Octopus Energy advert banned for misleading price claims – UKTN

An online advert for Octopus Energy has been removed by regulators over concerns it was misleading consumers about the price of its services.

The ad in question, first seen via Facebook in September 2024, included text reading “installs from £500″ and “Heat Pump & Install From As Little As £500”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received complaints, including from the Energy and Utilities Alliance, which challenged whether this claim could be substantiated and if the ad omitted important pricing information.

Octopus Energy’s pricing model by its own admission is “complex”, pulling in data from many sources such as a property’s Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), property type, total floor area, and property features; energy consumption and patterns based on previous home surveys and installations.

The ASA concluded that the claim would be acceptable if a significant proportion of consumers could purchase a heat pump and have it installed by Octopus for £500.

However, after looking into sales data around the time the ad appeared, only 5.8% of heat pump sales met the pricing criteria.

“In the preceding months for which Octopus Energy held data, less than 5.8% of sales made had been at or below the claimed price,” the ASA added.

Octopus argued it had established that 10% of UK homes would be able to achieve the claimed price, but the ASA said that because not all UK homes were eligable for government grants required to meet the price, the fact that the Octopus Energy pricing model included “only quotes provided to houses that would qualify for the funding, reduced the proportion of consumers who could achieve the claimed, inclusive price”.

The ad was therefore banned and Octopus was told to ensure any claimed prices were based on “suitably robust evidence”.

“We further told them to ensure ads making price claims for heat pump installation included all material information, including clarification of any government grant included in the advertised price, and the existence of eligibility criteria,” said the ASA.

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