Households have been warned that energy bills could further soar to over £3000 a year in England, Wales and Scotland by October, with prices spiking by at least 30% partly due to the Ukraine crisis.
While households have received an indication of the price cap increase they can expect, financial support for homeowners is still lacking across the country.
Ed Whitworth, Head of Energy Performance at Bionic, has explained the turbulent situation: “It’s been a turbulent six months for energy customers, and the Russia/Ukraine conflict looks set to increase uncertainty in the energy market even further.
“This is because energy prices are affected by things that are happening across the globe – anything from a conflict to a natural disaster in a country that produces oil or gas can affect how much we pay to heat our homes and power business here in the UK.
“Europe sourced more than 40% of gas imports from Russia in 2021 and conflict in Ukraine could seriously disrupt this supply and push up prices.”
To help homeowners and renters within the UK to save on money while cost of living prices soar, Ed provided some energy-saving tips:
“Due to the volatile situation and increasing energy prices, it is important to be mindful of how much energy you’re using. We recommend adopting the following energy saving tips:
1. Assess When You’re Heating Your Premises
Most homeowners pay a standard tariff to heat their premises during the day as they do during the night, and could be wasting money by heating unused rooms during the day. You could save hours of energy by only heating the building when you need to. Simply set the timer on the thermostat to start the heating at certain times.
Another simple yet effective energy saving tip is to turn your heating down by one degree. Just taking your thermostat down a notch is a quick way to start saving fast and you probably won’t even notice the tiny temperature difference. This one small action only takes seconds to carry out and could potentially slash your heating bills by as much as 10%.
2. Switch Appliances Off
Do you notice that you tend to leave appliances on standby rather than switching them off completely? When appliances are left on standby, they’re still using energy, which essentially wastes energy and money. Switching appliances completely off to help cut your gas and electricity costs.
3. Pay Attention To The Weather
Take a closer look at your thermostats and adjust them according to the weather conditions outside. If it’s a warmer, sunnier day and rooms don’t need to be heated, then turn the thermostat down and you’ll be saving money in no time.
4. Be Mindful of Water Costs
60°C is the optimum temperature for hot water, so if you notice that you’re running water that’s hotter than that, you could be wasting energy. You could also think about installing touch-free taps in toilets so you can be using water more efficiently too.
5. Turn Off Lights When Not In Use Or Fit Light Sensors
It may seem like an obvious one, but sometimes we don’t even register that leaving lights on can cause our energy bills to skyrocket.
If it’s a bright, sunny morning or afternoon and the lights aren’t really making too much of a difference, pull back the blinds take advantage of the sunlight
You could also install light sensors in places where people aren’t going to be all day, like kitchens or toilets.
6. Draught-Proof Your Premises
If you work on ensuring your premises are well insulated, then there will be less need for expensive heating costs. Draught-proofing doors and windows is a cheap but effective way to save money on gas and electric bills.
7. Request An Energy Audit
By taking part in an energy audit, you’re ensuring that you know exactly where you are using the most and how you can cut this down. It’ll help you take full control of your spending.
Many energy suppliers offer audits to help you pinpoint exactly where you can save power and how you can do this.
8. Don’t be tempted to switch energy supplier
Under normal circumstances, it does pay off to shop around and compare gas and electricity prices on different tariffs and with different suppliers as you could save a lot of money and put that back into the value of your home.
The trouble is, a combination of soaring gas prices and the energy price cap means that switching suppliers now probably won’t save you a penny. This is because any new fixed rate deals will be quoted at the current rates, while the energy price cap puts a limit on how much suppliers can charge on their standard variable rate tariffs – the one you’re put on if you let a fixed rate deal expire.
As things stand, it’s probably best to sit tight until prices come back down to a reasonable level. And remember, if your energy supplier goes bust, the Ofgem Safety Net means you’ll automatically be transferred to another supplier with no disruption to your gas and electricity supply.”
