Around 80 people attended a talk from Derek Lickorish MBE, chairman of pre-payment energy supplier Utilita, in Henfield Hall one cold January evening, to try to understand why energy prices are still so high and what to do about it.
According to Mr Lickorish the UK is on track to a more efficient electricity system. While we consume around six times more electricity than we did when Queen Elizabeth was crowed in 1953, our electricity use has actually come down since 2002, due to new regulations around energy efficiency — LED lightbulbs being one example. Fossil fuel use has reduced and low carbon power generation has increased so they are now almost equal contributors to our electricity network. In fact, one turn of a wind turbine is enough to power a home for a day!
Despite this, household energy prices are not going down any time soon, warned Mr Lickorish: In autumn 2022 a ‘bucket’ of energy (1 MWh) cost energy suppliers £870, compared to just £50 before the Ukraine war. Wholesale energy prices have come down since then, but they are still much higher than they were pre-war and utilities such as Utilita will have already bought their supply months in advance. Additionally, capped prices under the government’s Energy Price Guarantee will rise from April 2023.
We are still a long way from eliminating fuel poverty, which Utilita believes could reach 10 million households (over a third of all households in the UK) as prices stay high and government support falls away. The consequences of this are severe for those caught up in it: respiratory problems, ill health and even death.
People may be surprised to learn where their home leaks the most heat. Around 35% is lost through uninsulated walls, 25% through the roof and 15% each from the floor and doors. Only 10% is lost through windows. Insulation remains the most effective way of reducing heat loss and the biggest impact anyone could have on their home energy bills is to insulate their loft if they haven’t already: Adding 270mm of loft insulation could save £352 per year, paying for itself in under two years. Turning the heating down by just 1 degree could also save £229 per year, according to Utilita’s research, while using the microwave or slow cooker instead of electric oven could save £202. Reducing the flow temperature of your boiler to 54 degrees will reduce its gas use by 12%.
Mr Lickorish talked the audience through ground source and air source heat pumps which use
the same technology as a typical fridge but in reverse. Depending on external temperatures, the quality of installation and the insulation at the property, heat pumps can deliver between three and seven times the energy used to run it, by gathering up residual heat in the air or ground and distributing it throughout the house. The downside is that at the moment they are expensive to install compared to a gas boiler or even solar panels, although there is currently a £5,000 government grant available for heat pump installations.
Mr Lickorish concluded that net zero is possible and that it will ultimately bring prices down, but that it will take time for the UK to build the necessary energy storage, as well as develop technology that can manage electricity demand. “There is no doubt that we can get to this net zero future, and I have no doubt that it will be beneficial,” he said. “But it’s the timescale of getting there. At the moment it is the fossil fuels that cost the money. We’ve been caught out.”
Anyone who would like to borrow a thermal imaging camera to better understand heat loss from their home should contact Sustainable Henfield at info@sustainablehenfield2030.org.
Rachel Parkes