News & Advice

According to figures released by the Department for Climate Change, homeowners make a £500 million loss because of poor insulation.

The problem was made worse by the record breaking cold winter, where energy demand levels had risen dramatically. Those without adequate home insulation were left facing inflated heating bills because their homes were not conserving heat.

Home insulation will save you money on your energy bills. According to the Energy Saving Trust, you could save £150 a year by insulating your loft, and a further £115 with cavity wall insulation.

It costs around £500 to install, but will pay for itself quickly in with the amount you save on bills. Along with the government, environmental campaigners and consumer groups, many celebrities are also advocates of home insulation.

A committee of MP’s has warned the government is set to fail its own fuel poverty reduction targets. The goal is to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households in England by the end of this year; households with children, pensioners and the disabled. The longer term aim is to end it completely by 2016.

It would seem these targets are now deemed too ambitious, because the Energy and Climate Change Committee has admitted this year’s target will be missed, and the 2016 one is looking ‘increasingly difficult to hit’.

Fuel poverty is when a household is spending over 10% of its income on its gas and electricity bills. A recent report commissioned by the Committee confirmed millions of households are in fuel poverty and are worried about turning their heating on. The situation has not been helped by the rising costs of energy bills, and the record breaking cold winter.

Customers can earn money by generating their own energy with a new feed-in tariff scheme launched by the government this week. Households will get their money back from energy suppliers.

Under the new scheme, households with solar panels fitted to a certain specification could earn up to £900 a year, and that’s without including the savings they make on their gas and electricity bills.

It also extends to those generating energy using wind turbines, households with anaerobic digestion and hydroelectricity systems.

This week sees a fresh call from the Renewable Energy Association (REA) for more investment to hit the UK’s 15% renewable energy target by 2020.

With the election looming, climate change is high on political agendas, but the winning party will be crucial in achieving the target according to the REA.

Gaynor Hartnell, the REA’s Chief Executive said, ‘If we’re serious about energy security and global warming, nothing needs to change more than our energy system. The new government, of whatever colour, must redouble efforts to deliver the 2020 renewable energy target.’

Leading energy suppliers are under fire this week amidst allegations they are cashing in on the boiler scrappage scheme. The claim comes from some industry experts accusing them of quoting customers inflated new boiler prices, despite matching the £400 rebate available under the plan.

Designed to cut carbon footprints and energy bills, the boiler scrappage scheme gives households £400 towards replacing their aging boilers with new energy efficient ones. Since its launch at the beginning of the year, it has seen an uptake of over a third of its vouchers, leaving around 70,000 worth £28million available to claim.

As the government’s Boiler Scrappage Scheme heads into its second week, questions have arisen about vulnerable households who may end up worse off because of it.

The doubt has arisen because under the government’s own Warm Front scheme, pensioners and those on a low income or benefits are eligible to financial assistance for buying and installing a new boiler. The maximum amount available is £3,500, and in many cases this will cover the entire cost of replacing a boiler.