Beating Rising Energy Prices

The UK energy market is experiencing considerable volatility, with wholesale gas prices reaching an unprecedented level in recent weeks.

With gas still a key component in the UK’s energy mix, price hikes are also having a big impact on our electricity prices. Consumers are seeing worryingly higher gas and electric bills at a time of year when they will be using these the most. As gas supply fell and demand started recovering, wholesale prices began to rise. This continued past pre-pandemic prices, reaching a new high level in the last few weeks. Going from record-lows to record-highs has led forward contracts to almost double in price over the past year. Day-ahead gas contracts have risen more sharply, going from £0.12 per therm to over £0.90 per therm in 15 months. UK petrol prices have hit their highest level on record in a blow to hard-hit households and small businesses and could rise further in the coming weeks as the global energy crisis drives oil markets to a three-year high.

The average daily price for a litre reached 142.94p on Sunday, in what was described as a “truly dark day for drivers”, surpassing the all-time record 142.48p reached on 16 April 2012, according to data from the RAC/Experian. The good news - You can help. The recent issue of access to petrol and diesel also led to a whopping 1600% increase in people looking to switch over to electric vehicles. We therefore envisage an increase in requests for installations of EV chargepoints (EVCP).

Create a customer checklist of suggestions you can advise the customer, many common sense but could help you save money in the long run:

Lighting

• Changing to energy Efficient

• Switching off lights when not in use

• Changing PIRs

• Maximise Daylight

• Diming systems

Heating

• Adjusting thermostats

• switching off unused rooms

• Programmable systems

Device Management

• Switching off plugs at the wall

• Setting appliances to energy-saving modes

• Control timers

• Change desktops to Laptops

Energy Sources

• Solar PV

• Heat Pumps

• Wind Turbines

• Combined Heating and Power (CHP)

• Electrical Energy Storage

• EV Cars
  

The list can be endless but a few examples of simple things you can do to help in your own household or a checklist to help clients become more energy efficient. Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/oct/25/uk-petrol-prices-record-highs-oil-market-diesel https://www.ecatoday.co.uk/blog/1718/How-the-electrotechnical-contractor-can-help-clien