Rapid growth energy supplier Octopus has entered the generation market with the purchase of two wind turbines.
The five year old business, now supplying purely renewable energy to almost two million UK homes, has acquired installations at Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, and Caerphilly, South Wales.
And to mark the additions, the Entech pioneer - described as a double unicorn having hit a £2 billion valuation - has revealed its ‘Fan Club’, the world’s first tariff that drops prices as wind speed rises.
It will be offered to communities close to the first turbine acquisitions, with more to come.
Zoisa Walton, director of Octopus Energy generation, said: “Octopus Energy’s first ever own brand turbines are now on the grid, and we’ve included the UK’s first windy tariff to boot - we halve the price of electricity whenever the turbine is spinning fast.
"This is the first step in a huge plan for Octopus owning its very own generation and offering local wind tariffs across the country. It means we can begin producing the clean, green power we provide to customers ourselves and incentivise customers to use energy when it’s the absolute greenest.
“By matching this generation with our proprietary agile technology, we’re unlocking exciting opportunities for the cheapest electrons to be the greenest. Local customers will be able to join the ‘fan club’ and get discount prices for windy days, helping out their pockets and the planet.”
It is operating in YO43, CF81 and NP24 postcodes.
The 73m turbines, named #1 Fan and #2 Fan, have 54m blades.
Backed by Octopus Group, a financial services and energy firm that manages more than £8.9 billion of funds, it has invested more than £3 billion in renewable assets across Europe, while its ventures arm has backed UK success stories like Zoopla, Depop, Secret Escapes and SwiftKey.
