What is happening with energy prices and will we be switching the heating on this winter?
The deadline of 1st October has been looming for some time. An 80% increase in domestic energy bills was set to come into effect on the dreaded date, but the new government has stepped in to stop the increase just in time. So what will happen instead?
The government’s new Energy Price Guarantee is set to limit the price that energy suppliers can legally charge for each unit of energy. The guarantee, which lasts for two years, will cap the average household bill at £2,500 per year. But this doesn’t mean that nobody will pay more than this; it’s just an illustration of how the new unit prices might add up. Regardless of the cap, the more you use, the more you will pay. For comparison, we are all going to be paying more than double what we were paying this time last year – even if the threat of £6,000 annual bills has been abated.
So it’s time for everybody to get serious about saving energy, and there are lots of simple steps that we can all take. For instance, figures from the Energy Saving Trust show that a typical household could save around £70 per year by limiting showers to four minutes only, and more by giving up baths for (four-minute) showers. Switching appliances off rather than leaving them on standby is another simple move, as is making sure to turn off lights. Then there’s laundry: do you really need to wash your clothes as often as you do? Cutting back on one wash a week and running the machine at 30 degrees can save almost £30 per year, while avoiding using the tumble dryer can save twice that.
Additionally, there are measures we can take to improve our homes’ energy performance. Installing double glazing and insulating the loft will produce immediate results, keeping the house warmer with less heating. It makes sense to focus on long-term energy efficiency, and now might be a good time to invest in installing solar panels, which might generate enough energy to enable any surplus to be sold back to the grid.
Regardless of current energy prices, investments in a property’s energy efficiency are sensible and even necessary. Legislation is already in place to ensure that rental properties meet basic standards of energy efficiency, and it’s likely that future legislation might apply to residential property sales too, and inefficient, draughty homes will eventually be deemed unacceptable. Wasting energy is soon to be a thing of the past, and the new energy prices are bringing with them a new mindset. So will we be using the heating this winter? Of course we will – but we’ll be thinking about it differently.
