A major energy supplier is offering free electric blankets to help customers keep their bills down.
Octopus Energy is gifting the cosy blankets to some of its 3.1 million customers as energy prices for the average household hiked from £1,971 to £2,500 per year on October 1.
Electric blankets can offer a cheaper alternative to keeping warm rather than switching on the central heating, which now comes at a premium.
From Monday, Octopus Energy customers will be invited to fill in an online form to apply for the blanket - the company is offering 10,000 of the items to those most in need. This will likely include the elderly and those with medical conditions that require them to keep warm.
Those who don't qualify for the electric blanket will be able to apply for one of the supplier's 50% discount codes for a Dreamland electric blanket and mattress topper - 5,000 of which are available.
Octopus Energy ran a similar scheme last year giving away 8,000 blankets to those who needed them. The free blankets helped reduce the average customer’s bill by 19 per cent, the energy firm said.
Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy, said: "Octopus is doing everything we can to help customers through the crisis."
"Our electric blankets scheme was just one of the measures we’ve taken to help."
Ms Dibb-Simkin said that heating an individual rather than a whole home "can save hundreds off a customer’s bill" and that they "hope these blankets can be a real difference maker".
In its latest energy-saving offering, the National Grid has launched the 'Demand Flexibility Service' which rewards customers with cash payments for either reducing or turning off their energy consumption at peak times.
It has been developed to give ESO - the electricity system operator for Great Britain - greater reserves so that it can supply the energy required to prevent blackouts at various pinch points in the winter months.
