From his home in east Yorkshire, retired headteacher James Laing is a short drive away from Octopus Energy’s small wind turbine in the town of Market Weighton. When it’s spinning hard, he knows it’s a good time to put the washing machine on. 

The grandfather is among the first to have signed up to the company’s nascent “fan club”, which sells cheaper electricity when the wind is blowing hard to homes close to one of its wind turbines. 

Laing, who moved from Wiltshire in June with his wife, says they do not “obsess” over fitting in energy-intensive chores with windy weather, but thinks there is a benefit to renewable power that the club encourages. 

“Over the last 200 years since the industrial revolution we have seen ourselves as above nature,” he says. “I thought maybe it’s a way of stopping the pretence that we can be better than nature, and work with nature.”

Octopus’ plans, though at an early stage, mark an intriguing experiment in the roll-out of renewable energy and whether smaller projects that lead to cheaper bills locally are the way forward. So far the signs are positive, with Octopus reporting strong interest from communities around Britain, at a time of soaring energy bills.

It comes as, separately, some communities are clamouring for the new jobs that local large-scale low carbon energy projects can bring. 

Founded in 2015, Octopus has rapidly grown to supply gas and electricity to more than 3m homes through its retail arm and hit a valuation of almost $5bn (£3.7bn).

The private company is now pushing into electricity generation as well, and wants to spend about £4bn on introducing fan club projects around the world within the decade, about £2bn of which in the UK. 

It has two such wind turbines, in Market Weighton and in Caerphilly, Wales, while six more are already planned for this year, serving areas in Yorkshire, Wales, Norfolk and Suffolk.

Octopus’ expansion could mean around 1,000 turbines dotted in and around hundreds of communities throughout the UK, generating enough electricity for more than 1m homes. 

Supporting this appears to be a groundswell of local interest: Octopus says it has received 744 inquiries from areas interested in installing a wind turbine. 

The plans for smaller, more local energy supply and a more direct, immediate benefit to people come amid the shift to cleaner energy, at a critical time in its evolution.