Questions to ask when switching gas and electricity supplier

February 21, 2012 energy / Energy Offers / Switching Supplier / UK Energy Suppliers
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Whilst your current energy supplier may be able to offer you the best deal possible, if you find that you must switch gas and electricity supplier there are a few questions that you should ask yourself before choosing your new tariff.

power switch

Switching on to another supplier?

What is my actual energy usage pattern?
Have a through look at your bills or energy meter if you have one – what is your energy usage? are you paying too much for what you use? Learning this is will help you to negotiate a new deal that will work more effectively for you.

Is there an energy tariff that is best for my needs?
Each gas and electricity company has a range of tariffs that can vary in price and type of service. For example,  it is almost always cheaper to choose an online tariff, paying by direct debit. However, as a result of government intervention there is a degree of tariff simplification occurring within the industry.

What is my bill payment method?
 Most suppliers offer a range of payment options, the most common are; direct debit and quarterly but you can also get a pre-payment meter or pay weekly.

How is the company perceived by consumers?
There are many groups out there that regularly review the customer service of the big energy suppliers and interview customers. This means that they can supply accurate information regarding the level of service you can expect from each company. Which?, Consumer Focus and uSwitch are all excellent sources of information and help.

Hopefully these questions have given you an indication as how you can switch electricity and gas supplier and hopefully save yourself some money.

How green is your office?

February 16, 2012 energy / UK Energy Suppliers
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Most offices in today’s working environment have made at least some kind of effort to go green and make their workplace a bit more energy efficient. But energy efficiency doesn’t just come from being frugal with your gas and electricity, it requires a larger commitment regarding a change in the daily working practice.

In order to help you on the way with your green crusade we have handily created a list of 5 simple things that any office can do to help lessen their impact on the environment.

1. The big switch off!
It is believed that these days around 60% of the energy used by office equipment could be wasted. This is due to little used items being left on standby and things generally just being left on during periods of no use.

2. Replace personal bins with a central bank of recycling bins.
Yeah, this idea as good as it is, isn’t going to help your popularity any. However once people get over the initial annoyance after a week or so it tends to just become part of the routine. Another positive is the regular short breaks it can provide which in some cases have been shown to increase productivity.

3. Get rid of the plastic cups.
If your office uses the plastic disposable cups, you guys are putting a serious amount of plastic in the landfills every month.
Here is some quick maths for you – 100 employees x 3 cups of tea/ coffee a day.
= 6000 plastic cups a month.
So switch your cups to recycled paper ones, buy mugs or even have people bring in their own mug. Mugs are obviously the best option as they will work out cheapest in the long run.

4. Reduce the use of paper.
With the integration of the internet and e-mail into just about every work place you really only need to print out the essentials and the sooner you encourage that kind of policy within your workplace the better it is for environment.
Another figure for you to consider is that your average worker uses 1,584 sheets of paper/month x 12 = 19,008 per employee, per year. That’s a lot of paper!

5. Take advantage of new communication methods.
Working from home has been shown to have a positive effect for both the employee and the business. Without having to commute there is less pollution and there is no time wasted in getting from A to B. Also Work Wise UK has carried out some research that shows working from home can help to greatly improve productivity.

What’s next for the feed in tariff……

January 31, 2012 energy / Energy News
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Now that the Government has lost their appeal regarding changes to the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) appeal it has been confirmed that they are seeking permission to take their appeal to the Supreme Court. Now this is a time consuming and drawn out process where current and potential customers will be facing uncertainty. So in order to help out we have had a wee look at the potential time scales involved and what could be a likely future for the FIT.

The DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) has a full 28 days to apply for an appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court then has 8 weeks to decide whether to accept or reject the application. If the appeal is accepted it could take anything up to 8 months before it is heard.

So to be honest we are still pretty much in the dark about what tariff rates will be in play for installations between the 12th and 3rd March and things are more than likely to stay this way until we get a final decision on the ruling.

On a separate note to the legal issues of the 12th December, there are other almost equally important questions that still need answers which arguably could have a considerably greater impact on the immediate future of micro-generation.

There should be some movement on this towards the latter part of next week, with the DECC stating that they are still fully intent on publishing the phase 2 consultation no later than the 9th February. The phase 2 consultation will include proposed tariffs for post April 1st installations as well as rates for other technologies such as wind and hydro power. The DECC is also intending to publish a response to some of the more controversial aspects of the consultation, this is including the proposals around energy efficiency which will essentially prevent a large number of households from taking up FIT.

So setting aside matters concerning the legality of the 12th December date, there should be a lot more information about the Government’s plans for FIT by 9th February. However the key question is, will the scheme fall victim to its own success, or could things emerge from this confusion even better for the

Feed-in Tariff?

Big Energy Week 2012 with SSE

January 17, 2012 energy / Energy News
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Big Energy Week kicked off yesterday with events in Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. The event has gathered a great deal of support from some big companies and consumer groups; Consumer Focus, Which? Energy UK, energy companies, charities, Ofgem and the Government.

The event has been created in response to the massive increase of people visiting Citizens Advice for help with their fuel bills. In November 2011 8 times as many people went to the Citizens Advice website for advice on cutting their fuel bills down.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said: “We know that a lot of households are struggling to cope with rising energy costs. Many people could cut their gas and electricity bills by moving to a better deal with their existing supplier, switching to another supplier altogether, or by taking up home insulation offers. But we need to make sure consumers are aware of this and make it easier for them to take action to save money. That is why I am backing Big Energy Week. We want to get the advice and information out to as many consumers across the country as possible.”

The Big Energy Week is running from 16-21 of January and will feature industry advisers from all over the UK helping people to spend less on the heating and powering of their home.

At www.bigenergyweek.org.uk you can find loads of help and advice on how to cut your fuel bill, helpful phone numbers and links as well as find out what’s taking place in your area. You can also contact your local Citizens Advice Bureaux for energy saving advice – the number will be in the phone book.

Top tips for keeping the winter warm….

December 15, 2011 energy / Energy News / UK Energy Suppliers
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Ok, so the winter party season is upon us and we all know there’s not going to be much partying if all your money has been spent on heating your home. So to help out our faithful readership we’ve combined our favourite energy saving tips to try and keep your energy costs down as low as possible.

• You need to layer up.
Rather than whack the heating up high why not try putting on more layers. You’re actually better with more thin layers on than one thick layer. I would also invest in either some blankets for sitting around watching TV or better yet a Snuggie.
• Hot water bottles – They’re great.
They hold heat for ages and are cheap to buy. What I like to do is put a hot water bottle into my bed about 15 minutes before I intend to go and it’s always fantastically cosy for me by the time I get in.
• Timing is everything.
Timers are a great money saver – rather than leave the heating on all day so its warm for you coming home just set the timer to turn it on 1 hour before you get home. The house will be the same temperature and you’ll have spent 6 hours less on energy. You can also set it to come on an hour before you get up in the morning and again you’ll be lovely and cosy.
• It’s all about the thermostats.
It’s a well known fact that dropping the temperature on your thermostat by even 1°C is enough to save you 10% on your energy bills. However as a general rule you should always try and keep your thermostat between 18°C and 21°C for maximum efficiency.
• Sometimes a change is as good as a rest.
Finally…. switch gas and electricity supplier. Make sure you have done your research and chances are you’ll find a new supplier willing to offer you a better deal than the one your on now. The best bit is all you have to do is tell the company you want to switch to and they will take care of all the details you really won,t know its happened until your bills get cheaper.

Now whilst we know these tips aren’t going to save you a fortune we do hope that they will help your part fund last that little bit longer.

Green energy struggling to compete with gas….

December 7, 2011 energy / Green Energy / UK energy
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The UK’s green energy juggernaut may be grinding to a halt, with reports that the big six are now involved in a gas race and are not focusing so much on the construction of green energy facilities. Fears are growing that this change in policy could put the current climate change targets beyond the UK’s capabilities.

This new direction also means that British households will continue paying a higher rate for their bills. For an indication as to how much the UK industry has slowed, only half of the amount of wind turbines built last year have been built this year. Throughout last year there was 1,192MW of wind power added to the grid yet this year it has only reached around 540MW. This is a stark contrast to the 30GW of new gas fired power stations that are going through the planning stages just now. The problem is people know the gas powered plants cost in the tens of billions of £’s most of which will be coming from the big six – now as you can imagine that certainly doesn’t leave a lot for investment in green technology.

At the moment gas is still cheaper than renewable energy and the fact that we rely so heavily upon gas is proving expensive – hence the rise in energy bills.

However is there any other choice? Should Britain go for the quick win with gas or continue to spend on green energy?

Drop us a comment and let us know what you think

Source: Guardian Energy

Read the full article.

SSE – Still the customers choice

November 16, 2011 energy / Green Energy / UK Energy Suppliers
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This year’s Energy Customer Satisfaction Awards held no real surprises with all of the ‘big six’ experiencing an overall drop in their customer satisfaction ratings. However this is almost certainly to be expected given that the year has been punctuated by rising energy costs and a number of fines for various incidents.

That being said out of all the companies SSE should still be extremely happy after coming top in no less than 8 out of 11 categories. Not to mention winning the coveted Overall Satisfaction Award for the 8th time in a row.

Eon managed to walk away with two of the awards: Reward schemes and Energy efficiency.

Whilst British gas managed to top the Online services survey.

To read the full article uSwitch Customer Satisfaction Awards 2011

Home charging with Polar EV

November 2, 2011 Green Energy
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Polar EV is a new home charging solution whereby you become a member and for a monthly fee they will set you up with everything you need to keep your vehicle charged. It’s started to receive a bit more publicity since SSE launched POWERFUEL their new electric car friendly tariff.

In light of that I thought we could have a look at this home charge solution and see how it measures up.

A standard membership includes:

-          A wall charger for your home. It has a lifetime guarantee and is future proofed with 32A capability.

-          Full unlimited access to over 4000 public charging bays throughout the country.

-          A free iphone/ipad app giving you the location and availability.

The interesting part is it’s only £29.50 a month which for the sake of convenience and ensuring you don’t get caught short, seems like a great deal.

Just remember you still have to pay your electricity bill.

Are any of you members of the Polar EV membership? Share your thoughts and comments.

Southern Electric Launch ‘POWERFUEL’ Tariff…..

October 12, 2011 energy / Green Energy
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Southern Electric launched ‘POWERFUEL’ this afternoon their latest energy product tailored specifically for electric car owners.

Customers also have the option to sign up to POLAR new membership scheme giving electric vehicle owners the ability to ‘charge where you are’.

As part of SSE – Southern Electric is hugely involved in the generation, distribution and supply of electricity & gas. SSE is the leading generator of electricity from renewable resources.

 

Cambridge City of Cycling…

August 18, 2011 Uncategorized
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Cambridge is often referred to as the “City of Cycling”. Over 20% of trips in Cambridge are made by bike. The question is how other cities in the country can achieve a figure even close to this amidst a primarily automotive backdrop.

At first glance Cambridge just looks like any other quaint tourist town in the UK, lovely views, period architecture and the odd pedestrianised area. That is, until you look a bit closer and begin to see cyclists, bike parking and bike shops everywhere you go. However possibly the biggest shock is the courtesy and respect shown to cyclists by the drivers in Cambridge. There is a distinct lack of aggressive bus drivers or abusive motorists everyone just seems to get along.

Upon touring the city centre bikes truly are parked everywhere; chained to railings, bike stands or even with just a wheel lock. It turns out Cambridge really does have a large amount of dedicated parking for cyclists. There is even an example of a multi-storey carpark which has the ground floor solely for cyclists.

One theory is that the large student population is partly responsible for the number of cyclists as undergrads aren’t allowed a parking permit unless there are special circumstances. Now so you can put that to scale Cambridge has a population of around 120,000 and the student body accounts for approximately 45,000 of that. Thus in broad terms over 30% of the population of Cambridge have no real use for a car.

According to the Cambridge Cycling Campaign spokesperson, Cambridge was extremely fortunate during the 60s and 70s when most cities were in a rush to increase their motor traffic and automotive facilities. Yet the whole thing just seemed to bypass Cambridge and therefore people simply continued to cycle.

However it takes more than luck for an idealistic idea to last this long, credit must also be attributed to the people who teach and encourage the next generation to cycle and continue it as part of normal life. If anything Cambridge should be held up as a model of what we should be trying to implement in any modern city.

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