Detached property, hosted by Matthew

We decided to install an air source heat pump as our boiler/thermal store system was getting old and we were keen to have a greener alternative, particularly with the government grant available to help towards the cost. We used Octopus for our install and I can recommend them very highly. The process was excellent from start to finish. 
After contacting Octopus to enquire about heat pumps they arranged for a site visit and survey where they were able to assess whether a heat pump would be suitable and what changes would need to be made to facilitate installation. This was all very straightforward with excellent communication from octopus. They were very flexible in terms of changes to heat pump location and other work that needed to be done to facilitate installation. 
There was a wait of approximately 3 months from agreeing to proceed to the work being started. 
Installation of the system took just over a week but was managed in a very organised and efficient way with minimum mess. It involved removal of our old heating system (gas boiler and thermal store), installation of an air source heat pump and hot water cylinder, and replacement of most of the radiators in the house (single rads replaced with doubles, all included in the install cost).  During installation we were without hot water for 4 days and without heating for 5 days!! This was a complex install and I think that this is probably longer than average. We were given a couple of electric heaters to use while the heating was off which was good as it was fairly chilly at the start of March!! Once completed the installers left no mess whatsoever and made a great job. 

We have only had the heat pump for a couple of weeks but it has been great so far. The house is warm all the time and there is plenty hot water. 
From a cost point of view it is currently working out a fair bit cheaper than running the gas boiler. Our electricity usage has gone up but we have solar and batteries and the increase in usage is less than I thought it would be and the savings from not using gas are certainly greater than the increased electric cost. In the spring, summer and early autumn I expect it will run pretty much for free with the solar and batteries. 
The bill for installing the heat pump system (including replacement of most of the radiators in the house and installing a new extra radiator) was £4200.