WiSE Wiltshire is Saving Energy Save energy Save money A simple guide to getting started www.wiltshire.gov.uk/energymonitor
Congratulations! You are now on the road to saving energy and money from your energy bills. The current cost monitor is designed to show you how much electricity you are using at any given time and will help you find out if you are wasting energy. This guide will help you make the most of your monitor and save energy on an ongoing basis. It also provides some helpful information on other aspects of energy efficiency in the home. Contents Using your energy monitor... 1 How to read your electricity bill... 3 Want to carry on saving?... 6 Reducing the cost of heating your home... 6 Energy saving and efficiency grants... 7 What is renewable energy?... 8 For installation instructions please see the installation card found in the energy monitor box.
Using your energy monitor Step one - Find your home s base energy usage This will find out how much energy your home uses when you are out. To do this you will need to turn off everything that can be turned off at the wall. Only leave essential things on such as your fridge, freezer, burglar alarm and heating controls. Make sure you do this during the day so that lighting doesn t skew the results. Base energy reading is:... Cost:... To make the most savings you should try and keep your readings as close to your base energy usage as possible! Step two - Identify your energy eaters Tumble dryer Various appliances in the home consume energy at different rates. The tumble dryer is a very energy hungry appliance. Keeping your home running at the base level, see what happens to the cost monitor when you put your tumble dryer on (if you have one). Base energy and tumble dryer reading is:... Cost:... Is putting on the tumble dryer essential every time? During the warmer months, putting your clothes out to dry on a washing line is free! 1
Home entertainment To do this you will need to keep your home running at base level and turn on all of the home entertainment equipment that is usually on or playing throughout the house. This could be a radio in the kitchen, a TV in the lounge, a games console in the bedroom. My usual home entertainment reading is:... Cost:... Now turn all your home entertainment appliances off as you normally would, most will be on standby. Your TV, DVD, stereo, games system all consume energy when they are left on standby. My standby home entertainment reading is:... Cost:... Now turn off all of these appliances at the wall. My no power home entertainment reading is:... Cost:... Can you see the difference? Think about the saving over a year! Step three - Small changes = Big difference! Simple changes to your daily habits can have a huge effect on your energy bills. The tips overleaf will help you save energy and money on your energy bills. 2
Dishwasher The dishwasher is an energy hungry appliance so always ensure your dishwasher is full before you turn it on. Kettle See what happens to the energy monitor when you boil a kettle. You can save energy by boiling only the amount of water that you need rather than a full kettles worth every time. Light bulbs If you change all your light bulbs over to the more energy efficient ones you ll start saving money straight away. The energy efficient bulbs are more expensive to buy, but they last up to 10 times longer, use less energy and give out the same amount of light. If you have both types of light bulbs, you can see the difference for yourself by using the cost monitor. Remember to turn lights off when you are not in the room. Washing machine Washing clothes at 30 C uses less energy to heat the water and can save energy. Use the cost monitor to see the difference between a 30 C wash and a wash at a higher temperature. How to read your electricity bill Now you have started saving energy and money, one of the things you should do is make sure that your bills are correct and that your current tariff is the best for you. The language of energy can seem quite complicated, even though we use energy every day and we spend quite a lot of money on it. This guide is designed to help you understand your electricity bill in order to help you save money. 3
4 Your electricity bill what to expect Your electricity bills should always be dated and include the following information, usually on the first page of the energy bill: Your name and address. Your customer account or reference number. The name of your supplier and their contact details. How much you need to pay (including any money owed from previous bills) and when you need to pay by. The name of your tariff or plan. The following more detailed information about the amount of energy you ve used is often found on a separate page of the energy bill: Billing period the period in which you used the energy you re being charged for. Meter readings the difference between the previous and latest reading is the amount of energy (measured in kilowatt hours or kwh) you ve used. The amount your supplier is charging you for each kwh of electricity. How to read your meter It is important to check if your energy bills are based on an estimated or actual meter reading. Your electricity meter will be located somewhere in your property, most likely in a cupboard or under the stairs. There are a number of different types of meter but all of them will record the amount of electricity you consume within the property. The meter will record the total number of kwhs or units of electricity consumed and will be displayed as a number. It s this number that your electricity bills are based on and needs to be
recorded if you want to submit them to the electricity supplier. Depending on your tariff, your electricity meter may display 2 (or even 3) separate sets of numbers. If this is the case you may find that your meter has a day rate and a night rate. The different sets of numbers are linked to the tariff you are on and will be reflected in your bill. The day rate will record the electricity consumed during the day. The night rate records the energy used late at night and during the early hours of the morning usually between 1am and 8am or midnight and 7am. This is very common if your home is without mains gas and you use night storage heaters. In terms of cost, the night rate is generally cheaper than the day rate. The numbers quoted on the bill should be fairly close to what the meter is displaying. If they are wildly out (either too high or too low) note down the numbers on the meter and phone your energy supplier. Doing this fairly regularly, perhaps every three months or so will ensure you receive accurate bills and are not over or under charged. Simply note down the readings from the meter and contact your electricity supplier on the phone or online with the information. Under and over paying your bill If you pay by monthly direct debit, it is important to check your bill to ensure that you are paying the correct amount. Energy use will go up and down over the year as you will use more electricity in the winter months than in the summer. Due to this variation it is normal to find your account in debit after the darker winter months and in credit during the lighter summer months. 5
6 However, if you feel your credit or debit is too high, take a meter reading and phone your electricity supplier. Want to carry on saving? - energy saving products As you start to realise savings you may want to start thinking about investing in energy saving products and appliances to reduce your energy consumption even further. There are many products on the market designed to reduce your electricity consumption: Energy saving light bulbs - they last up to 10 times longer. A-rated appliances - replacing your appliances with A-rated appliances when needed. Timer switches and socket strips which let you control individual appliances. LED lighting. Reducing the cost of heating your home For many of us heating our home can be costly and accounts for most of our household energy expenses. To reduce your energy bills further you will need to think about how you heat your home and if your home is efficient at keeping the heat in. There are many products designed to reduce heat loss in your home. If you are losing less heat you will need less energy to heat your home and this will save you money. Hot water tank and pipe insulation. Draught proofing - front and back door, letter boxes and windows. Heating controls - thermostatic radiator valves allow you to heat only the rooms you use most. Loft insulation - your loft should have 270mm of insulation.
Cavity wall, solid wall and floor insulation. Double glazing to keep the heat in effectively. Energy saving and efficiency grants If you feel your home could benefit from additional energy efficient measures to ensure it is well insulated, there are grants available for some of the measures. These are some grants that are available to homeowners and private tenants: Warm Front grants If you have already been approved for a Warm Front grant and have an excess payment to make, Wiltshire Council may be able to help. Warm Front are not accepting any more grant applications until April 2011. Loft and cavity wall insulation grants For over 70s and people on benefits, you may be entitled to free loft and cavity wall insulation. After June 2011 a Wiltshire Council grant will mean more households are eligible. All other households can get loft and cavity wall insulation at a heavily discounted price, starting at around 135 for cavity wall, and 150 for loft insulation. Hard to heat homes grant This is for people on benefits or who spend more than 10% of their income on heating. It is worth up to 15,000 and covers measures such as solid wall insulation, heating and renewable energy. For more information contact the council. Mobile homes insulation grant This is for people on benefits or who spend more than 10% of their income on heating and it is worth 7
8 up to 8,000. To find out if you qualify contact the council. Cavity wall insulation for flats grant If you live in a block of flats and are over 70 or on benefits, you could get cavity wall insulation for free. All other residents can apply for this grant, whatever their income, so that the whole block can be insulated. To find out if you qualify contact the council. Even if you do not qualify for the above grants, your local DIY store will stock a good choice of energy efficiency products so shop around for the best deal! Information and criteria for grants can change regularly so please call our home energy efficiency officers for the most up-to-date information to ensure you do not miss an opportunity. For Wiltshire Council contact details, please see back cover. What is renewable energy? Once you have established financial savings from reducing your electricity use and have effectively insulated your home then you may want to consider where the energy you do use comes from. Renewable energy comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, water, tides and geothermal heat, all of which are naturally replenished. Unlike fossil fuels (such as oil and gas), they produce little or no additional carbon dioxide (CO2). As you enjoy financial savings from reducing your energy consumption you will also be reducing your carbon footprint.
Your carbon footprint is how much carbon dioxide (CO2) you use through energy consumption in your home and when you travel. CO2 is one of the main greenhouse gases that is thought to be causing changes to our climate. Renewable energy and low carbon technologies Wind turbines Solar electricity Solar heating Micro Combined Heat and Power (Micro CHP) Ground source heat pumps Air source heat pumps Investing in renewable energy When generating electricity, the Feed In Tariff (FIT) will allow you to invest in small-scale, low carbon electricity generation, in return for a guaranteed payment from licensed electricity suppliers both for the electricity they generate and export. This became available in April 2010 and has replaced the previous grants based system. The government is currently designing an incentive scheme for generating heat from renewable sources that works in a similar way to the FITs, where you earn a fixed income for every kilowatt hour of heat you produce. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has used powers in the Energy Act 2008 to introduce a system of feed-in tariffs to provide incentives for small scale, low carbon energy generation. 9
For more information: Grants, energy efficiency and renewable energy advice For general information on any of the above, feed-in tariff and forthcoming renewable heat incentive, please contact Wiltshire Council on 0300 456 0100 and ask for the Home Energy Efficiency Officer or email housingrenewal@wiltshire.gov.uk. Energy, Change and Opportunity Strategy For general queries about Wiltshire s approach to climate change and energy saving, please contact the Energy, Change and Opportunity Team. Visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk or email climate.change@wiltshire.gov.uk. Energy Saving Trust 0800 512 012 www.energysavingtrust.org.uk Department of Energy and Climate Change www.decc.gov.uk Wiltshire Council s planning and building control In some cases, renewable energy systems that qualify for the FIT will not require planning permission unless your property is a listed building, in a conservation area or World Heritage Site. It is always best to check with your local development hub in order to check whether you need to apply for planning permission. To find out contact details for your nearest planning office, visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk or telephone 0300 456 0100. Recycled Paper