Taking control of rising energy bills

Katie Plumstead, Group Marketing Manager with Scolmore Group company, ESP, takes a look at the recent government announcement to help stem the energy bills crisis and its implication for householders.

The government recently announced a limit on energy bill rises for all households for two years, as the new prime minister tries to stem the energy bills crisis and prevent widespread hardship. A typical household energy bill will be capped at £2,500 annually until 2024. Businesses will also get help, with prices capped for six months, a shorter period of protection than many had hoped for. The help will be for everyone in England, Scotland and Wales with equivalent assistance for Northern Ireland.

The energy price cap – the highest amount suppliers are allowed to charge households for every unit of energy they use – had been due to rise to £3,549 for a typical household from October. To limit the amount customers’ bills go up by, the unit price will be capped, although household energy bills will vary according to how much gas and electricity they use.

Despite the government’s announcement and intervention, there are concerns that the measures are not targeted enough, with no additional support for the most vulnerable. As a result, millions are still expected to be in fuel poverty this winter.

Householders are continuing to look at ways to reduce their energy consumption to help combat rising bills. Understanding how their heating system is performing and how they can make small changes to improve its efficiency is one consideration. Research shows that few people really understand their heating controls and many simply just don’t use them. This is where installers, supported by manufacturers and wholesalers, can play a part in advising and educating consumers on the best products for their circumstances and how to use them.

Modern controls are designed to allow you get the best energy efficiency possible from the heating system. Look out for those with TPI (Time Proportional and Integral) control – a feature in room thermostats that ensures the boiler fires for the shortest possible time in order to reach and maintain a room at the comfort level selected and thus optimise heating efficiency.

With a tamper-proof thermostat the ‘temperature set’ dial is hidden away, and the set temperature can be maintained without interference. This is particularly advantageous for landlords or where the thermostat is installed in public areas. If a thermostat is set unnecessarily high, this will lead to uncomfortable temperatures and higher than necessary bills.

For some systems, immersion heaters are used. A metal element heats up a water cylinder and it can take between one to two hours to produce hot water. An immersion heater is manually switched by the user, which means there is the risk that they will not remember to turn it off. Timer controlled solutions can ensure that the immersion heater is switched off after a set duration. In addition, programmable timer controllers can be used to schedule exactly when the immersion heater is switched on, automatically ensuring hot water is available when required.

The evolution of smart technology continues to play a key role in energy efficiency. It provides homeowners with a real opportunity to make conscious decisions about how they heat their homes and what effect this can have on their energy bills. A smart thermostat is something that installers can easily add to their customers’ home heating, allowing householders to control and monitor the room temperature and thermostat activity from anywhere in the world, via an app on a smart phone or tablet.

Speaking just before the cap on energy bills was announced, the chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust, said: “Households across the UK face a dire winter – and the UK government’s response needs to match the scale of the emergency. While rapid action to support the most vulnerable is critical, we also need robust measures to ensure this does not happen again. Forecasts suggest that price hikes may continue beyond 2023, so as well as shorter-term help with bills, this long-term problem requires long-term solutions that deal with the underlying issues.”

A programmable thermostat gives the user an option to schedule at what time and day a call for heat can be made, thus reducing the possibility of wasting energy when the property is empty. This is advantageous when the occupants are at work, and therefore do not have to remember to switch the heating on or off manually. A programmable thermostat ensures that the heating is not activated longer than required.