Energy saving tips for fuel poverty awareness day

Today is National Fuel Poverty Awareness Day

Organised by the charity National Energy Action (NEA), Fuel Poverty Awareness Day exists to raise awareness for the 4 million UK households that live in fuel poverty. 

NEA campaigns to end fuel poverty and provides support to people to stay warm, safe and well throughout the winter.

We want to take the opportunity to share information provided by the NEA, which can point you towards help, suggest ways to cut energy costs and help you maximize your energy.

Over 4 million UK households live in fuel poverty

That's 14% of all UK households.

A household is defined as being in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income.

Fuel poverty causes needless death, physical and mental ill-health, damaged life chances, and further strain on health services. The NEA estimates that more than 12,000 people die each year from health conditions arising or worsening from having a cold home.

Fuel poverty can be alleviated by improving a household’s income and ability to pay bills, reducing fuel costs, reducing energy consumption, and improving energy efficiency.

How to stay warm while reducing costs

There are lots of things you can do to help keep your energy costs down. These include things like: 

1. Turn down your thermostat by just one degree.
2. Switching off appliances at the plug.
3. Choosing LED light bulbs.
4. Installing a smart meter. 
5. Installing an energy-efficient shower head. 

Read our full list of simple household hacks to cut down on your energy bills. 

Maximise the heat in your home

Knowing how to control heat around your home will help you cut energy costs and only use heat where it’s needed. 

Try turning off radiators in the rooms you’re not using, sleeping or sitting in — like hallways, spare bedrooms or utility rooms. 

If you use at least 40% of your energy at night, it might be beneficial to use Economy 7—a time-of-use electricity tariff that provides cheaper off-peak electricity for 7 hours. It’s usually only beneficial to homes with storage heaters. 

Investing in good insulation can also go a long way toward maximising and keeping heat in your home. Even simple things like eliminating drafts with draft tape on windows and excluders on doors could cut down on the amount of energy you need to heat your home. 

If you are behind on energy bills

Being behind on payments can be frightening, but there is lots of help out there.

Check out our full list of help for overdue energy bills here. It includes government schemes, assistance from your energy provider, and help from charities.

We hope this helps. If you have a question or concern about your debt or are seeking extra support, just get in touch, and our friendly team will be happy to help.

• Use the live chat on our site
• Email us at support@ophelos.com