Green Deal
Domestic energy efficiency has recently become much more prominent, due to a government initiative called the ‘Green Deal’ enabling people to make improvements to their home that will help them to save on both energy and money, with no upfront cost.
As accredited ‘Green Deal’ assessors, we are permitted to carry out inspections, suggest ways in which your home can become more energy efficient and implement those changes. The idea is that rather than having to dip in to your savings, or pay upfront costs, the ‘Green Deal’ means you can install cavity wall insulation, double-glazing or a new boiler and the cost will be paid back incrementally, at a rate in line with the savings you are making from your new home improvements.
There are also plans to make minimum energy efficiency a legal requirement, which will also mean that domestic landlords should not be able to unreasonably refuse requests from their tenants to make properties more energy efficient.
However, the ‘Green Deal’ will be mutually beneficial for both landlords and tenants, as the landlord will not incur an upfront cost, and the tenants will benefit from the improvements, whilst being responsible for paying off the measures through their reduced energy bills.
| Easy ways to save money on hot water bills |
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Often, the most obvious suggestions or solutions are the best. Here are a few:
If you’re able to have a shower, it will massively reduce both your water and gas bills, than if you run a bath every day. If you regularly use a dishwasher or washing machine, wait until it is full before putting them through a cycle. If this isn’t feasible, then most appliances have half wash settings, which will save energy and money. If you fancy a cuppa, don’t fill the kettle with enough water for four. Only using the amount of water you need in a kettle saves a huge amount of energy. So much so, that if everyone in the UK did this, we’d save enough electricity each year to power every single street light in the UK for a month. Reuse water wherever possible, by saving it and using it for watering plants or whatever else you can think of.
A good, well-fitted jacket on your hot water cylinder could save you about £40 a year. Similarly, if you’re able to insulate radiator pipes, you will instantly have a much more efficient heating system.
Gas is cheaper than electricity. So if you’re in a position to switch, it might be something you want to think about.
The better control you have over your boiler or immersion heater, the more effective and efficient your immersion heater will be. You can choose to only have hot water when you need it. 
You might be interested in the product:OWL Micro+ Energy MonitorAthena Electrical can help set up a remote monitoring system. We will be able to log in and access the generation data stored in the on-site inverter from our office, enabling us to spot problems or notice if the system is underperforming and notify you so that any problems can be promptly rectified |
