Helping you to tackle the energy crisis
With fuel prices increasing every month and the price cap going up again in October, Great Places continues to work towards building more energy efficient homes, finding tips to held reduce energy usage and giving financial advice to our customers during difficult times.
Great Places is working together with partners to take advantage of the funding available to upgrade and improve the energy performance in the homes that need it most. There are numerous energy efficiency measures available and this depends on property type.
Taking a ‘fabric first’ approach, we will be applying for funding to
insulate walls, floors and loft spaces to reduce the amount of energy lost and retaining the heat produced in your homes. Great Places continues to plan future projects to realise our environmental goals and with the help of Government funding we will get there quicker.
Secondly, we offer you some advice to help to bring down the costs, including:
Turn lights off when you leave a room.
Switch to a low energy LED bulb. These can use less electricity than a standard incandescent bulb while providing the same level of lighting. And they don’t need replacing as often.
When replacing appliances, consider energy efficient models, which may be A-rated.
Use a cooler wash setting to do your laundry, washing at 30 degrees can save you money.
Electric showers use up a lot of energy so consider taking shorter showers.
Towel dry hair to reduce how long you use a hairdryer.
Turn down your thermostat – even 1 or 2 degrees can make a difference.
Keep your doors closed and close your curtains to reduce drafts.
Only fill your kettle with the amount of water you need.
Cooking in a microwave is cheaper than an oven as it uses less power and takes less time to cook. A slow cooker is also energy efficient, running on low power.
Unplug or switch off devices at the wall around the home. Only charge phones for as long as is necessary - items plugged in (even on standby) still draw electricity, which could rack up if you have a lot of items plugged in.
Put draft excluders around draughty doors and windows, or for a fraction of the cost you can use dry rice in a pair of tights to cover any gaps at the bottom of doors.
You can find a whole host of information and tips on home heating and environment advice section on our website: www.greatplaces.org.uk/customers/looking-after-yourhome/
home-heating-andenvironment-advice/ or you can use
the Simple Energy Advice website, that provides free, impartial
information and guidance on how to save energy. It also has a search tool where you can search for financial support for national and local schemes that may be able to help.
For example, there may be schemes which can provide you with free installation energy efficiency measures in your home.
You can call Simple Energy Advice on 0800 444 202 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and weekends 9am to 5pm).