The energy crisis explained and how to save energy
The energy crisis we are facing will hit everyone, but particularly those householders and businesses where energy is a significant fraction of their monthly costs; see Note [1].
Why have prices increased?
Everyone has heard that there have been increases in energy costs and felt it. There are two reasons for the increase:
Firstly, gas prices on international energy markets were already rising as economies started to build back following the pandemic. The Russian war against Ukraine has made matters worse. While the UK only uses limited levels of Russian gas, the price of gas is governed by international supply and demand. That is why any increase in UK gas production will have only a marginal impact on gas prices (and not any time soon).
Secondly, as in many decentralised markets, there is a mechanism to determine prices called ‘marginal pricing’. It attempts to match supply and demand. In the case of electricity prices on the UK grid, unit prices are calculated every 30 minutes and are determined by the last supplier to come on the grid to match the demand. Currently, that is always gas, and the gas price is determined globally. This leads to the situation whereby, even when wind is supplying 50% of the electricity much more cheaply than gas, it is still priced the same as gas.
What is the government doing?
There are at least two things happening to try to resolve this situation.
Short term, the Government is capping the unit prices for gas and electricity, as discussed in a BBC article see [2].
The key thing to note is that from the 1st October 2022 dual-fuel customers on a standard variable tariff will pay 34p per kWh of electricity and 10.3p per kWh of gas.
To work out what this means for you, you need to look at previous energy bills see [3], find out how much energy you used (in kilowatt-hours or kWh) in a given period, and then multiply by the unit rates above. So, for example, if in 2021 you used 5,000 kWh in electricity, and 15,000 kWh in gas, then your estimated bill for 2023 will be:
5,000 kWh x 34p/kWh = 170,000p = £1,700 for electricity (non heating)
15,000 kWh x 10.3p/kWh = 154,500p = £1,545 for gas (for heating mainly)
or £3,245 in total for energy.
Medium - longer term, the Government are consulting on ways to reform the energy market. One idea is to ‘decouple’ international gas costs from electricity prices, allowing consumers to feel the benefit of lower cost wind and solar energy. Another idea is to use a more localised price for electricity (designed to incentivise investment in more local energy production in regions of the UK, and encourage support for it).
Heating is the biggest part of many people’s energy bills - and the UK has some of the worst housing stock in Europe - but there are immediate things that can have a big impact on energy use (and hence on both costs and carbon footprint).
What you can do immediately
Air leaks - Reducing air leaks around doors and windows is cheap and can be very effective. Draught excluders on internal doors as well as external ones can slow the movement of air throughout the house. Also check the seals around external doors, brushes in sash windows and other measures. But use extractor fans in kitchen and bathrooms to remove moist air; if you open a window then close the door to the room. In the future, you might consider installing ‘mechanical ventilation and heat recovery’ units in humid rooms to give you back some heat lost.
Thermal curtains - For single glazed windows, many will have curtains see [4]. These can be adapted to become better at insulating the room. Heavy drapes can be attached or sewn in, but there are lighter materials too that can be used to adapt a curtain. This might be something that is a priority for the living room, where you spend a lot of time.
Thermostat - Reducing your thermostat control on your heating system by one degree Centigrade can save 10% off your heating bill see [5]. For those with medical conditions this may not be advisable, but many of us can stay comfortable in a living room heated to 20°C rather than 21°C. Even at a higher temperature, when sitting near to a cold wall a blanket over your legs might be needed. Don’t get cold but equally, find simple ways to reduce energy use. If you like to sleep in an airy room, that’s fine, but keep the bedroom door closed and reduce the temperature radiator in that room. It’s pointless over heating spaces that are not being used. But don’t let any room get too cold or you may cause condensation issues, such as mold.
Cooking - When cooking, consider doing larger batches than needed, so that you can refrigerate the excess and then it might only need to be warmed up later in the week, or served cold with a salad. Make sure you have defrosted your fridge/ freezer, so they are running as efficiently as possible.
Boiler efficiency - For those with condensing gas boilers, it may surprise you to know that in many cases, they may be running at a higher flow temperature than is ideal. Simply by reducing the flow temperature (e.g. from 75°C to 55°C) you can still heat your house but with big savings in energy use (the only minor impact is, that the boiler may need to come on a little earlier, to have a gentler rise in room temperature). This is all explained very clearly by The Heating Hub see [6].
Other devices in the home may not use as much energy as heating, but can still be significant.
Lighting - Switch off lights in rooms that are not being used. If you haven’t yet, start to move lighting over to LEDs (the warmer light versions are more natural). LEDs don’t get hot because they are so efficient at converting electricity into light, they don’t produce the waste heat you get from traditional light bulbs.
White goods - most homes have at least one form of ‘white goods’ (fridge, washing machine, dishwasher, etc.). A fridge has to run 24/7 but others are run on an as needs basis. For washing clothes, use the lowest temperature that is practical (heating the water is the biggest part of the energy use, not the motor), and consider if it can be put on a timer to run when lower tariff electricity may be available.
Having considered the immediate things you can do, it is worth taking a look at further things to consider, if not immediately, then over coming years.
Further things to consider
There are further things to consider to help reduce heating bills and carbon footprint.
Loft insulation - there is very good payback on having effective loft insulation, and this can be done as a DIY job for simple cases (such as a cold loft where you are not needing technical expertise on moisture issues). For a 70 square metre loft, the Earthwool needed to give a 300 mm depth of insulation would cost typically about £550. Not insignificant, but remember this is a one-off expenditure, whereas the energy savings will continue month after month, year after year. The biggest hassle in doing the project may be clearing the loft (but on the other hand, this may be the excuse you need to not leave this job to your children or grandchildren!).
House projects - Brits spend a lot of money on their homes with projects such as refitting a kitchen. Whenever doing a project that will already bring some disruption with them, consider what can be done in parallel to improve the energy performance of the home (or deal with moisture issues). For example, if refitting a kitchen which has a cold north facing exterior wall, why not put in some internal insulation on the wall, and maybe the floor too, and since the kitchen creates a lot of moist air, fit a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system for this rooms well, so avoiding the chance of condensation problems.
If you want to look into a ‘whole house’ approach to insulation of walls etc., and a range of other retrofit measures that could include moisture control, solar, heat pumps, etc. It is worth seeking advice from specialists able to make independent assessments and recommendations, see [7]. It is not true that old homes need ‘deep insulation’ before considering a heat pump; it is about making a balanced decision, see [8].
Heat pump - heat pumps were invented in the late 19th Century, and are designed to move heat from one place to another, using some cunning but simple science, see [9]. ‘Heat’ is just the motion of molecules, or ‘thermal energy’, so even what we perceive as cold air has a lot of thermal energy in it. In a fridge, the heat pump moves heat from inside the fridge to its panels on the back. In an air-conditioner, warmth is moved from inside the house to outside the house. In an air-source heat pump (ASHP) used for space heating and water heating, thermal energy is moved from the ambient air to inside the house (in Norway heat pumps are very popular and work when the exterior temperature is well below 0°C).
The brilliant part is that for every unit of electricity that is used to power an ASHP, this will produce at least 3 units of heat to warm the house and water.
Returning to the house we had earlier that used 15,000 kWh of gas. If the gas boiler was 80% efficient, it would be producing 0.8 x 15,000 kWh = 12,000 kWh of useful ‘heat’. But the heat pump would only need 12,000 kWh/ 3 = 4,000 kWh of electricity. So the expected bills for this house using the same rates would be:
5,000 kWh x 34p/ kWh = 170,000p = £1,700 for electricity (non heating)
4,000 kWh x 34p/kWh = 136,000p = £1,360 for electricity (for heating using an ASHP)
or £3,060 in total for energy, or a reduction of £185.
Currently, you can obtain an up-front £5,000 grant towards a heat pump, via your supplier. We offer advice on how to explore heat pumps and to answer common questions on our website, see [10].
Public support for change
With the extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent, there has been much wider awareness of the need to take action on climate change.
How we use energy is a significant part of our energy use. In Nailsworth, the IMPACT tool (see https://impact-tool.org.uk/using-impact) shows that housing is responsible for 22% of our emissions (and 14% comes from mains gas).
For years, many groups and organisations have been calling for more home insulation, a move away from gas (for both energy security and climate reasons), and faster deployment of renewables. Now it should be crystal clear to everyone that if this advice had been followed we’d be in a much better position, both in terms of the international energy crisis and the path we must take to Net Zero in 2050.
If you agree but think you are part of a minority, then think again. Two surveys reveal your are in the majority [11]:
IPSOS conducted a recent poll that showed about 80% of Britons are concerned about climate change, and of these, 26% think the 2050 Net Zero target is about right but 52% want it brought forward!
The Spring 2022 Public attitudes surveys conducted by the Government shows 85% support for renewables and only 17% for fracking.
These figures are very encouraging, but will the Government listen?
This really should not be a party-political issue.
Some claim that we must slow our path to Net Zero because we cannot afford to do it given other pressures on the national purse. However, a paper published on 14th September 2022 shows that the costs of renewable technologies have fallen so fast (and will continue to do so) that compared to sticking with fossil fuels, the transition could save the UK trillions of pounds, rather than being a burden, see [12].
Whatever your party political persuasion, we should all be lobbying hard for stronger and faster implementation of measures to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce our energy demand and demonstrate our commitment to net zero.
So, get writing, to your MP, parliamentary candidates of all parties, and councillors at all levels of Government, to express your concerns and wishes.
Notes
[1] Households that spend more than 10% of their income on energy are defined as being in “fuel poverty”. Some estimated forecasts put the number of such households at greater than 50% - although this may change subject to Government interventions.
[2] What is the energy price cap and how high could bills go?, BBC, 14th Sept. 2022, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58090533
[3] Since 1st July 2010, Ofgem has required energy suppliers to provide unsolicited annual energy use summaries which should make this calculation relatively easy.
[4] “Curtain management” can help to reduce energy use in other ways – as soon as the sun rises, open the curtains on the sunny side of the house to make best use of the free solar energy streaming in – up to 1 kW per square meter of sunward facing window area! As soon as there is no sun on the windows – due to time of day or the presence of extensive cloud cover, close the curtains to help retain heat.
[5] Can reducing the thermostat 1°C really save 10%?, Nicola Terry,15th Sept. 2022, https://energy-surprises.blogspot.com
[6] Keeping homes warm for less, The Heating Hub, https://www.theheatinghub.co.uk/mission
[7] There are a number of resources:
• Severn Wye Energy Agency (SWEA) are a great provider of advice to householders and businesses, including help to those in energy poverty, see https://severnwye.org.uk.
• PAS 2035 is a new standard for Retrofit Coordinators and will become increasingly important, especially for ‘fabric’ measures, see https://retrofit-coordinators.uk
• For those wanting to adopt green technologies such as Solar PV and Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP), then use the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) to find advice on standards and installers, see https://mcscertified.com
Technical resources:
• Training on all heating systems including air-source heat pumps available at https://heatingacademynorthampton.co.uk
• Heating calculations including room by room heat loss, radiator sizings, etc can be done with the help of software such as Heat Engineer: https://www.heat-engineer.com - a cut down, free heat loss calculation available from this source here: https://www.heat-engineer.com/heat-loss-estimator
[8] Insulate Britain! Yes, but by how much?, Richard Erskine, 8th Nov. 2021, https://essaysconcerning.com/2021/11/08/insulate-britain-yes-but-by-how-much/
[9] Professor Andrea Sella Video explaining basic science behind a heat pump, excerpt from BBC Breakfast, 27th June 2022, https://youtu.be/YHLuvNNghe4
[10] Retrofit: Heat pumps, Nailsworth Climate Action Network, https://www.nailsworthcan.org/retrofit-heat-pumps - We would especially like to draw your attention to the guideline to assess heat pump installers referenced at this link.
[11] Two opinion surveys”
• 8 in 10 Britons concerned about climate change – half think net zero target should be brought forward: half think it should be brought forward, IPSOS, 2nd August 2022, https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/8-10-britons-concerned-about-climate-change-half-think-net-zero-target-should-be-brought-forward
• BEIS Public Attitudes Tracker: Energy Infrastructure and Energy This report covers questions on energy infrastructure and energy sources, Spring 2022, BEIS, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1082719/BEIS_PAT_Spring_2022_Energy_Infrastructure_and_Energy_Sources.pdf
[12] Switching to renewable energy could save trillions - study, Jonah Fisher, 14th Sept. 2022, BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62892013
