A new £6million competition aimed at getting renewable heating kit into the homes of social tenants across Great Britain has been launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
This new competition, part of the extended Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme announced in March this year, will help registered providers of social housing to install heat pumps, solar thermal panels and biomass boilers. Continue reading
The book is subtitled How To Cut Energy Bills and Make Your Home Warm and Comfortable – a subject that the recent cold weather brings into focus.
Rock, who is accredited by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, says insulating all currently un-insulated walls and lofts in Britain’s existing housing stock would yield substantial savings.
He said: "Energy prices have rocketed by up to 50% since September 2010, and look set to continue rising for the foreseeable future. But rather than passively relying on ‘top down’ schemes, such as the Green Deal, enormous numbers of UK households have DIY capabilities – and with Continue reading
An Energy Saving Trust survey has found more than a fifth (21%) of people are "very interested" in fitting insulation to their home, with many keen to cash in on the end of the government’s Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) scheme, which offers grants to pay for cavity wall or loft insulation until 31 December.
The Green Deal, which supersedes CERT, will be officially launched in January – and the Energy Saving Trust is inviting insulation installers to step up and get registered to take advantage of the increased interest in insulation.
The Energy Saving Trust is an independent, trusted organisation which can Continue reading
Successful bidders will be able to use this funding to install kit such as biomass boilers, solar hot water panels and heat pumps, helping make tenants’ homes warmer, cosier and much more energy efficient. It is anticipated that more than one thousand social housing tenants will benefit under this scheme.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said: "We need to move away from costly fossil fuel heating to more sustainable low carbon alternatives, not only to cut carbon but to help householders save money on bills too.
"That’s why we are channelling investment into renewable heating kit like heat pumps and solar Continue reading
The survey also found that only 22% of Brits have asked their supplier to refund overpayments with most people (51%) preferring to simply leave the overpayment hoping it will sort itself out over time.
Mark Greening, head of home services at Gocompare.com, said: "According to our survey 62% of households pay for their gas by direct debit and 70% pay for electricity this way. While direct debits are an efficient method of paying household bills, the way suppliers calculate bills can lead to customers paying more than they need to.
"Utility companies estimate the amount of gas and electricity their customers use each Continue reading
And as price hikes strike, many more may be willing to compromise on their quality of life, health or well-being, just to keep a lid on their energy bills.
As Britain braces itself for winter, 84% of people are worried about the cost of their energy bills. Price hikes have added to consumers’ concern – almost eight in ten (79%) are more worried about their winter fuel bills this year as a result. Such is the impact that the cost of energy continues to be the number one household concern (90%), ahead of the rising cost of food (80%), petrol prices (75%) Continue reading
The main six suppliers have voluntarily agreed with Ofgem to increase the debt limit from November 1, enabling prepayment meter consumers with a debt of up to £500 to switch supplier if they so choose. The move will help tens of thousands of people who were previously outside of the debt threshold.
These measures are part of Ofgem efforts to encourage suppliers to proactively resolve debt issues and use disconnection only as a last resort. Ofgem’s annual social obligations monitoring is due to be published later this week and will show signs of improvement in supplier behaviour. The annual figures for 2011 Continue reading
The very fact that they are renting makes many automatically rule out the option of taking control of their energy bills. A third (33%) admit that renting makes them less likely to switch while 28% think that renting will make it more difficult to switch.
One of the biggest concerns for those renting privately seems to be how their landlord will react to being asked about switching. Just 15% think that they would welcome a tenant trying to secure a lower cost energy deal while almost two in ten (19%) say that landlords don’t want to be bothered by tenants about things Continue reading
At Salford, computer scientists will have responsibility for applying self-learning software to the system which will allow the buildings to become more efficient over time as data is gathered by sensors. The University will also lead on work to encourage uptake of the new technology using knowledge developed at its Energy Hub to change people’s poor environmental behaviours.
Called SEEDS, the project’s first demonstration sites are part of the University of Stavanger campus in Norway and an office block in Madrid. They were chosen because of their high levels of energy use and contrasting local lifestyles and weather conditions.
In practice this will Continue reading
With each of the big six energy providers rising prices twice in the last year alone, and energy bills expected to continue to rise in the long term, it is unsurprising to find that four in five (78%) of those with solar panels installed them to protect themselves against future price hikes.
But while cutting costs is the main reason to get solar, it is not the only reason. Of those with panels, more than seven in ten wanted to make money from the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT), while six in ten (62%) wanted to do their bit for the environment.
And with savings rates Continue reading
