'We thought it was too good to be true' say couple with no energy bills for next five years

'We thought it was too good to be true' say couple with no energy bills for next five years Monica Wilson and her partner Rob have moved into a ground-breaking housing development that shields them from energy price hikes As households across Britain agonise over how they will afford to heat their homes this winter, one couple won’t have the same worry – as they’ll be paying nothing. And not just this winter. Indeed, Monica Wilson and her partner Rob won’t have the burden of shelling out for energy for at least the next five years. Carpenters Yard is the UK’s largest development to offer zero-energy bills in partnership with energy provider Octopus. And Octopus Energy is aiming to deliver 100,000 such zero bills homes by 2030. Monica, 32, who works in communications, says she and Rob, 36, used to pay £1,300 a year for their gas and electricity bills when they lived in a three-bedroom flat he owned in nearby Witham. “It was freezing,” she recalls. “It was a horrifically cold flat. I would say, ‘You have to turn the heating up,’ and he’d say, ‘No way’.” But there will be no chance of thermostat wars in the new pad in Epping, for which the couple paid £650,000. Monica admits she was sceptical: “Initially I thought it was almost too good to be true – I thought there must be a catch. But it’s great to know that, when energy prices go up, it won’t affect us for five years.” Given what they were paying on the previous flat, and without even taking into account price rises, they will be saving around £6,500 over that time. That saving could come in especially handy if they have to shell out more on their mortgage, as they have locked into a two-year fixed-rate deal. “The idea is, for the first few months, we are finding our feet and finishing the house,” Monica explains. “But we will be working towards saving and putting money aside for a wedding.” The savings for Monica and Rob and others come as regulator Ofgem’s price cap has just risen by 4% to £1,723 a year for a typical dual fuel customer. The cap is forecast to jump in January by around 16% taking an average bill to about £2,000 a year. The Carpenters Yard development is different in other ways, as it features shared allotments, a fitness centre, a community café, and even a yoga deck. It also has an electric car club for residents, run with Polestar, and an e-bike scheme with Volt. As well as the 78 private properties, there are 35 affordable homes, 20 are for affordable rent and 15 for shared ownership. The timber-frame homes are said to be 15 times more efficient than the UK standard for airtightness, with triple glazing and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. The interiors feature worktops made from 100% recycled glass and bathroom walls from recycled plastics. The scheme was also built with no skips on site and no waste to landfill.