Energy Costs - reducing our energy consumption

Energy Policy

There is significant disagreement on what we should do about energy policy and how we can reduce energy costs. The areas that are usually discussed are: expanding drilling for oil and gas, developing the fracking industry, pressing ahead with nuclear power, developing gas storage, replacing gas boilers with alternative forms of heating, adding additional offshore wind farms, building onshore wind, developing solar farms, creating renewable battery storage, encouraging domestic solar panels and reforming the link between electricity prices and the price of gas.

Reducing of modifying our energy consumption

The other other side of the equation is whether we could reduce or modify our energy consumption. This really means changing the timing of electricity use, installing home insulation and being more careful about how we use energy. The problem here is that it requires a lot of little actions that may seem pointless but in aggregate could make a real impact given the hundreds of billions of pounds we are likely to have to spend on subsidies.

Smoothing electricity use

It may seem counterintuitive, but smoothing out when we use electricity could significantly reduce the amount of expensive gas that is used. The idea being that at any point in time we use renewable energy first, then nuclear and then the shortfall has to be topped up with gas. At the moment, there are no targets to lower electricity use at peak times. The cheaper night rate Economy 7 tariff really only makes sense to households who have over 40% of their usage at night as the day time tariff is so high. Currently on a standard tariff it won’t save you money to use electricity in non peak hours but if enough of us did this it would save the country money and reduce fossil fuel consumption.

For anyone interested you can see in real time how our electricity is generated - see https://grid.iamkate.com.

Insulation

A nationwide insulation programme has often been discussed but never quite materialised. In the short term this could reduce the amount of gas and oil that we use and longer term could form the basis from which we could start switching our heating systems. There are some limited grants available for cavity wall and loft insulation but at the moment it's down to each citizen to work out what to do on their own. There are of course some things we can do that are not super expensive like blocking letter boxes, cat flaps, other draught proofing, insulating tanks and pipes, using heavy curtains etc.

Energy saving

There are loads of websites with energy saving tips. Some of the most common are: turning the thermostat down by 2-3 degrees can save up to 10% on fuel; get someone qualified to check the temperature settings on your boiler; only heat some rooms, use radiator thermostats and close off rooms not heated and make sure radiators are bled; wash clothes less, on a cooler wash and avoid using the tumble dryer; reduce shower time and look at the shower head type; check all light bulbs are energy saving and don’t leave unnecessary devices on standby; use the microwave not the oven.

If you have a Smart Meter you can monitor your electricity usage and get more detailed information by linking the meter to a phone app. Here are some example costs (priced at the recently announced price cap) for different electrical appliances based on a typical one-off use (e.g. a 45 minute tumble dryer cycle, TV on all evening etc.):

	Cost per use		Cost per use
Tumble dryer	0.77	TV	0.05
Oven	0.68	Kettle	0.04
Dishwasher	0.68	Microwave	0.03
Washing machine	0.28	Light bulb	0.0

Without subsidies the cost could easily have been at least double. So each time I use the tumble dryer it might cost me 77p and I could also be putting 77p on the national debt!