.
² A standard install is free of charge. For non-standard installs, tepeo might make extra charges. They’ll let you know if there’ll be any extra charges after your home survey. tepeo will be responsible for supplying and installing the ZEB®. Please see their terms and conditions for more information.
³ Please see our Neat Heat credits terms and conditions for more information. You’ll be redirected to tepeo's website to sign up to the trial. Once your surveys are complete, tepeo will refer you back to us. Then we can add your Neat Heat credits and tepeo will book you in for the ZEB® install.
* Customers could cut their carbon emissions by 40%: based on tepeo’s field trials run through winter 2020-2022.