A vetted Octopus installer who fits the kit himself

Ashley is an Octopus Energy Trusted Partner. That's not a marketing label - Octopus vet partners they refer customers to. He's also a 20+ year electrician who personally surveys, designs, installs and commissions every battery system. The installer Octopus would point you at is the installer fitting the battery and configuring the tariff integration.

For a battery-on-cheap-tariff setup, that combination matters: the savings depend on the battery being correctly sized and the tariff integration being configured properly, and that's an electrical engineering problem, not a sales pitch.

Save on bills with a battery and Octopus Go - no solar required

Most people think of home batteries as something that goes with solar panels. They don't have to. A home battery on its own, charging during cheap off-peak hours and powering your home through the day, can deliver significant savings even without a single solar panel on the roof.

How Octopus Go works

Octopus Go gives you a low overnight rate for 5 hours every night (the off-peak window) and a standard rate the rest of the day. Your battery automatically charges during the cheap window and powers your home outside it, so you're using cheap stored electricity instead of buying expensive peak-rate power.

To use it you need:

• An Octopus Energy account
• A compatible smart meter (SMETS2 or certain SMETS1 models)
• A home battery sized to your usage

(Octopus Go's window length and eligibility rules are taken from Octopus's own published page; the exact tariff rates change over time so Ashley will always confirm what's current as part of your consultation.)

How much you can save

Off-peak electricity prices can be as little as one third the price of peak rates. A properly sized battery means most of your daily electricity comes from cheap overnight charging instead of expensive peak-rate power.

The exact savings depend on your usage pattern, your battery size and the tariff rates at the time, but the principle is simple: the bigger the gap between off-peak and peak prices, the more a battery saves you. With the way energy prices have moved over recent years, that gap has been substantial.

Real customer feedback

One of Ashley's Prestwich customers running a 6kWh Solax battery system put it like this:

"During summer this new solar and battery system means our electricity bills are close to zero. In fact, in some months we sent enough electricity back to the grid that we ended up in credit with our supplier! In winter the days are shorter and so the panels don't generate enough to cover the whole day, but that's fine because we still save a tonne of money by charging the battery overnight."

The "save a tonne of money by charging the battery overnight" half of that story is the same regardless of whether you have solar - that's the Octopus Go battery case in one sentence.

Battery brands Ashley fits

• Solax - reliable systems with good smart integration; Ashley is a Solax-approved installer
• AlphaESS - good performance and monitoring; Ashley is an AlphaESS-listed installer

His battery systems range from 6kWh upwards depending on your home's energy usage. During the free consultation he'll look at your actual electricity bills and recommend a suitable battery size.

Smart features

Battery systems Ashley installs can:

• Schedule charging during the cheapest electricity periods - automatically and reliably
• Leave capacity for solar top-ups - if you do add solar later
• Monitor energy usage and savings in real time - app-based control
• Sell excess stored energy back via Smart Export Guarantee - he provides all the documentation needed

Adding solar later

If you start with a battery only and add solar down the line, that works. Your battery will do double-duty: still charging on cheap overnight rates in winter, and storing solar surplus in summer. Ashley designs battery installs to be solar-ready, so retrofitting panels later is straightforward.

Why hire Ashley specifically

• Octopus-vetted. Octopus refers customers to him because they trust the work.
• Battery sizing by an electrician, not a salesperson. You won't be visited by a salesperson - the person on the survey is the person installing it.
• 20+ years on the wiring side before solar. He knows what loads to size for and how to configure the tariff integration.
• Aftercare from the same person. When the app behaves oddly in five years' time, the person who set it up is the one who'll come out.

He's also seen the failure modes: other installers recommend batteries in unsuitable locations like lofts, which contradicts NAPIT safety guidelines. Ashley won't.

Installation process

1. Free survey & consultation

Ashley assesses your property's electrical system and discusses your energy usage patterns to recommend the right battery solution.

2. Flexible installation

Batteries can be installed in various locations. He's fitted systems next to driveways, in garages, and other suitable spaces with minimal disruption.

3. Professional commissioning

All installations are tested and commissioned to the highest safety standards with full electrical certification provided.

4. Smart setup

He configures your system for optimal performance with your chosen tariff and any existing solar panels or planned future installations.

Credentials

• Octopus Energy Trusted Partner
• MCS-certified (NAP-66870)
• NAPIT Registered (66870)
• TrustMark Registered
• 20+ years' experience as an electrician
• 9.85/10 on Checkatrade from 105+ verified reviews
• 5-year minimum warranty on all equipment
• 2 years routine maintenance included on every installation

Coverage

Based in Prestwich, Ashley installs battery systems set up for Octopus Go across Greater Manchester and the wider North West.

Contact Ashley for a free home battery consultation and quote.